Rocky Lombardi flying high as he heads home for Michigan State's clash at Iowa

It’s been a while since Michigan State played at Iowa, so it’s fitting the Spartans come to town with someone familiar with his surroundings.

OK, Rocky Lombardi hails from Clive, Iowa, just outside Des Moines and roughly 120 miles from the Iowa campus in Iowa City. But hey, it’s close enough to call this a homecoming for the Spartans quarterback and one he’s looking forward to playing.

“It’ll be emotional for me,” Lombardi said as Michigan State prepared for Saturday’s noon kickoff against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. “This is real homecoming for me. I’ve had this game circled since I committed here my junior year in high school.”

No, this specific game did not exist back in April 2016 when Lombardi made the call to become a Spartan, but even though the Spartans and Hawkeyes have been far from regular opponents the last few years, Lombardi knew it was likely they’d square off during his career. What makes this even better for Lombardi is the fact he’s now playing a significant role.

No longer is he the backup, watching as Brian Lewerke started for three straight years, getting only a handful of opportunities to get on the field, most notably when Lewerke was injured in 2018. Now, after winning a quarterback battle that spanned the stunted offseason and a shortened preseason camp, Lombardi is proving he’s the right man for the job.

In each of Michigan State’s first two games, Lombardi has thrown for more than 300 yard and three touchdowns, and after turning it over three times in the opening loss to Rutgers, he didn’t lose the ball once in last week’s win over Michigan.

“From game one to game two, there were some things that I did better and from game two to game three there’ll be some things that I’m going to do better,” Lombardi said. “I’m just going to continue to improve, continue to show my worth for this football team and continue to lead.”

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That progression he’s counting on from week-to-week has been steadily coming the past three seasons. At times it was tough being a backup, especially in 2018 when Lombardi started three times, winning twice. However, last season consisted mostly of mop-up duty.

Still, Lombardi believes he made the most of his time in the program.

“I definitely feel like I've improved so much in two years,” he said. “Watching myself play as a freshman, sometimes you just sit there and you cringe at some of the plays. You're like, ‘Man, I could have done this so much better, I could have done that so much better.’ But I'm still improving.”

That goes for how Lombardi has progressed on the field. What’s almost as important are the strides Lombardi has taken that don’t have to do with reading defenses and executing deep throws.

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Instead, it’s been about simply growing up.

“Just being in college and getting older, you learn about yourself,” Lombardi said. “Me especially, I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a human being. I’ve taken a lot of consideration into mental health and what to think about, how to get over a loss or how to get over something that you thought you could have done better at.”

That’s been critical as Lombardi has ascended to the starting quarterback position and has become, clearly, one of the leaders of the team. Players gravitate toward him, something that has been evident in recent years, even when he wasn’t getting regular playing time.

It’s something his coach, Mel Tucker sees, as his young quarterback gets set to return to his home state.

“He’s excited, he's up for meetings, he's up for practices; you know, he loves football,” Tucker said. “And I’ve heard him express to our team that he knows that this game is gonna be a physical game and we’ve got to get better this week in practice. He's verbalized that to our football team. And that's what leaders do. And so our processes is day to day, working to get better, working to improve, working on our technique and fundamentals and our toughness.”

Michigan State expects that improvement against the Hawkeyes, a team that is trying to avoid falling to 0-3 for the first time since 2000. And the Spartans do so with a confident quarterback who is ready to play close to home.

“It'll be really good,” Lombardi said. “My mom doesn't get to come to a lot of games because I’ve got four other siblings that are all busy, all involved in sports. My sisters are in state volleyball this week and they've been in state volleyball every year that I've been in college, so she's been very busy. It’ll be nice to have her come to the game and my sisters get to come see me play. It doesn't really happen often.

“But it’s just another game. I’ve got to prepare like I do every other game, just go out and play the best I can.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau