WATCH: QB Noah Kim (18/22 292yards 3TD passing) and teammate PK Jonathan Kim (52-yard Field Goal) helps Michigan State 45-14 win over Richmond

Redshirt junior quarterback Noah Kim has been named Big Ten offensive player of the week in Michigan State Football’s 45-14 win over Richmond on Saturday.

Kim notched his career high in passing yards in a game for the second week in a row, throwing for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Not only was Kim effective downfield, his efficiency helped earn him the honors, completing 18 passes on just 22 attempts, as well as 15 straight completions to finish the game.

MSU’s starting quarterback has looked sharp in his first two career starts thus far, with 571 yards and 5 touchdowns and zero interceptions to begin the season.

The Big Ten offensive player of the week achievement for the starting quarterback is the first time a Spartan has earned the honor since Kenneth Walker III in November of 2021.

 

 

 

Source: https://statenews.com/article/2023/09/noah-kim-earns-big-ten-offensive-player-of-the-week-honors

 

Big kicker Jonathan Kim (6’2″/225), kicked a 52-yard field goal that went in after bouncing off the crossbar post.

On the surface, Jonathan Kim comes across as someone driven by data.

Michigan State’s new kicker, a redshirt senior transfer from North Carolina, remembers all the details of his first – and until last Friday, only – college field goal attempt.

“Freshman year, 52-yard field goal from the right hash,” Kim recalled with no hesitation.

How about the longest one he’s made in practice? 65 yards, he said.

OK, what about the realistic maximum distance he’s comfortable attempting in a game? “No wind, I’d say I’m pretty confident from 62.”

And the moment he knew he had established some confidence with his new coaching staff? A 58-yard try into the wind in an end-of-game scenario. That one didn’t go through, but it “showed me that they have a lot of trust in me and respect my leg a lot.”

It doesn’t take long, though, to realize the numbers are just supplementary information. It’s actually faith that’s guiding Kim through life, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to East Lansing.

“There was a lot of prayer for me,” Kim said of his decision to transfer after four years with the Tar Heels. “There’s a lot of unknown in the portal. I felt a whole lot more comfortable entering the portal, which is a whole lot of uncertainty, doing that rather than staying at North Carolina. I love North Carolina, it’s a great place, but God was telling me that’s not where I needed to be anymore.”

After serving as North Carolina’s kickoff specialist in 2020 and 2021 – leading the country in touchbacks one year and the ACC the next – Kim took a redshirt after the fourth week of the 2022 season with an eye on finding a new program. On the weekends, he sought the tutelage of kicking coach Dan Orner, one of many specialized trainers Kim has worked with since high school as he’s developed his technique.

North Carolina team chaplain Mitch Mason left Kim with a Bible verse to keep in mind as he navigated his journey through the transfer portal, Colossians 3:15, which says, in part, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”

“To me, that peace is what I felt in the portal and I just knew God had somewhere else for me to be,” he said. “And then I came on my official visit and there was just this overwhelming sense of peace. Getting to talk to all the coaches and getting to know everybody, I just knew that this is where I needed to be.”

Peace was desperately needed at MSU after a chaotic 2022 season in the kicking department. The Spartans made just 6 of 12 field goal attempts, had two blocked, and went 31-for-33 on PATs as Ben Patton and Jack Stone alternated duties.

Inconsistency, poor blocking, outright misses and the loss of starting long snapper Hank Pepper for the final seven games to an undisclosed injury all played a part in the Spartans’ shaky field goal operation, which reached its nadir in Game 11 against Indiana. Playing for a sixth win to secure bowl eligibility, MSU missed a go-ahead 22-yard chip shot at the end of regulation and had a field goal blocked in overtime before falling, 39-31, to a Hoosier team that completed two passes.

While Kim is aware of the recent history at the position, he’s unburdened by the previous failures by those who came before him.

“I play more so for God,” he said. “For me, I don’t really feel too much pressure just because I know, no matter what, I’m not identified in how I play on the field. It’s more so, I go out and I can play freely, which takes a whole lot of pressure off of me because I know that God’s going to love me no matter how I play.”

MSU fans now have reason to love Kim, too, after drilling a 47-yard field goal on the Spartans’ fourth possession for their first points of the season in Friday’s 31-7 victory over Central Michigan.

Watching his first attempt as a Spartan sail through the uprights, Kim said he didn’t feel relief or excitement as much as calmness and comfort. Given how things went for this program a year ago, it’s safe to say he wasn’t the only one.

“Really, for me, it was just seeing God’s plan come to fruition,” Kim said. “I really feel like this is where God wants me to be, and that was just him proving to me this is exactly where I need to be right now.”