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WINTER FOOTBALL UPDATE

‘WE’LL RESTART THIS’

A Resurgent Mark Dantonio Gets Geared Up For More

FIRST LOOK

2016-17 MSU BASKETBALL SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT RESULT/TIME Nov 11 vs Arizona* (*neutral) L 65-63 Nov 15 vs Kentucky* L 69-48 Nov 18 vs Mississippi Valley State W 100-53 Nov 20 vs Florida Gulf Coast W 78-77 Nov 23 vs St John’s* W 73-62 Nov 24 vs Baylor* L 73-58 Nov 25 vs Wichita St* W 77-72 Nov 29 @ Duke L 78-69 Dec 3 vs Oral Roberts W 80-76 Dec 6 vs Youngstown State W 77-57 Dec 10 vs Tennessee Tech W 71-63 Dec 18 vs Northeastern L 81-73 Dec 21 vs Oakland W 77-65 Dec 27 @ Minnesota W 75-74 OT Dec 30 vs Northwestern W 61-52

Jan 4 Jan 7 Jan 11 Jan 15 Jan 21 Jan 24 Jan 29 Feb 2 Feb 7 Feb 11 Feb 14 Feb 18 Feb 23 Feb 26 Mar 1 Mar 5

vs Rutgers vs Penn State vs Minnesota @ Ohio State @ Indiana vs Purdue vs Michigan @ Nebraska @ Michigan vs Iowa vs Ohio State @ Purdue vs Nebraska vs Wisconsin @ Illinois @ Maryland

W 93-65 L 72-63 W 65-47 L 72-67 4 p.m.

7 p.m.

1 p.m.

7 p.m.

9 p.m.

6 p.m.

9 p.m.

4 p.m.

7 p.m.

TBD 9 p.m.

TBD

Charter Mem­ber

Vol. 27, No. 1 Executive Editor & Publisher Jim Comparoni Assistant Editor Paul Konyndyk

Eron Harris leads the Spartan huddle.

M.S. View..................................................3

Comp’s Conversations............................... 44-47

Spartan Scene..................................... 4-12

Michigan State Hockey............................ 48-51

Michigan State Basketball....................... 14-23

Michigan State Women’s Basketball....... 52-53

Michigan State Winter Football......... 24-43

Football Recruiting.............................54-55

Cover Photo By Robert Hendricks

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2

January 2017

M.S. VIEW Jim Comparoni It was the best of times. And it butted smack-dab into some of the worst of times. There was no transitionary period. It went from bliss to blah.

Make Sure to Appreciate the Happy Ones Along the Way This is the time of year when Michigan State is often unable to dominate on the basketball court, with an air of concern that a slip-up here or there could cause the Spartans’ NCAA Tournament streak to bend and break.

This is also the time of year when I often write that Tom Izzo will straighten things out by correcting his veterans, by getting them healthy, getting their wicks properly lit, and getting enough practices logged for the Spartans to get their crap together in time for the usual dash of March bravado.

I think I’ve used the phrase, “We’ve seen this movie before,” to quell the concerns.

This year, I’ve heard others say they’ve seen this movie before. But they haven’t. The characters are different, the plot is thicker, and the script is open-ended.

I fully expect Michigan State to become a good team by early February, and possibly a dangerous team by March, if everyone stays healthy.

But I’m not guaranteeing it because this year’s Spartan basketball movie is harder to predict, and Izzo knows it.

During his media day press conference in October, he didn’t say anything about the Final Four, or aiming for the Big Ten Championship. In the past, he has always used that press conference as a means of drumming up attention for his program and rallying support by making ambitious statements about being happy to play any opponent anywhere, any time, and proclaiming that he expects the Spartans to be among the best.

“The goals are the same,” he usually says. He didn’t say it this time.

This year, he steered clear from that stuff. He wasn’t sure.

He’s never had to depend on so many freshmen before, and so many other players with new, pressurized roles. And he was doing it this year after losing his two experienced big men, Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter, to injury in the same week.

Izzo held his tongue. That’s not like him. But it was the right thing to do because he didn’t know what was ahead.

He was less sure than any time since 1997.

Then the most talented freshman he has ever had, Miles Bridges, went down with a foot injury. This took place at the end of a string of games and travel mileage that Izzo says challenged his team unlike any he has ever had.

“I’ll never do that again,” Izzo said. “I would play the same games, but not all in one string like that, with all of the travel.”

And with all of these freshmen.

“The thing we missed out on the most was practice time,” Izzo said. “We couldn’t get on the court and work on things.”

They didn’t look like a Michigan State team, when they lost to Northeastern and fell behind by double digits in the Big Ten opener at Minnesota. But then they rallied and beat the Gophers, and then Bridges came back.

When the Spartans improved to 3-0 in the Big Ten, Izzo regained that hungry smile, stuck his chest out, and said the things he usually says in October.

“The goals haven’t changed,” he told us.

He might have told the team that, previously. But he had never volunteered those words to the public. But he felt it was time. He felt confident.

That meant Big Ten title contention and the goal of a long run in March, with the Final Four back on his radar.

It was starting to feel like the same movie. Spartan basketball was a “buy” on the roundball stock exchange again.

He started the four freshmen together for the first time, in the next game. And they lost at Penn State.

One or two of the freshmen Cadillacked a little too much, and so did one or two of the veterans. It wasn’t clear

if some of the guys didn’t respect the opponent, didn’t respect the game, didn’t respect the process.

Izzo, in his 22nd year as head coach at Michigan State, felt like a rookie again.

“This is the roller coaster you get with freshmen,” he said.

“These are uncharted waters for them. And unchartered waters for me, too.”

Depending on freshmen isn’t the Izzo way. He’s the poster boy for wringing excellence from seniors. This year, he’s trying to find consistency in his 13th-graders.

Then they played their best basketball of the year in beating Minnesota for a second time. Izzo used another old phrase of his, talking about taking this team from good to great.

Good to great?

He was already conceding “good” for this team?

Well, kind of. But he knew better than to compliment them too much.

When they started to play well against Minnesota and Rutgers, that’s when Izzo starting raising his decibel level on them higher than at any time all season. They were winning and improving, so it was time to start yelling louder, demanding more, making threats of bodily harm. He knew they might have a tendency to think they were good. That can be dangerous. And it did.

They became the first Big Ten team to lose to Ohio State.

Bridges played his best game since November that day. But the rest of the band choked.

Freshman center Nick Ward froze against his home-state Buckeyes. Freshman guard Cassius Winston played a season-low in minutes. Senior Eron Harris was benched for most of the second half for reasons that I still didn’t quite understand even after asking Izzo about it two days after the game. But Izzo has his reasons, and his experiences, and his code. But it’s all being tested in ways that even have the great Izzo sometimes a half-step behind the team’s changing tides.

He was thrilled to sign Bridges, Ward, Winston and Joshua Langford. But he wishes they had more big brothers to look up to and learn from than just TumTum Nairn. He wishes Gavin Schilling were available and Deyonta Davis still in the fold, even though those guys were never quite Lewis & Clark in terms of helping others find their way. But they knew the process, understood the Izzo code and could log some important miles in helping these guys and this team, along.

Izzo is trying to cram three years of programming into these guys in three months. The supporting cast is a hodgepodge of fine boys who dreamed of starting for Michigan State, but once the heat of those lights was on them, Kyle Ahrens, Matt McQuaid and walk-ons Kenny Goins and Matt Van Dyk melted a little bit. Sometimes they’re pretty good. Sometimes they wilt. And Harris is teetering like many seniors seem to do under the pressure of Izzo’s expectations.

These guys can help. They can play roles. But don’t ask them to transform overnight into what Austin Thornton took five years to become, when he served as one of Draymond Green’s wing men in helping the Spartans win unexpected Big Ten regular season and tournament titles in 2012.

The sum of this year’s parts could yield terrific basketball and tremendous wins in the comings weeks. But it’s all resting on a tender, fragile undercarriage of rookies, with a freshman wall yet to be hurdled.

These are good freshmen. That’s why they have a chance.

But Izzo warns that they aren’t Kentucky freshmen. He doesn’t have a mess of one-and-done lottery pick freshmen

in this litter.

What he does need is an extra push from the Breslin crowd a few times in the second half of the season. He thought the home crowd was great the night of the win over Northwestern, in late December when the Izzone alumni filled the rows around the court.

But then when the actual Izzone returned for the second Minnesota game, they were stale, and so was the rest of the crowd for the outset of the game, due in part to the latearriving nature of things this year caused by a new parking garage on Harrison, and unexpected gridlock for thousands of fans. Izzo doesn’t care about excuses. He was bothered that at one point he had to try to get the Izzone into it. They kind of rallied. Kind of didn’t.

This is all so off-script.

No, you’ve never seen this movie before. And you don’t deserve the suspense. Considering the horrific 2016 you endured, you deserve to have your feet up in an easy chair, sipping a good glass of Scotch, watching blowout after blowout from this team.

Dating back to last March 18, you absorbed the loss to Middle Tennessee State, and then a 3-9 football season. And then a 4-4 start to this basketball season, heading into December.

One and done? 3-9? 4-4? What kind of hot garbage is that?

And this was immediately following a flurry of success that few athletic departments have ever experienced. Prior to that Middle Tennessee State game, MSU had won nine straight and was ranked No. 2 in the nation, and was the favorite to win the National Championship. Earlier in the year, when Izzo’s team was 13-0 and No. 1 in the country, Mark Dantonio’s football team was 12-1 at that very moment and readying for a game against Alabama in the College Football Playoff.

At that point, Dantonio had gone 38-5 in the previous three-plus seasons with four straight bowl wins. Izzo had taken a team to his seventh Final Four just nine months earlier.

Michigan State was the only school in the history of intercollegiate athletics to win four straight bowl games while simultaneously advancing to four straight Sweet 16s.

It was the best of times. And it butted smack-dab into some of the worst of times. There was no transitionary period. It went from bliss to blah.

And now, we wait for what’s next. The next set of weeks is a key transitionary period not only for this young band of MSU basketball players, but also for Izzo as he tries to rack up enough wins to secure a 20th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

And he if gets there, and this team can jell like he thinks it can, like he will challenge it to do, then, who knows? They might become capable of beating anyone - just like some of his previous 19 NCAA Tournament teams.

