Former Spartan starting QB Noah Kim transferring to Coastal Carolina

Noah Kim, who started the first five games of the 2023 Michigan State football season, has committed to Coastal Carolina.

A day after the Spartans saw three members of the 2023 team announce their intentions, Noah Kim became the next player to announce his 2024 plans. After Ethan Boyd and Brandon Baldwin announced they would be staying as Spartans and Sam Leavitt would be taking his talents to Tempe, Kim would be headed to the South Carolina Sun Belt school.

Noah Kim was the last of the Mark Dantonio quarterbacks

Noah Kim was the final Mark Dantonio era quarterback at Michigan State, coming in as a member of the 2020 class. He was rated No. 1,250 in the nation by 247Sports composite as well as the No. 43 pro-style quarterback. He committed to the Spartans over his only other two FBS offers of Western Michigan and the home state Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies held his interest and commitment until an October push by the Spartans flipped his commitment.

Kim sat on the bench as a redshirt and stayed with the program after Dantonio abruptly retired and Mel Tucker took the reins following his true freshman season. For Kim’s redshirt freshman season, he did not see the field again, but was the third quarterback behind Payton Thorne and Anthony Russo. For the Michigan game, he was promoted to the second string quarterback after a Russo violation of team rules, but the young quarterback did not play. He was demoted to third-string again after Russo returned, and stayed with the program even as Thorne (only one class ahead of Kim) set a program record for touchdown passes in a season.

For his third season at Michigan State, Kim was fully entrenched as the second-string quarterback, but faced heavy pressure for that role from highly touted true freshman Katin Houser. Kim evidently won the job, and attempted his first pass in the Spartan home opener against Western Michigan. This pass was not counted in the stat sheet after a defensive pass interference, however. Amid struggles of a 5-7 season, Kim saw the field for stretches, leading touchdown drives against Minnesota and Ohio State. 

Following the season, Thorne transferred to Auburn. Kim and Hauser were locked into a competition to be the next starter, and Sam Leavitt joined the competition in the summer. Kim won the job, and was efficient after slow starts against Central Michigan and Richmond. This was the high point of Kim’s season, as he was named Big Ten Player of the Week against Richmond. He excelled in the vertical routes, dropping the ball perfectly.

Unfortunately, any horizontal aspect of the game was a struggle, sailing balls or sending them well short of receivers. This became apparent when the Spartans played Washington, Maryland, and Iowa. Iowa was by far the low point, with Kim running for his life on every down, clean pocket or not.

Harlon Barnett revealed that Kim had been playing injured, and that injury was “more severe than expected,” and Kim did not see the field again. Oftentimes, the quarterback ended up on the injured list as “out.” 

Noah Kim looks to take the reins after Grayson McCall entered the portal

Following the season, Noah Kim announced his intentions to enter the portal on Nov. 28. He finished his Spartan career 105-for-179 with 1,264 yards and nine touchdowns to six interceptions. Adding in his 58 rushing yards, he ends with just over 1,300 yards accounted for in the green and white.

After officially entering the portal on Dec. 4, Kim was quiet about his offers until announcing his commitment to Coastal Carolina earlier on Tuesday. 

Kim looks to replace Grayson McCall as the Chanticleers’ starting quarterback. McCall had a prolific career with Coastal Carolina before entering the portal to use his last year of eligibility. Kim will be competing with another former Power Five quarterback and Kansas transfer, Ethan Vasko. At Coastal, Vasko went 56-for-89 with 580 yards and four touchdowns to one interception last season.

Kim will be coached by second year head coach Tim Beck, coming off of a 7-5 season. 

Noah is the second of the three former Spartan quarterbacks to announce their new school after entering the portal. He joins Leavitt, who announced his commitment to Arizona State yesterday, and Katin Hauser has yet to announce his intentions.

The former Spartan starter joins Hank Pepper (USC), Spencer Brown (Oklahoma), and Leavitt (ASU) as players to announce their next program.