Couch: If Michigan State wants more out of this football season, it needs to give its other quarterbacks a look
IOWA CITY, Iowa – If Michigan State wants more out of its season than how it lost Saturday night at Iowa, it’s going to need make a change at quarterback.
I feel badly for Noah Kim. He waited his turn at MSU, stayed when there were no guarantees he’d ever get to be the starter, believed in himself and, I have no doubt, legitimately won the job in August.
But he’s lost it in September. Not directly in competition with redshirt freshman Katin Houser or true freshman Sam Leavitt. Kim's lost the battle against the results. It’s time for interim head coach Harlon Barnett and offensive coordinator Jay Johnson to give Houser or Leavitt a real look. Likely Houser first, unless that's no longer the order as they see it.
MORE: Couch's grades for Michigan State's performance at Iowa
MSU's coaches have been fair to Kim. They've given him plenty of runway, five full games, nearly half a season. With Kim at quarterback, MSU has scored one touchdown over the last three weeks against its three power-five opponents. He's thrown six interceptions in those games, three more on Saturday night.
What's fair now — to the team, to the program and to Houser and Leavitt — is that they try someone else. That they at least get a sense of the potential of one or both of their two highly touted young quarterbacks before it's too late to get any joy out of this season, before the transfer portal beckons, before two kids from the West Coast have to decide if East Lansing, under a new coach, is really where they want to be.
Kim won the job in part because the coaches trusted he wouldn't make the mistakes that Houser might. It's worth finding out.
And I'd be surprised if we don't. After Saturday's 26-16 loss at Iowa, Barnett sounded less married to the "status quo" at quarterback he preferred two weeks ago — after Kim's shaky performance against Washington. The bye week before an Oct. 14 game at Rutgers makes this the best time to make a change.
“We have to watch the film very closely. And we’ve got two weeks — that's a good thing,” Barnett said. “Jay and I and the offensive staff, we'll all talk it through and see if there's something that needs to be done or not. And evaluate it being very, very realistic in evaluation and being very fair at the same time.”
Not every errant pass has been Kim's fault. MSU is playing a lot of receivers, some of them young. The play from MSU's wideouts overall has been disappointing the last three weeks, too. Kim doesn't have Jayden Reed or Keon Coleman to throw to. If it were only a matter of a lack of explosive plays, I wouldn't be writing this column. It's the turnovers. It's that Kim hasn't shown the potential for a high enough ceiling as a passer to justify living with those turnovers. So it's time to see what Houser or Leavitt brings, if perhaps offense comes a little easier, if there's more juice to the Spartans' attack.
Leavitt still has his redshirt season available. He's played in one game thus far (against Washington) and can play in up to four games without losing a year of eligibility. If he's going to cross that threshold at any point, MSU's coaches ought to stick with him the rest of the way.
Houser probably deserves an extended look first. We haven't seen him yet against a first-team defense. We have no idea what his potential is in the short or long term. Kim might wind up being MSU's best option at quarterback for this season. But after the last three weeks, you can't come to that conclusion until you play the other guys.
We've seen enough to know who Kim is as a quarterback right now. Let's see someone else.
MORE: Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State's 26-16 loss at Iowa
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU football: It's time to give QBs Katin Houser, Sam Leavitt a look