It’s also a transitionary period for Dantonio. Can he correct the problems of last year and reverse Michigan State’s football recession?

The next chapters of their history are unwritten and — for the first time in a long time — wildly uncertain.

You’ve not seen this movie before. But if the endings of the next volumes are happy ones, then please make sure to appreciate them along the way. And thank you for trusting SPARTAN Magazine to deliver a portion of your coverage through all of this. We’ll see you at SpartanMag.com, where our news organization will continue to cover and analyze these happenings better than we’ve ever done before, on a daily basis, an hourly basis, better than Michigan State sports have ever been chronicled.

SPARTAN Magazine

3

SPARTAN SCENE

Despite Disappointing Season, McDowell Forecasted for First Round COMPILED BY DOUG WARREN Michigan State defensive lineman Malik McDowell (2016) has applied for early entry into the 2017 NFL Draft.

When healthy, McDowell was a versatile and disruptive presence on the Spartans’ defensive front, playing both end and tackle. At 6-foot-6, 276 pounds, he has the length and athleticism that NFL scouts look for.

His production this year, however, didn’t match his talent. His junior season was compromised by an ankle injury that sidelined him for MSU’s last three regular-season games against Rutgers, Ohio State and Penn State.

He’s also been nagged by rib injuries this year.

McDowell made 1.5 sacks among seven tackles for loss in nine games, eight of them starts. In 2015 as a sophomore, he didn’t miss a start in MSU’s 14 games, making 13 tackles for loss (including 4.5 sacks) and two forced fumbles.

Before the season began, McDowell said he would only enter the draft as an underclassman if he was projected as a top-three selection.

College Football 24/7 voted Malik McDowell McDowell the nation’s No. 20 player before the season. McDowell (NFL. to mention marketing and endorsement deals (SportsAgentBlog.com, com, 12/6/16).

12/14/16).

McDowell joins Rosenhaus Sports: Pro Football Focus Says McDowell Tweets by NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus announced in December that Michi- #15 to Tennessee: Pro Football Focus’ gan State defensive lineman Malik most recent mock draft projects an McDowell has signed to be represent- MSU player to head to Music City in round one for the second-straight ed by Rosenhaus Sports.

Coming off a disappointing season year: as a team at Michigan State, McDowell 15. Tennessee Titans: Malik is projected to be a first-round NFL draft pick. The 6-foot-6, 276 pound McDowell, DL, Michigan State The Titans go defense once again, defensive tackle had until January 16 to declare for the draft, but with Mich- this time adding great size to the igan State not playing in a bowl game, defensive front in the six-foot-six McDowell got a jump start on his McDowell. He finished 12th in the decision. ESPN’s Mel Kiper ranks him nation with a pass-rush grade of 85.7 as No. 7 on his most recent big board, while using his quick hands and burst while Todd McShay ranks him 10th. to make plays against the run (84.1 CBSSports.com’s Dane Brugler proj- grade). Tennessee already has Jurrell ects him as the fourth overall pick to Casey at one defensive end spot in Jacksonville. McDowell is coming off their 3-4 and McDowell fortifies that an injury-ridden junior season which line even further. McDowell’s twosaw his productivity decrease, but was year production has been strong, but also constantly facing double teams by there may be even more in the tank and he may just take another step forthe opponents offensive lines.

With these two additions to his cli- ward in his first couple years as a pro ent roster, Rosenhaus now represents (ProFootballFocus.com, 12/17/16). almost 200 clients, or roughly 10 perKirk Cousins’ Biggest Fan: Washcent of NFL players. His success in the industry is widely seen, having been ington quarterback Kirk Cousins active for 27 years and negotiating (MSU 2012) still has his doubters, but over $2 billion in NFL contracts, not former Washington coach Mike Sha4

January 2017

nahan might be his most vocal public believer, and he was proselytizing about the QB he drafted three rounds after Robert Griffin III in 2012 again Wednesday.

“There’s no question he is a franchise guy,” Shanahan told Fox Sports 1’s Colin Cowherd. “You give him a good system, and Kirk Cousins will win you a Super Bowl. There’s no question. He’s got all of the intangibles that you look for. In fact, one of the reasons I’m not at Washington is, you know, we had a conversation relative to Robert or Kirk, but what Kirk did away from the football field . . . I’ve never been around a person that worked that hard, studied that hard.

He’s got a great feel, and I think people see [it]. He’s very similar to Drew Brees. When [Brees] was at San Diego, then all of a sudden he went to Miami, he went to New Orleans. [People asked,] ‘Can Drew Brees play?’ And all of a sudden the rest is history. I think Kirk Cousins is that type of guy.”

This isn’t the first time someone has compared Cousins to Brees, a late bloomer who has developed into one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. It’s also not the first time that Shanahan has attempted to distance himself from Washington’s decision to trade for Griffin, or mentioned Cousins and

Super Bowl in the same sentence.

“I think he’s a guy that can take your team and win a Super Bowl,” Shanahan told ESPN 980 four games into last season, when Cousins had thrown as many interceptions (four) as touchdown passes. “And that’s the biggest compliment I can give somebody.

Does this person have the ability, the ingredients, that if he has the right supporting cast on offense, defense and special teams, can he win you a Super Bowl? And I believe that Kirk Cousins has that ability.”

