Michigan State football QB battle between Payton Thorne, Anthony Russo simmers into summer

EAST LANSING — Payton Thorne was the first player to enter Spartan Stadium and the last to leave the field Saturday.

In between, the sophomore got the ball first in almost every drill and live situational work Michigan State football undertook during its final spring practice. His chemistry with his teammates showed, a few helmet slaps and fist-bumps to each member of the first-team offense as they set the pace with a hurry-up workout against the No. 1 defense.

All the marks of a budding leader.

“Obviously, that comes with the quarterback position,” Thorne said after the 1-hour, 40-minute workout. “I've said it before, but you gotta just be yourself. When you're trying to be something that you're not, people can tell. Especially teammates, when you're with them all the time. So I'm just focused on being me and doing the things that I've been taught throughout my life and encouraging guys and getting the best out of guys.

“That's the job of a leader, to get the best out of the guys around you.”

Anthony Russo followed quickly with the second unit in the “Take Off Team” drill, then traded first-team reps with Thorne the rest of the 1-hour, 40-minute session. The Temple transfer’s talent showed, but so did his newness to the offense and program in his first public showing as a Spartan.

And though Thorne appears for now to have the inside track toward replacing the departed Rocky Lombardi as MSU’s starting quarterback, the competition is far from over.

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One of Russo’s biggest tasks for the summer is to immerse himself in offensive coordinator Jay Johnson’s playbook. MSU might be his second collegiate stop, but the 6-foot-4, 245-pound grad student is on his fourth head coach and fourth offensive coordinator entering his sixth collegiate season.

“I think for me personally, just being able to master this offense by the time fall camp comes — knowing all run checks, all the pass protections, pass concepts. And then on top of that, just getting better with recognition of coverages, with blitzes and all that,” Russo said. “You can never really be too familiar with coverages and things like that. But I think the mental piece is gonna be my biggest focus in this offseason, just hammering out film, watching myself, watching the other guys' reps from this spring and learning from them. And then of course, throwing with the receivers, doing mesh stuff with the running backs to keep sharp on all that stuff.

“That way, when that first day of fall camp comes, we're not trying to figure each other out anymore. So when that first day comes, we're just ready to go.”

That is an area where the 6-2, 215-pound Thorne has an edge after going through the transition to Mel Tucker and the new staff — albeit virtually. The third-year player, who threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start at Penn State to close the 2020 season, said not having spring practice a year ago after Tucker was hired helped him and his teammates focus “strictly on the mental piece” of learning Johnson’s offense.

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“Doing all the Zoom stuff for months, we got so down into the details of the offense that I think it was beneficial,” Thorne said. “And I think that has carried over into this spring. I've had a chance to really take a deep dive into the things we did last year, and then we got a couple new things that we put in. So I feel very, very comfortable with our offense right now.”

Both quarterbacks showed the ability to connect on deep passes with Jayden Reed during live 7-on-7 and scrimmage segments toward the end of practice. Thorne showed the ability to scramble under pressure a few times, though on one rollout his pass got picked off by nickel back Michael Dowell.

“They made some good throws, made some good decisions. I'm sure we had a couple throws we'd like to have back,” MSU coach Mel Tucker said. “But just overall, I thought that we were efficient. They ran the offense, took what the defense gave us, and you can see where I feel good about that position. I feel like we're gonna have really good production from the quarterback position this season.”

They also showed their differences.

While Thorne is the better running option of the two, with more rushing yards last season (47) in his four appearances that included one start than Russo had in 31 games at Temple (30). With three key offensive linemen out Saturday and inexperienced players in front of both QBs, the pocket collapsed often with the pressure from the Spartans’ strong defensive line group.

But the veteran, like his competitor, knows he must remain true to his talents in order to win the starting job. And that means using the arm that passed for 6,322 yards and 44 touchdowns at Temple and hanging in when pressure arrives.

“Personally, I'm more of a pocket passer,” Russo said. “I think I definitely can run when I have to, and if the pocket collapses, I can get out and do what I need to do with my legs. But I get my scholarship paid for to stand in the pocket and make throws and get the ball to the wide receivers.”

Redshirt freshman Noah Kim also had a strong day passing deep, particularly on a deep route to sophomore wide receiver Ian Stewart during the scrimmage portion. Kim appears to have bypassed junior Theo Day as the No. 3 option at quarterback right now, with Day and true freshman Hamp Fay getting the fewest reps.

However, much of what fans saw from the quarterbacks Saturday must be significantly tempered. MSU’s linebackers and secondary groups are exceptionally thin, and the cornerbacks on defense who got the bulk of the reps are walk->ons. Junior returning starter Kalon Gervin participated sparingly in live drills, leaving Emmanuel Flowers as the lone returning scholarship cornerback, with Justin White and Zach Denha both having to take significant snaps Saturday with the first unit.

And like any good quarterback, both Thorne and Russo attacked that weak spot repeatedly for their biggest plays.

“You can see we have really good competition at that position,” Tucker said.

They will depart in different directions after finals this week. Russo plans to head east to his home in Pennsylvania before coming back for offseason conditioning, while Thorne will return to suburban Chicago. Reed and walk-on Cade McDonald are his former high school teammates, and Thorne said they may be joined by a few others to continue building toward preseason camp and the Sept. 4 opener against Northwestern.

“We’ll be spending plenty of time together this summer,” Thorne said.

Of course, it’s who spends time with the offense in the fall that will matter most.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football: Spartans' quarterback simmers into summer