Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith navigates changed landscape to fill QB spots

EAST LANSING — In four days, Jonathan Smith filled two of the biggest holes on the Michigan State football roster he inherited.

On Thursday, Smith, as expected, landed Aidan Chiles, who played in nine games this season at Oregon State for the Spartans’ new coach before entering the transfer portal. Then Sunday, MSU picked up a commitment from three-star 2024 recruit Alessio Milivojevic.

Two out of three ain’t bad. But finding a third quarterback, however, might prove tricky.

While Smith has plenty of other areas to address across the entire roster, how he proceeds with the final open QB spot remains incredibly intriguing as the early signing period for the class of 2024 begins Wednesday.

Over the past week, the Spartans lost all three of their scholarship quarterbacks from this season’s roster. Fourth-year junior Noah Kim, who started the first five games, transferred to Coastal Carolina. Redshirt freshman Katin Houser, who took over the starting role for the last seven games of MSU’s 4-8 season, departed for East Carolina. And true freshman Sam Leavitt, who played in four games, landed at another Power Five school, picking Arizona State.

Yet as the incessant carousel of the transfer portal has shown this month, quarterback remains not just the most demanding position in college football but also the most in-demand for those with experience.

Just ask Payton Thorne, a Mark Dantonio recruit who proved the most talented of the quarterbacks on Mel Tucker’s 2023 spring roster.

Sources said in the spring that Thorne received mixed messages from Tucker after then-offensive coordinator Jay Johnson tried to assure him the job would be his in the fall. It was enough of a signal cross-up that Thorne opted in late April to bypass a chance to start a third season for the Spartans and instead enter the portal.

He landed at Auburn, struggled in a new offense and new home, but started 11 of 12 games and helped the Tigers go 6-6 to land a spot in the Music City Bowl. MSU, meanwhile, is staying at home. And coach Hugh Freeze, after losing backup Robby Ashford to the portal over the weekend, told reporters he anticipates Thorne starting again for him in 2024 rather than again adding another quarterback from the portal. (Auburn also has redshirt freshman Holden Geriner and true freshman Hank Brown on scholarship.)

“If you go take (a transfer quarterback) you're probably going to lose Payton, Holden. You'd better be right,” Freeze said. “I believe in Payton. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but that's my belief. … I don't know in Year 1 of the transfer quarterback world who set the woods on fire. Go look at that and find out now.”

Freeze provided a good peek into mindset of coaches at high-profile programs in the portal/name-image-likeness/immediate eligibility era that has changed college football.

Thorne’s experience, even with his bumpy start at Auburn, remains a commodity for Freeze. But so, too, does the fact Thorne has just one year of eligibility remaining thanks to the NCAA’s COVID waiver for 2020 — essentially an expiring contract in pro terminology. And with Ashford’s likely departure, Freeze will have class separation in his quarterback room while waiting on 2024 four-star prospect Walker White to sign.

Which brings us back to Thorne’s old home, MSU, and its new coach. And what to expect moving forward.

Chiles flashed his dual-threat potential as a true freshman in nine games for Smith and the Beavers this fall. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Southern California native went 24-for-35 for 309 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions while running for another 79 yards and three scores on 17 carries (four of those sacks) this season.

All of that potential but just 91 collegiate snaps to his credit according to Pro Football Focus College, with his career-best 34 coming against UC Davis of the Football Championship Subdivision. He served as the No. 2 option behind starter DJ Uiagalelei, who transferred to Oregon State from Clemson and then after Smith left for MSU re-entered the portal with one year of eligibility remaining.

Smith’s situation comes back to the same one the last MSU staff faced — the need for a veteran quarterback to bridge the gap.

When Thorne left, that fell to Kim, who played just 38 snaps over four games in 2022 — his third year at MSU. Kim was erratic after Tucker’s suspension and eventual firing. He got hurt, then Houser took over and struggled to move the Spartans’ offense. Leavitt showed promise in his brief opportunities.

All are gone. And there are a few ways Smith — a QB guru — and and his staff could proceed to find a third quarterback.

One would be to add a veteran starter with one year remaining before this current portal window closes Jan. 4. But the ones with experience, such as Uiagalelei, are looking for high NIL earning potential and a guaranteed starting spot. That seems unlikely after what was likely required to land Chiles, who was the top rated quarterback and No. 2 overall player in the portal this cycle according to 247 Sports.

Pre-NIL, in 2021, Tucker took that route, adding Anthony Russo as a graduate transfer with a COVID waiver after he started 26 games in his first five seasons at Temple. Russo played just 23 snaps that fall as Thorne won the starting job and helped lead MSU to an 11-2 season and a top-10 finish.

Another route would be to mine the portal at the lower levels, looking for a starter who would be comfortable as a backup for a year or two while competing to see if his skills can translate to the Power Five level. Essentially identifying the next Cam Ward, who went from an unheralded signing at Incarnate Word in 2020 to a Football Championship Subdivision All-American in 2021, then left for Washington State in 2022 and is back in the portal with one more year of eligibility left and, like Chiles and Uiagalelei, is a highly sought free agent.

Or Smith could double up on incoming freshman, something Mark Dantonio did in his first recruiting class in 2007 by adding two future NFL starters in Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins behind another NFL guy in Brian Hoyer. Ultimately, Foles transferred out when Keith Nichol transferred in, Cousins beat out Nichol for the starting job, and Nichol became a key wide receiver for his final two years.

Smith has already rebuilt the 2024 class to 13 prep prospects by adding six recruits over the past week as of Monday, four of them previously committed to him at Oregon State along with flipping Milivojevic from his Ball State pledge and three-star wide receiver/defensive back Austin Clay from Bowling Green. MSU so far has retained six players who were recruited by Tucker.

The new coach also started addressing immediate issues beyond quarterback Monday, with tight end Jack Velling following Chiles in transferring from the Beavers and Big Ten-caliber veterans in wide receiver TJ Sheffield (Purdue) and linebacker Jordan Turner (Wisconsin) pledging to join the Spartans next season. Expect more to follow, all the way up until preseason camp begins in early August — because no roster ever is set in stone anymore, with another portal window in April and movement happening throughout the summer.

It is a promising start in his first month, But ultimately, Smith needs a quarterback to take his vision from playbook to playing field. He may already have him in Chiles, but he also knows the key to a successful program is depth, both to foster competition and as a safeguard for injuries.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football recruiting: Jonathan Smith works to get QB(s)