In March, Shanahan said Washington’s signing of Cousins to a long-term deal would be “the best thing they’ve ever done.”

“He’s not going to get worse,” he told ESPN 980. “And you just take a look at what he was able to do — his rookie year, his second year, his third year. You’ve got to have that quarterback, and he will be a guy that can win you Super Bowls.”

Super Bowls, plural. Shanahan wasn’t done. In the same interview, he talked about Cousins’s courage to hang in the pocket and his off-thecharts intelligence.

“You know, he’s probably too smart to be a football player,” Shanahan said.

“He’s got the mobility, the quick release. You know what it is, is he

SPARTAN SCENE makes people better around him. He’s a guy that you just like, you’re rooting for if you’re an offensive player, defensive player. And as a coach, those guys are hard to find — guys that you count on when the pressure’s on you. He’s going to be a guy that takes all the blame. Hey, it’s never anybody else’s fault; it’s his fault. And that’s how guys get into the Hall of Fame.”

It’s no surprise that Shanahan, out of a job since he was fired by Washington owner Daniel Snyder after the 2013 season, continues to speak highly of Cousins. The better Cousins plays, the better Shanahan’s decision to draft him looks in hindsight. Shanahan has expressed interest in possibly returning to the NFL in some sort of front-office role.

“I’m not looking for a head coaching job, to be honest with you,” Shanahan told Cowherd. “I think maybe I could help an organization some way, of what it takes to win Super Bowls, but I think really, this game is for younger guys, guys that are really fired up to run a team, to put a good team together, but that head coach has to have a good supporting cast to win a Super Bowl” (Washington Post, 12/22/16).

Broadway Kirk? Not Likely: Washington had just defeated the Green Bay Packers 42-24 on November 20, and Kirk Cousins, the quarterback in limbo, found Washington general manager Scot McCloughan on the sideline.

“How do you like me now?!” he shouted. “How do you like me now?!”

McCloughan reached for a celebratory handshake but instead received a robust hand-slap and head-rub.

A more private moment from earlier that week revealed much more about what it’s like to be Cousins this season.

The quarterback and McCloughan crossed paths in the hallway at Washington’s football complex.

“Can we catch up for a minute?”

Cousins asked.

“Sure. Let’s go in my office,” McCloughan replied.

What followed was a discussion similar to others the quarterback and general manager have had since March, when Washington decided to place the franchise tag on Cousins instead of giving him a long-term contract.

Cousins, who will be out of term on his contract again at the end of the season, was playing well. But he couldn’t be sure whether that was enough.

“Where do things stand?” he asked.

“You are a football player,”

McCloughan told him. “I’m looking for football players—guys who have strong character, work hard and put the team first. If you keep doing that, good things will happen.”

The words were reassuring. Cousins knew from studying McCloughan’s style that they weren’t empty.

“He’s one of the biggest reasons why I feel great about (playing for Washington),” Cousins says. “He’s the biggest reason, along with Coach [Jay] Gruden, that I’m playing in the first

mann and Matthew McConaughey are among many who have endorsed him.

But as the Redskins lost three of their last four games, Cousins’ future remained unsettled. He had one of his worst performances of the season in a loss to the Carolina Panthers in midDecember.

So whether Cousins has support from high in the Washington organization remains to be seen. It is team president Bruce Allen who makes

Kirk Cousins

place. He had to make a tough stand to say, ‘I think we should play Kirk.’ He’s always been in my corner, and that’s a really good thing for me.”

For Cousins to remain in Washington beyond this season, McCloughan and Gruden will have to stay in his corner. And that appears to be a given.

Cousins has thrown for the secondmost yards (4,360) in the NFL. His passer rating (98.3) is the sixth-best. It would be difficult for Washington to find a better quarterback. Joe Theis-

sure every one of Dan Snyder’s pennies is well spent. And it is Snyder, who has governed more like a fan than an owner at times, who could overrule all on a whim.

After practice, Cousins walks out to the players’ parking lot. He steps into his 16-year-old GMC Savana conversion van, parked a few spots away from a Bentley Bentayga, a Maserati Ghibli Q4 and a Mercedes S 65 AMG. He bought the van from his grandmother for $5,000 a couple of years

ago. He also has a pickup truck as part of an agreement with a local dealership, but he likes driving the van.

He dreams about buying a nice car one day.

He drives five minutes to a townhouse he rents from former Washington offensive tackle Chris Samuels.

His lease is for one year.

The place is fine for a quarterback in limbo. The living room gets a little cramped when Cousins has teammates over for Thursday night Bible study, though. And Cousins’ wife, Julie, would like a fenced-in yard so Bentley, their goldendoodle, can run.

Someday, they hope soon, they will need a little more space if their family should grow.

For about a year now, Kirk and Julie have been studying nearby areas where they might buy. They search Zillow together and think about options.

What do they want in a house? Where can they find the type of house in which they would be happy for a long time? Which school systems are best?

Can they get to where they frequently need to go easily enough? What are the demographics of each neighborhood?

It could be any one of the Virginia towns of Ashburn, Reston or Leesburg.

Or maybe their next home will be hundreds of miles away. Imagine following the path of Robert Griffin III and going to the Cleveland Browns.

