Three Things We Learned at Michigan State spring scrimmage

East Lansing, Mich. –  The hybrid practice/scrimmage format favored by Michigan State coach Mel Tucker is not as much fun as a traditional spring game, but that doesn’t mean the current format is without merit. At a minimum, Saturday’s controlled scrimmage at Spartan Stadium gave Michigan State fans an up close look at some new faces, improving underclassmen, and even a handful of veterans that are determined to make their final year of eligibility count for something.  

Continue below for Three Things We Learned at Michigan State’s spring game.

1. Thorne, Kim pushing each other in competition at quarterback

Payton Thorne, in my opinion, had the best all-around day of Michigan State quarterbacks on Saturday when weighing his total body of work. He made some nice throws. He moved better than we’ve seen him move in a while and looked comfortable stepping up in the pocket and delivering passes with accuracy on check-downs. Thorne threw the ball where his reads took him. He did a nice job putting touch on passes to running backs and tight ends.

Kim accounted for some of the best throws in the spring scrimmage, including a touchdown pass to Antonio Gates Jr. in a two-minute drill to end the scrimmage. Kim’s success with the deep ball on Saturday was impressive. I would give Thorne the nod over Kim in terms all all-round scrimmage performance because Thorne was the more consistent of the two quarterbacks.

I’ve felt for some time that the competition at quarterback was between Thorne and Kim. That’s not to say that Katin Houser has not made progress. He has pushed the two quarterbacks in the Michigan State program with greater experience to be better versions of themselves. Houser has a chance to make the QB competition really interesting if he takes as big a jump coming out of the summer as he did this spring.

Right now, however, this appears to be a two-horse race between both Thorne and Kim. Nothing in Saturday’s scrimmage contradicts that assessment.

That does not mean, however, mean the competition is finished.

“We’ll continue the competition over the summer and into fall camp,” Mel Tucker said. “It was a practice format, so you see guys getting work with different groups, getting a lot of reps. We grade everything. I like the way they are competing. It’s a healthy competition.”

2. Michigan State d-line showed me something

On the defensive side of the football, the Michigan State defensive line impressed me the most. Several returning defensive linemen looked good, while competing against an offensive line, which has more depth, more experience, and better talent than it did a year ago.

Of the returning defensive linemen, Simeon Barrow and Maverick Hansen impressed me the most. Barrow was flying around and making plays early in the scrimmage before the offensive line adjusted and began to double team him. I wasn’t surprised by the performance Barrow delivered. That is what he does when he is healthy. The trick is keeping Barrow healthy. He has had injuries throughout his career. Hansen has been reliable back-up and sometime starter on interior defensive line for Michigan State for a couple of years. As a senior, Hansen has kicked things up a notch. He was disruptive and physical. He is moving as well as I’ve seen him move during his Spartan career, and he made a big play on fourth down in blowing up a short-yardage play and helping to drop big-bodied tailback Jaren Mangham for a loss.

Of newcomers on the Michigan State defensive line, Texas A&M transfer Tunmise Adeleye impressed me the most. At 6-foot-4, 290, Adeleye has all kinds of physical talent. That much has been evident for some time. God-given ability, however, hasn’t translated into on-field production for Adeleye to this point in his collegiate career. On Saturday, both in 1-on-1 drills and 11-on-11 opportunities Adeleye was a consistent playmaker for the Spartan defense. What impressed me the most with Adeleye is how well he moved for a defensive end as big as he is. He made a tackle in space on a run play that was reminiscent of Lawrence Thomas, who played a lot of snaps at defensive end as a senior in 2015. That was the last time Michigan State had a d-end that size that was actually suited to the position.

3. Michigan State has solid candidates for No. 3 receiver

Michigan State has two good receivers at the top of its rotation in Keon Coleman and Tre Mosley. Coleman is a superstar in making and Mosley is a rock-solid, dependable No. 2 wide receiver that is running better routes than he did a year ago. The unknown going into the off-season, however, was where the Spartans would go for No. 3 receiver.

Montorie Foster has been healthy and productive throughout spring football, and he showed himself to be a downfield receiving threat. Foster has good ball skills, good speed, and he has the toughness to make catches through contact and do dirty work such as blocking.

Redshirt freshmen Tyrell Henry and Antonio Gates Jr. both played well for Michigan State on Saturday. Gates had more catches than Henry and he also accounted for a touchdown on pass from Noah Kim, but Henry arguably had the best catch of the day, a one-handed grab on a pass from Katin Houser.

Junior Christian Fitzpatrick is another candidate for the No. 3 receiver spot. Fitzpatrick is a big-bodied wideout that showed the potential to be a solid possession receiver for the Spartans during Michigan State’s spring scrimmage.

“We have some really good potential in that group,” Tucker said. “I feel like we can get a lot of production out of the wide receivers.”