Michigan State football's Noah Kim displayed 'calm, cool, collected' attitude in CMU win

EAST LANSING — In the weeks leading up to Michigan State football’s season opener, Maliq Carr assessed a quarterback competition that had yet to reach its conclusion. “Calm, cool, collected” is how the tight end defined Noah Kim.

That patient approach got tested right away Friday night.

Making his first career start, Kim’s first two passes were rough — too high and wide in leading Carr out of bounds, followed by a throw into nowhereland between two receivers. Nathan Carter got stuffed on the ground the next play for a turnover on downs, an inauspicious start to the Spartans’ season after struggling to move the chains a year ago.

Kim opened the next drive with a perfect pass off a double-reverse flea-flicker down the left sideline to Carr, who missed it, watched it hit his facemask then juggled the carom as he crashed to the turf — the first of a handful of drops to come. Kim would then sail a few more throws and the grumblings in the stands built as the Spartans’ offense continued to languish.

Five drives, 28 plays, 126 yards and three points — courtesy of a 47-yard field goal after another stalled possession.

“First game out,” coach Mel Tucker would later surmise. “New team, new season, at home. A lot of nervous energy.”

What came next perhaps could be a sign of why Tucker stuck with Kim and didn’t turn to redshirt freshman Katin Houser. And everything Carr sensed about his new quarterback played out over the final 32 minutes of the Spartans’ 31-7 victory over the Chippewas.

Trailing 7-3 after a CMU touchdown with 1:45 left in the first half, Kim went into 2-minute mode and began to emerge from the funk.

A high-arching third-and-3 deep shot to Jaron Glover delivered with diamond-cutter exactness was paired with an equally focused over-the-shoulder grab for 32 yards. Two plays later, the same duo connected on an in-stride, up-and-out route for 33 yards. That set up Carter’s 2-yard touchdown run that sent MSU into halftime with a lead — and momentum that Kim seized by continuing to display precision passing that allowed the Spartans to avoid an upset and erase some of the concerns about the first 28 minutes of the season.

“When we went to the 2-minute offense, he got more comfortable. And the offense started to reflect that,” receiver Tre Mosley said. “It was good to see him go out there and perform the way he did today. I'm very proud of him, and I know he's gonna keep continuing to grow.”

Kim displayed in-game growth after starting 4-for-12 for 50 yards before that hurry-up drive to end the first half. From that point onward, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior completed 14 of his final 19 throws, including touchdown passes to Tyrell Henry and Carr in the fourth quarter, for 229 yards.

“I would say I never lost my confidence. I was confident going into the game, and I was confident when we had a three-and-out. I was confident either way, because I know the plays are there,” said Kim, who finished 18 of 31 for 279 yards and no interceptions. “It's not like we were just throwing the ball, it's not like we were just making dumb mistakes like that. It was one guy here or there, me missing a pass, or whatever it was. It was just something little every single play. And I knew everybody on the sideline was on the same page, where nobody was out going crazy like ‘Oh, what are we doing, what are we doing?’

“We know we can make the plays, we've seen it. There's nothing to prove to anybody. We've proved it to ourselves in practice. And so everyone was confident to go onto the next drive, and hopefully just make the play the next drive.”

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Kim got plenty of support from Carter, the sophomore running back transfer from Connecticut who looked as good as advertised with 113 rushing yards on 18 carries in his MSU debut. Jalen Berger, last year’s starter, showed his hands out of the backfield with four catches and finished with 24 yards rushing and 30 yards receiving on 12 total touches.

The Spartans’ 127 rushing yards against a veteran, physical CMU defense was an improvement from the 113.0 per game they averaged last season. And that helped Kim as much as he helped loosen up things for Carter.

“We look towards him when things are going wrong,” Carter said. “When we were not executing the way that we should, he was coming back sidelines and picking us up, picking us up, picking us up — motivating us, encouraging us. At halftime, he was doing the same thing, motivating us and encouraging us.

“You never see Noah with his head down, you never see him get discouraged. He was always picking us up, and that's type of leader that we need for this team, that's the type of leader that he is. He's a very smart player.”

Even when Carr and usually sure-handed Mosley dropped passes — some perfectly on target, some a bit off the mark — Kim showed his trust in them by continuing to throw their way. Just as Tucker and offensive coordinator Jay Johnson maintained their belief in Kim when those early drives flailed and his errant passes sailed.

Tucker said “there was no thought” of bringing in Houser in during the first half, and Kim said he learned a week or two ago — he couldn’t recall exactly — that he would be the one to replace departed two-year starter Payton Thorne.

“We decided to give (Kim) the start because he earned that, and we went with him,” said Tucker, who improved to 3-1 in openers at MSU. “We didn’t have any plans to do anything else. I thought he did a good job. He’s got a lot of talent, you can see that."

Next up for Kim is a game with Richmond of the Football Championship Subdivision (3:30 p.m., BTN). It is a chance for the Northern Virginia native and one-time Virginia Tech commit to face a team from his home state.

But it looks clear he’s comfortable in his new home under center at MSU — and Tucker appears to have his quarterback for the near future.

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

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football: QB Noah Kim showed growth in starting debut