The Jets should be in the quarterback market. Broadway Kirk?

Cousins grew up in a suburb of Chicago—might he return home to the Bears? Could he envision living in Silicon Valley and wearing San Francisco 49ers colors?

Kirk and Julie like Northern Virginia. And Cousins has immersed himself in playing for Washington.

When he was drafted in 2012, he wanted to know everything he could about his new team. His uncle Bill McClaren knows a lot about football, so Cousins asked him if he could research Washington’s NFL history for him.

Now Cousins can talk to you about George Preston Marshall moving the team from Boston in 1937, about Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, the Over-the-Hill Gang and the Hogs. He’s heard the story about President Nixon allegedly calling a play, and he knows all about Joe Gibbs winning three Super Bowls with three quarterbacks.

It would be something for Cousins to one day be mentioned with Billy Kilmer and Sonny Jurgensen as part of this team’s rich history.

“To go somewhere, you have to know where you come from,” Cousins SPARTAN Magazine

5

SPARTAN SCENE says. “I’m a history guy to begin with.

That’s another reason I love being in D.C.” He also values the guidance he gets from Gruden, play-caller Sean McVay and quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh. He trusts McCloughan will continue to build Washington into a power.

“I do like this team,” Cousins says.

And he’s connected with many of his teammates. “I feel really good about him being my quarterback,” tight end Jordan Reed says. “I’m excited to grow with him and be even more comfortable playing with him. He has been everything to me. When you don’t have a quarterback who can get you the ball, you can’t do so well. His ball placement, for me, is perfect a lot of times.”

Reed and Cousins have ascended together, a testament to the power of two. If not for Cousins’ play last year, Reed might not have been given a five-year, $46.75 million contract extension last May. Cousins has talked about the benefits of becoming a “mature” team as he continues to work with teammates like Reed. But for the maturity to continue, Cousins will have to get his.

His purgatory could continue for another year. Or even another two years. Washington could tag him again this offseason at a cost of $23,943,600, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

They could even tag him a third time, but that would run them $34,478,784.

And in 2019, at the age of 31—in the prime of a quarterback’s career— Cousins would be free to sign with whomever he chooses.

Cousins is going to be well off no matter what happens. He already is, as his 2016 salary of $19.9 million should mean he is set for life.

But it doesn’t feel that way to the quarterback.

He’d like one of those luxurious massage chairs, but he refuses to spend the $8,000. When his bedroom mattress needed to be replaced, he called his marketing agent to see whether he could swing a deal to get a free one. He and Julie keep a Word document on their computer with all of their tax deductions. And he absolutely plans on deducting that $4.75 Wendy’s meal he ate on a business trip.

His biggest recent expenditure was giving his offensive linemen custommade suits for the holidays. Those who are close to him will tell you he spends freely that way.

This is about money. It always is.

But it’s also about more. It’s about security. And about wanting to be wanted. Again.

Not so long ago, Cousins was told 6

January 2017

Kirk Cousins

he was not good enough to play on the sixth-grade “A” football team. He had nary a scholarship offer as a high school senior until late in the process, until all of the most sought-after recruits had committed. Michigan State tried to replace him—first with Nick Foles and then with Keith Nichol. On draft day, Cousins was expecting to go in the second round. Then the third. But not the fourth.

“My story has always been one of feeling a need to prove myself,” he says. “I’m in the same place now, always trying to prove myself.”

He knows he would be wanted if he became an unrestricted free agent. In March, the Houston Texans gave Brock Osweiler a four-year, $72 million contract with $37 million guaranteed after just seven career starts. You think Cousins took note of that?

Cousins knows it is best if he puts it out of his mind. But he can’t.

The 28-year-old is a contemplative man. Earlier in his career, he often found himself in the grip of “anticipatory stress” before games. He’s dealing with that better this season, having learned to relax more. But worrying about next year is something else.

“I do worry about what’s going to happen,” he says. “Where am I going to go? That’s where my faith becomes such a big part of my life. I have to remind myself that I claim to be a Christian. That means the Lord is in

control of my life. He says in Matthew 6, do not worry. He’s going to take care of me. He’s going to provide. To worry is a lack of faith. Even when people say, ‘How can you have peace?’ The Bible says I need to have peace. I want to be a testimony to that on a daily basis and not display worry but to display calm and peace amid what many perceive to be a very uncertain situation.”

Julie is the perfect companion to guide him through his period of uncertainty. She is as calm as he is anxious, and they are partners for a reason. She gets him to walk when his instinct is to run.

“My wife handles it better than me,” he says. “The stress or the demands of the league, she flies above it. She loves the adventure. She’s up for the challenge. So I get a ton of support from her. She doesn’t ride the roller coaster, which has been a huge benefit to me.”

That ride has more drops and hairpin turns to come. Cousins knows the Redskins’ final two regular-season games could affect the rest of his NFL career.

“Ultimately, this is about wins and losses,” the quarterback in limbo says.

“We all know these last games will tell a big part of the story.”

Cousins walked into Washington’s locker room after a November victory over the Minnesota Vikings. He closed his eyes and yelled in a high pitch,

“Oooooweeee!”

This, understand, is a motivated individual. And he has no qualms about spinning the roulette wheel and putting all of his chips on No. 8.

