INDIANAPOLIS — It's funny how much can change in 365 days.
Michigan State football this time last year was coming off a 2-5 season.
The Spartans didn't have any answers in the backfield, having not had a running back rush for a touchdown in 2020, the first time in program history. They were in the midst of a quarterback competition, one some thought would be won by senior grad transfer Anthony Russo.
Then the season happened, MSU won 11 games and had the best running back in college football.
And if the Spartans are to take the next step, they will do so on the shoulders of the man who won the starting quarterback job, Payton Thorne, who was one of the catalysts of the program's best offensive season in five years.