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BREAKING: Michigan State loses 3rd quarterback to transfer portal

Michigan State Football has seen all three scholarship quarterbacks from its 2023 roster enter the transfer portal since Jonathan Smith was hired as head coach...

Matthew Lounsberry

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Within four days of Michigan State football's 2023 season-finale, and three days after new head coach Jonathan Smith was hired, the Spartans are left without a single scholarship quarterback on their roster.

On Tuesday, redshirt junior Noah Kim entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal, joining redshirt freshman Katin Houser and true freshman Sam Leavitt who announced their intention of entering the portal on Monday. As undergraduates, Houser and Leavitt must wait until the 30-day fall window opens on Dec. 4, while Kim enters immediately as a grad transfer.

"I thank God for every opportunity he continues to give me," Kim wrote in a social media post. "I would like to thank Michigan State for the countless memories and support the last 4 years. That being said, I will be entering the transfer portal as a graduate transfer with 2 years of eligibility remaining."

Kim started each of the first five games for Michigan State this past season, leading the Spartans to victories over Central Michigan and Richmond in the first two weeks. In those victories, Kim threw for 571 yards and five touchdowns while completing 36-of-53 pass attempts (67.9%) without an interception.

After that hot start, however, Kim struggled against Power 5 conference opponents. In games against Washington, Maryland and Iowa, Kim completion percentage dropped to 51.4% (55-of-107) and he threw just one touchdown pass against six interceptions. For his Michigan State career, Kim has completed 105-of-179 attempts (58.6%) for 1,264 passing yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. He added 58 rushing yards on 28 carries.

The rebuild that Smith will undertake in East Lansing was always expected to be challenging, but the new head coach being left without any of Michigan State's scholarship quarterbacks from this past season was an unexpected turn of events. One would have thought one of the three would have stayed to compete for the starting job under MSU's new head coach.

Alas, Smith now has no choice but to go digging in the portal himself and will likely need to bring in multiple transfer quarterbacks to compete for the job. One popular candidate will be Oregon State freshman Aiden Chiles, who was the crown jewel of Smith's 2023 recruiting class in Corvallis. Chiles was a four-star recruit considered the No. 152 overall player and No. 12 quarterback prospect during the last recruiting cycle. As of now, Chiles remains on the Beavers' roster while they prepare for a bowl game, but he'll have a choice of his own to make after his head coach departed for a new job.

Even if Chiles were to join Smith in East Lansing, Michigan State will need to add more than one transfer to make its quarterback room competitive in 2024. The Spartans also currently do not have a high school quarterback committed to their 2024 recruiting class. Smith is a former quarterback himself, and came up threw the coaching ranks specializing in that position. One would assume Smith has a clear vision for what he wants in his signal-caller, and should be able to sell Michigan State to a variety of options at the position. Ironically, the Spartans' current lack of a quarterback could make MSU an attractive option for various transfers around the country.

Smith may also take the opportunity to re-recruit any of the three Michigan State quarterbacks who have entered the transfer portal back into his program, but current  indications suggest only Kim or Houser would potentially be open to a return. Leavitt, an Oregon native and 2022 Gatorade Player of the Year in his home state, told Rivals.com Spartans Illustrated he "felt slighted" and has "hard feelings" towards Smith, who did not offer him a scholarship while he was the coach at Oregon State.

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Matthew Lounsberry
MATTHEW LOUNSBERRY

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