“He enjoys playing on a one-year deal,” Julie says. “He plays with a chip on his shoulder. And he plays better, I think. He’s always going to be a passionate guy, but when there is a lot at stake, that’s when he really just grinds and yells, ‘Oooooweeee’ on the sidelines and rubs people’s heads. That’s when the real Kirk comes out, when he’s doubted.”

Cousins never was supposed to be looking at a contract that could earn him $24 million per year and make him one of the NFL’s highest-paid players. He was the afterthought quarterback, chosen by the Redskins in the fourth round exactly 100 picks after they took Griffin.

But it turned out RG3 was a one-hit wonder, and the coaches and execs who were tied to him were fired. Last season, the new regime—led by McCloughan and Gruden—decided to give Cousins a chance. He played so well that the Redskins couldn’t let him go when his contract expired. But they weren’t ready to make a long-term commitment to him.

Hence the franchise tag and the continued evaluation of a quarterback who has been on Washington’s campus for nearly five years.

SPARTAN SCENE

Kirk Cousins

After Washington lost the Wild Card Game to the Packers last January, Cousins and Gruden walked from the locker room to the parking lot together. They talked a little about the game, a little about the season. It was mostly small talk. But Gruden said one thing that stuck with Cousins.

“Remember, Kirk, this is only Year 1,” Gruden told him. “You are only going to get better. You’re not going to stay the same. You’re going to keep improving.”

So this year, Cousins went through his first NFL offseason as a starter, getting all the first-team reps in OTAs, minicamp and training camp and having the offense catered to his skill set for the first time.

The result?

“He’s improved in every way,” Gruden says.

In particular, Gruden said Cousins is making better decisions and throwing more accurately—in fact, he uses the word “elite” to describe Cousins in those areas.

Cousins has also become a better deep passer, as McVay has mixed in play action with “shot plays” effectively. Cousins has 58 completions of 20 yards or more, according to STATS. Only Matt Ryan has more, with 61.

Last year, Cousins had 27 all season.

Those long completions aren’t just a lot of screen passes that become big gains. He has 59 attempts on passes of

21 or more air yards and a passer rating of 119.2 on those throws. Nine of his 23 touchdown passes have been on such throws.

Cousins has even improved before the snap.

“He has gotten better in terms of drawing guys, dragging it out to get a tip to what the defense is doing, quick counts, changing the tempo up and running no-huddle,” Gruden says.

There is more room for growth too.

He can get better at handling blitzing, like he saw against the Arizona Cardinals. His red-zone passing has been inconsistent. And he can continue to improve on off-schedule plays.

After being mostly dormant for the first three years of his career, Cousins is still a developing quarterback.

“Unless you are actively taking the reps and working and learning from the mistakes you make and the things you do well, it’s hard to develop,” Gruden says. “People don’t understand that about him. I laugh when I hear people say, ‘Draft a quarterback and let him sit on the sidelines for four or five years, and then he’ll be Aaron Rodgers.’ I think you develop by playing, competing, learning from mistakes.”

There is another way to try to be Rodgers. It’s through continuity, commitment and patience.

Cousins can’t worry about that. He can’t look beyond his next pass.

This is what it’s like to be in limbo (Bleacher report, 12/23/16).

Cook Struggles, Learns: Oakland Raiders coach Jack Del Rio thought about replacing rookie quarterback Connor Cook (MSU 2015) with Matt McGloin after Cook’s poor first half in the Raiders’ 27-14 playoff loss to the Texans on on Jan. 7.

Del Rio said his coaching staff essentially talked him out of it.

“The coaches really felt like there were other things that were kind of contributing [to Cook’s struggles], that it wasn’t going to be a big change based on changing the quarterbacks,” Del Rio said. “So we stayed the course with it. I know [Cook] got a lot of experience in the last game, the last game-and-a-half. He did some good things, and then he did some things that he can certainly learn from.”

Cook, who became the only quarterback in the Super Bowl era to make his first career start in the playoffs, was just 4-of-14 passing for 41 yards with an interception before halftime.

He finished 18-of-45 for 161 yards with one TD and three interceptions for a passer rating of 30.0 in Oakland’s first playoff game in 14 years.

The Raiders lost league MVP candidate Derek Carr to a broken right fibula in the fourth quarter of their Week 16 game against the Indianapolis Colts. As Oakland’s third-string

quarterback, Cook had not dressed for a game until the regular-season finale, a loss to the Broncos. He was pressed into action before halftime in Denver when McGloin injured his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

Cook was named the starter earlier in game week, just before Pro Bowl left tackle Donald Penn was ruled out with a knee injury suffered against Broncos.

“I [was] pressured a little bit, and it got to me sometimes, but it falls on me,” said Cook, the fourth-round pick out of Michigan State who was sacked three times. “There were one or two where I held onto the ball too long, and I just need to get it out of my hands and to the backs, check it down, stuff that I can improve on.”

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Cook was blitzed 14 times by the Texans, and he completed just five passes with two interceptions in those situations. When targeting Amari Cooper, he was just 2-for-10 for 10 yards and no first downs. Six of those 10 passes were either defended (four), intercepted (one) or a dropped interception (one). Cook was also 0-for-5 with a pick targeting Cooper on passes traveling at least 15 yards downfield.

