EAST LANSING — Once again, No. 10 took the first reps at quarterback on the first portion of Michigan State football’s first preseason practice.
Only that jersey contained Noah Kim, not Payton Thorne.
The Spartans began the post-Thorne era Thursday, the competition for the QB job remaining open following the two-year starter’s surprising transfer to Auburn in April.
Almost all media eyes during the open portion of practice — a span of at least 15 minutes — as well as those of Mel Tucker all morning, were fixated on the quarterbacks. With the incumbent gone from what had been a three-man battle four months earlier, the battle for who will emerge as the starter — between Kim (a junior), Katin Houser (a redshirt freshman) and Sam Leavitt (a true freshman) — was just beginning on a warm August morning in the shadows of Spartan Stadium.