A few years ago, the quarterback room for Michigan State football looked bright. The Spartans just had a record-breaking performance from Payton Thorne who broke the single-season touchdown mark through the air and they were bringing in four-star prospect Katin Houser.
A year later, Thorne struggled a bit, Michigan State missed a bowl, and Houser looked as if he would challenge the incumbent starter for the job in 2023. He would also have to deal with Noah Kim and incoming freshman Sam Leavitt, another four-star recruit.
Still, the room looked loaded with talent.
Thorne transferred to Auburn before the 2023 season, Kim won the starting job over Houser, and Leavitt played the role of third-stringer to start the season. Things flipped in a hurry as Houser took over for Kim and then Leavitt spent some time in there for Houser when he struggled. The season was a mess and all three quarterbacks opted to move on following the disastrous year.
Houser ended up at East Carolina, Leavitt found a home in the desert with Arizona State, and Kim went to Coastal Carolina. All three were projected to be backups early on but two broke through.
Before we get into these three, we need to go back one more year and look at how Thorne's Auburn career played out. He was often criticized, but had arguably his best season in 2024, passing for 2,713 yards and 21 touchdowns with nine picks and a career-best 63 percent completion rate. Unfortunately, he missed a bowl game as the Tigers went 5-7 but he had incredible games against Alabama and Texas A&M to end the year, throwing for 602 yards and three touchdowns.
An overall great year for Thorne to end his college career.
As for the more recent transfers, Kim was the least productive of the bunch, throwing for just over 300 yards and four touchdowns this past season as Coastal Carolina's backup. He opted to hit the portal against and recently transferred to Eastern Michigan where he projected to start in 2025.
Leavitt was the most successful of the group, leading an Arizona State team that didn't even sniff a bowl game in 2023 to the College Football Playoff this past season. Not only that, but the Sun Devils won the Big 12 in their first season as members thanks to Leavitt's elite play -- along with Cam Scattebo. He passed for 2,885 yards and 24 touchdowns with six picks and a 62 percent completion rate. He also rushed for 443 yards and five scores.
Lastly, Houser found a ton of success at East Carolina after starting the season as the backup behind Jake Garcia. He eventually took over when Garcia struggled and the program went through major changes and he finished with 2,006 yards and 18 touchdowns with 11 picks and a career-high 61 percent completion rate. He led ECU to a Military Bowl win over NC State.
So three former MSU quarterbacks started at other programs this season and all but Kim had huge years, passing for over 2,000 yards and 15-plus touchdowns.
Let's hope Aidan Chiles can have similar results with the Spartans in 2025.