In fact, Cook had more interceptions (two) than completions (one) on passes that went at least 15 yards downfield. He was 1-of-14 for 20 yards on deep passes, the most such attempts with one or fewer completions by a QB in a playoff game in the past 10 seasons.

Compare that to Carr, who was in the top 10 in completion percentage (50.5) and yards per attempt (13.9) on such passes during the season. Add the fact that Carr completed 64.5 percent of his deep passes targeting Cooper (the second-highest completion percentage targeting a wide receiver in the NFL, with a minimum of 20 such attempts), and you see what was missing from Oakland’s attack.

Beyond that, the Raiders failed to gain a yard on 37 of 69 plays (54 percent). Only twice during the regular season did a team fail to gain a yard on a higher percentage of plays.

Did inexperience serve as a factor for Cook?

“Who knows? Maybe, but for myself, I look at it like I was going to come in here, and I was going to play really well,” he said. “I was confident in the game plan. I was confident in the guys around me and that I could rely on them.

“I think, sometimes, I just tried to do a little too much out there. I have high expectations for myself, and to come in here and play like that is not SPARTAN Magazine

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SPARTAN SCENE a good feeling. I want to give my team a better chance to come out and win.

But it’s a learning experience, and we just have to move on.”

Cook was asked what he learned.

“To be more accurate, obviously,” he said with a laugh. “Don’t sail it over guys’ heads and throw interceptions.

Get rid of the ball quicker, and use my check downs.”

Although Carr is expected to make a full recovery, Cook could be his fulltime backup next season, as McGloin is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent. (ESPN.com, 1/8/2017) CONKLIN NAMED All-PRO: Jack Conklin (MSU 2015) knows this is just the beginning. And, wow, what a start.

The Titans’ rookie right tackle was named a first-team NFL All-Pro by The Associated Press on Friday, becoming the franchise’s first player to receive the honor since running back Chris Johnson in 2009 and its first rookie since defensive end Jevon Kearse in 1999.

“At first, it was a bit daunting, just, you’re going to the NFL, it’s 20 games with preseason,” Conklin said as the season concluded. “But it’s been fun.

It’s been a blast. The season’s flown by.

It feels like it just got here in May and it’s January already. It’s been a crazy ride, but it couldn’t have gone much better for me.”

Conklin, selected out of Michigan State with the eighth overall pick in the draft, was previously named a Pro Bowl alternate.

In early January, Conklin was named the best right tackle in pro football by the analytics website Pro Football Focus, which cited him for his powerful run blocking while allowing only two sacks and receiving just two penalties this season.

Conklin is one of three rookies on the All-Pro team, joining Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and Chiefs punt returner Tyreek Hill.

Conklin was “quietly really good,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said during his season-ending press conference. “He did his job, didn’t say a whole lot, but he did an outstanding job to be, really, put in there earlier than we had anticipated. He did a great job for us.”

Conklin started all 16 games as part of a revamped offensive line that helped running back DeMarco Murray lead the AFC in rushing yards and the Titans finish with the third-ranked rushing attack in the NFL. The line allowed 28 sacks, tied for seventhfewest in the NFL, a year after allowing the most in the league.

Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan, 8

January 2017

Jack Conklin

one of five Tennessee players selected to the Pro Bowl this season, said Conklin deserves the honor as well.

Conklin’s candidacy was likely undermined by the selection process because right and left tackles are grouped together.

“He deserves to go to the Pro Bowl, this year,” Lewan said of Conklin as players cleaned out their lockers.

“Jack’s the kind of guy that’s just, he’s Jack. And I mean that (as) the biggest compliment it can possibly be. And the biggest compliment you can get in football is consistency. And Jack is Jack every time, and he plays at a level that rookies don’t play at, that I didn’t play at when I was a rookie. And it’s impressive. And I expect Jack to be Jack next year.”

First-year Titans general manager Jon Robinson, who traded the top overall pick in the draft to the Rams, then traded with the Browns to move up to select Conklin, was promoted to executive vice president/general manager on Thursday.

Conklin praised offensive line coach Russ Grimm, saying the Titans were lucky to learn from a Hall of Famer and member of the legendary Redskins’ line known as The Hogs.

“It’s a resilient group and a hardworking bunch of guys.” Conklin said.

“And for me coming in, to such a young, especially O-line, it was nice to be able to learn with everyone else with the new staff. It wasn’t just the rookie learning by himself. It was the whole group and I think that’s what

helped this team develop and mold together faster.”

The Titans finished 9-7 for their first winning record since 2011, but missed the playoffs by one victory.

Conklin figures to be a franchise cornerstone for years to come.

