Top 10 Player of the Year: MSU Commit Kayd Coffman Masters the Game

Ty Spencer and Kayd Coffman: A Unique Mentorship

KENTWOOD, MI – It didn’t take long for Ty Spencer to learn the approach Kayd Coffman brings to the game of football. Shortly after Spencer took over the East Kentwood program in 2023, the sophomore version of Coffman approached the four-time state champion head coach with a recommendation for the 2022 Trevor Moawad book “Getting to Neutral: How to Conquer Negativity and Thrive in a Chaotic World.”

“The first time I met Kayd was in the weight room in our school, and that’s when he approached me about a book titled ‘Getting to Neutral’ that speaks about how to take your situation for what it is, acknowledge it, and then do something about it,” Spencer said. “It was a really good book, and that was the first time that a sophomore ever came to me about a book that was that deep.”

The introduction and recommendation made a lasting impression on Spencer, who has helped Coffman develop into one of the state’s best quarterbacks and one MLive’s 10 finalists for the 2025 High School Football Player of the Year award.

Through 10 games, Coffman has led East Kentwood to an 8-2 record by completing 134 of 210 passes (64 percent) for 1,953 yards and 27 touchdowns against three interceptions, while rushing for 389 yards and five scores on 54 carries.

Quick Hits

• Height: 6-foot-2
• Weight: 200 pounds
• Grade: Senior
• Position: Quarterback
• Rating: Considered a four-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite and the No. 27 quarterback nationally
• Recruitment: Committed to Michigan State in February over offers from Mississippi, Colorado, Duke, Iowa State, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green

A Student of the Game

Like a lot of people, Coffman had quite a bit of unexpected free time when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a halt in the middle of his seventh-grade year. It also corresponded with his first full season as a quarterback, and Coffman used the opportunity to take a deep dive into the game of football by being a voracious reader.

“During COVID, I had a lot of time and started kind of falling in love with football,” he said. “I’m naturally a very obsessive person, and when I find something I like, I want to learn everything about it and be the best at it. There is so much in this game of football that I don’t know about, and I’m always trying to find ways to get better and become a more complete player. Sitting there and wasting time was not the best way to get there, so I thought I could go read a little bit and try to find out what other great people have to say about things.”

Coffman credits James Clear’s 2018 book “Atomic Habits” for having a big impact on his approach to football, and the aforementioned “Getting to Neutral” for helping him stay calm at a pressure-packed position.

“I read it twice in a three-month span around the time I transferred in (to East Kentwood), and it had a big impact on my life and how I view this game and the emotional aspect of it,” Coffman said.

A Natural Leader

Coffman grew up about 30 miles south of Kentwood in Plainwell, and that’s where he got his start in football as a fifth-grade tight end in the community’s Rocket program. The following year, he switched to quarterback in a move that seemed natural for the youngster.

“It’s the impact I’m able to have,” he said of his desire to play the position. “Being able to go and impact the game directly all the time was what I wanted, and then evolving through that, I wanted to be the guy that kind of leads the way, not only on the field, but in how the team operates. That’s what led me there and keeps me there now, and it’s what got me to fall in love with the game.”

A broken wrist wiped out most of Coffman’s first year under center, but he resumed the position in seventh grade, after his family moved north to Kent County. Coffman began his high school career at Grand Rapids South Christian, earning the junior varsity starting quarterback job as a freshman, then backing up all-state signal caller Carson Vis as a sophomore during the Sailors’ run to the Division 4 state finals.

Vis, a phenomenal multi-sport athlete who currently plays Division-I college basketball at Western Michigan University, helped Coffman learn the importance of improvisation at the position during their season in the same quarterback room.

“Just being able to play out of structure,” Coffman said of what he learned from Vis. “That was a lot of what was being done and where the plays were, so it was a lot of learning how to do that and watching that happen.”

Midway through his sophomore year, Coffman transferred to East Kentwood in a move that came a month after Spencer took the head coaching job following an eight-year run at Detroit Martin Luther King, where he led the Crusaders to four state titles and developed 2019 grad Dequan Finn (Toledo, Baylor, Miami (OH)) and 2023 grad Dante Moore (UCLA, Oregon) into Division-I college quarterbacks.

Coffman credits Spencer for helping develop his leadership style and turn him into a future Division-I signal caller.

“Obviously, with him coming in and trying to set the culture, and me being the guy to kind of help facilitate that, I’ve had a lot of conversations with him about leadership,” Coffman said. “He’s a great leader and has pushed me to be better by just giving me tips about what makes those guys (Finn and Moore) excel and how I can grow into that.”

Big Ten-Bound

Given Spencer’s history of coaching high-level high school quarterbacks, his opinion carries a lot of weight when assessing the position, and he thinks Coffman has what it takes to compile a strong college career.

“He definitely has the arm talent to make every throw,” Spencer said of Coffman, who will enroll early at MSU. “He’s a very quick processor, very smart and an outstanding leader, and he just makes really good decisions, and those are things that Dante and Dequan also had.”

While Coffman doesn’t yet have the size of Moore (6-foot-3, 206 pounds) or the speed of Finn, his work ethic is something that stands out among quarterbacks Spencer has coached.

“He’s very intentional about getting better and improving, and I just think he has a different mindset than most people, which has really worked out for him,” he said. “I think that that mindset that he has to grind and work hard makes him like a grown man when it comes to his workouts. I’ll drive in the neighborhood and see him walking his dog at 5:30 a.m., so he’s a different kind of kid, and I think that’s something that really sets him apart.”

“I really hope that he gets the training he needs and the investment because I think he’s going to be a really good one,” he added. “I hope he doesn’t really rush into it because I think quarterbacks need a year of learning and understanding in college, so I hope they invest in him, take their time because they’ll get a really good product.”

Unfinished Business

Before he heads to East Lansing, Coffman and his East Kentwood teammates continue their season against Howell (9-1) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. district final at the Highlanders’ home field.

The Falcons have already achieved their highest win total since 2018 and could easily be undefeated, after losing to Rockford by a touchdown and to Hudsonville on a last-second touchdown pass.

Spencer said Coffman was instrumental in keeping his team focused after the two tough losses.

“He made sure the guys kept perspective because it’s a long season,” Spencer said. “He’s part of our leadership council, and those guys meet as a team and make sure that we stay focused, and he’s definitely been a part of that, and they’ve done a great job. He’s one of the better leaders that I’ve had, and he’s going to make sure that we do exactly what we have to do.”

If East Kentwood hopes to capture its first state title in program history, the Falcons will need to win four more games against quality opponents, and Coffman views those Rockford and East Kentwood losses and valuable lessons for the team’s playoff run.

“At the end of the day, we obviously didn’t get it done, but we have more experience in those tighter games and know what it feels like, and we’ve got to make sure we can get the ball to bounce our way next time,” he said. “We’ve had some difficult drives where we’ve had to go down and score to give us a shot to win, and we’ve had times where we did it, and times we didn’t. We did it against Hudsonville, and we didn’t against Rockford, and all those experiences are going to pay off eventually, so we’ll be ready when we see those situations again.”