Michigan State QB Katin Houser to enter transfer portal

The transfer portal doesn’t officially open for another week but Michigan State will lose its starting quarterback when that happens.

Redshirt freshman Katin Houser on Monday announced via social media he intends to enter the portal after his second season with the Spartans.

ESPN was the first to break the news and Houser shared social media reports indicating his intent to transfer.

Houser started the final seven games this year, including a 42-0 loss to Penn State on Friday night at Ford Field as Michigan State finished a tumultuous season at 4-8. Houser will have three years of eligibility remaining.

The planned departure of Houser comes after the Spartans on Saturday hired Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith as their new head coach. Smith brought five assistants with him from the Beavers, including offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren, and had his first team meeting Monday morning.

Fifth-year senior starting right tackle Spencer Brown and redshirt junior linebacker Darius Snow both entered the portal as graduate transfers on Monday. Grad transfers can put their name in at any time.

Houser, 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, is a former four-star prospect from Southern California who flipped from Boise State to Michigan State and signed with the 2022 recruiting class as an early enrollee. He appeared in just one game as a true freshman while taking a redshirt before a wild year for the quarterbacks room.

Two-year starter Payton Thorne transferred to Auburn after spring practice and redshirt junior Noah Kim beat out Houser and true freshman Sam Leavitt for the job. Kim struggled and was replaced midseason by Houser, who posted a 2-5 record while leading an injury-plagued offense.

Houser’s debut was solid as he threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score in a loss at Rutgers and he had a trio of touchdown passes in a 24-21 win at Indiana on Nov. 18 that earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. However, not a lot went right in between and he completed 58.6 percent of his passes (112-for-191) for 1,132 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions while rushing for two scores in 11 total games this year.

After Houser took over the starting job, Kim didn’t play again this season while dealing with an injury. That made Leavitt the backup and the former four-star prospect from Oregon provided a spark in relief appearances. He was 15-for-23 passing for 139 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and rushed for 67 yards while appearing in four games before sitting out to retain a redshirt for the year.

That left Houser as the only available scholarship quarterback on the roster the final three games and walk-on Andrew Schorfhaar made two appearances.

What direction Smith goes at quarterback is just one part of what will likely be a significant roster rebuild. Houser’s planned departure leaves, for now, Kim and Leavitt as the lone two scholarship quarterbacks set to return and the Spartans have a commitment from 2024 three-star prospect Henry Hasselbeck.

There’s also a chance Smith could bring an Oregon State quarterback with him. Aidan Chiles, a former four-star recruit from California, has appeared in nine games this season for the Beavers and thrown four touchdown passes and ran for three scores.