Michigan State has hit the ground running in the month of August, going full speed into preseason camp. Like every year, there will always be position battles during camp, and its something that fans should take note of.
While there isn’t a high profile battle like Thorne vs. Russo for the starting QB job like last year, there are still some notable positional battles taking place in East Lansing.
Take a look at three of the most notable position battles taking place in camp right now:
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner.
Backup QB
A battle for the backup quarterback job leads the way in East Lansing for one of the most notable headlines in camp. While Payton Thorne has a stronghold on the starting quarterback job, his backup is very much in question.
This is a battle between Noah Kim and Katin Houser.
Kim, a redshirt sophomore, is in his third year with the program an has been quietly improving in the background of the QB room. His competition, Katin Houser, is an incoming true freshman 4-star QB that has a lot of buzz surrounding his arrival in East Lansing.
Kicker
Matt Coghlin’s long Spartan career is finally over, and there will be a new kicker in East Lansing this fall. It is no secret how much having a good kicker can help a team win games, so the staff is making sure they get this one right.
This is a battle between Stephen Rusnak and Jack Stone, who are neck and neck battling for the starting kicking job.
Rusnak is a sophomore that got some action in his true freshman season, the 2021 campaign, going 4-of-5 on PATs and 0-for-1 on field goal attempts.
Stone is an incoming freshman from Dallas, Texas, who is one of the highest rated kickers in the 2022 recruiting class.
Right Guard
Most of the Spartans offensive line is pretty set in stone, but there is one spot at right guard that is up in the air as camp continues. Instead of there being a lack of experience, there is so much expereince that deciding a starter is going to be difficult.
Graduate transfer and sixth year senior Brian Greene is battling against sixth year senior Matt Carrick for this job.
Greene is a transfer from Washington State, where he began as a walk-on and worked his way to the starting center position in 2020 and 2021 for the Cougars before transferring to MSU this spring.
Carrick is entering his sixth season at MSU. In his time in East Lansing, Carrick has played in 38 games and has started 18 games in his Spartan career.