“I’m excited to see what happens,” he said. “But it’s been fun. There’s a lot to improve on. And there’s a lot more for me to get better at. It’s going to be fun to see how it goes.” (Nashville Tennessean, 1/6/17)

SEVEN SPARTANS APPEAR IN PLAYOFFS

Seven former Michigan State players – Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell, Houston linebacker Max Bullough, Oakland quarterback Con-

SPARTAN SCENE (1,268 yards) and eighth in carries (261) and rushing average (4.8) . . . also ranked second among RBs in receptions (75) and receiving yards (616) . . . eclipsed 6,000 yards from scrimmage in his NFL career vs. Baltimore in Week 16 – his 47th career game – tying Eric Dickerson for the second-fewest games played to reach that milestone in NFL history . . . recorded 100 scrimmage yards in seven consecutive games and 11 of his 12 games in 2016 . . . rushed for a Steelers single-game record with 236 yards in the Week 14 win over Buffalo; also tied a team record with three rushing TDs and his 298 scrimmage yards marked the second most in team history . . . had six 100-yard rushing games in 2016 (144 vs. Kansas City in Week 4; 146 vs. Cleveland in Week 11; 120 vs. Indianapolis in Week 12; 118 vs. New York Giants in Week 13; 236 vs. Buffalo in Week 14; 122 vs. Baltimore in Week 16) . . .

CAREER: Has rushed for 4,045 yards and 26 touchdowns in 47 games (86.1 ypg; 4.5 avg.) . . . also has 2,005 receiving yards on 227 catches for five TDs . . . already ranks among Pittsburgh’s all-time leaders in rushing yards (fifth with 4,045), rushing TDs (tied for sixth with 26) and scrimmage yards (ninth with 6,050). . . . ranks tied for second among active NFL players with 32 games of at least 100 scrimmage yards . . . . since his arrival to the NFL in 2013, ranks first in the NFL in scrimmage yards per game (128.7).

LB Max Bullough — Houston Texans (third season)

Le’Veon Bell

nor Cook, Houston defensive tackle Joel Heath, Miami cornerback Tony Lippett, Houston wide receiver Keith Mumphery and Miami tight end Dion Sims — participated in the 2017 NFL Playoffs.

Spartans whose teams qualified for than 100 yards rushing (105.7) and 50 yards receiving (51.3) . . . rushed for the NFL Playoffs.

RB Le’Veon Bell — Pitts- 1,268 yards and seven TDs on 261 burgh Steelers (fourth season) carries in just 12 games while helping Earned his second trip to the Pro lead the Steelers to the AFC North Bowl after leading the NFL in scrim- title . . . also recorded 75 receptions mage yards per game (157.0), which for 616 yards and two scores . . . finWILD CARD ranked third in NFL single-season ished the regular season ranked secWEEKEND SCHEDULE history . . . named the Steelers Most ond in the NFL in rushing yards per Valuable Player . . . became first play- game (105.7 ypg.), third in yards from (involving former Spartans) Here’s a look at the seven former er in NFL history to average more scrimmage (1,884), fifth in rushing

Played in all 16 games for the Texans, including three starts . . . recorded 25 tackles . . . in a starting role, tied his season high with five tackles in the regular-season finale at Tennessee . . . also had five stops in Week 1 vs.

Chicago . . . had four tackles while earning a starting assignment in a Week 2 win over Kansas City . . . started and tied a season best with five tackles at New England in Week 3 . . . CAREER: Has 56 career tackles in 30 games, including four starts, in three seasons with the Texans.

QB Connor Cook — Oakland Raiders (rookie season)

Made his NFL debut in the regularseason finale at Denver . . . completed 14-of-21 passes for 150 yards, one touchdown and one interception against the Broncos . . . threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper in the third quarter . . . is slated to start in the AFC Wild Card game at Houston and will become the first player in NFL history (since the SPARTAN Magazine

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SPARTAN SCENE reserve Dec. 23 . . . his first career NFL tackle was a half sack in the win at Tennessee in Week 3 . . . had a season-high three tackles in Week 6 at Kansas City . . . recorded a tackle and broke up a pass vs. Houston in Week 11.

TE Garrett Celek — San Francisco 49ers (fifth season)

Fifth-year veteran tight end recorded career highs in receptions (29), receiving yards (350) and games played (16) . . . also tied his career best with three touchdown catches . . . started six times . . . had a careerhigh four receptions of 20-plus yards and 20 of his 29 receptions went for first downs . . . recorded a seasonhigh five catches for 79 yards at Dallas in Week 5 . . . had four receptions for 76 yards at New Orleans in Week 9 . . . CAREER: In 55 career games, has 56 catches for 678 yards (12.1 avg.) and six touchdowns.

OT Jack Conklin — Tennessee Titans (rookie season)

Connor Cook

Super Bowl era) to start a postseason 11 pass break-ups and four intercep game at quarterback without starting tions in 25 career games.

A total of 28 former Spartans saw at QB in the regular season.

action in the NFL during the 2016 seaWR Keith Mumphery — son. Below is an update on the other DT Joel Heath — Houston Houston Texans Spartans currently on active NFL rosTexans (rookie season) (second season) ters who played during the regular Played in 12 games, including six Played in 11 games, including three season. starts, his rookie season . . . started six starts, for the AFC South Champion

of the last eight regular-season games Texans . . . had 10 catches for 69 yards C Jack Allen — New Orleans for the AFC South Champion Texans (6.9 avg.) . . . started three of the last Saints (rookie season) . . . tallied eight tackles . . . in the four games of the regular season . . .

Was on the active roster for the regular-season finale at Tennessee, eight of his receptions came in the final three games of the season but recorded two sacks (11 yards) and a final month of the regular season . . . did not see game action . . . was on the season-high three tackles . . . made had a season-high three catches for 23 practice squad a majority of the seahis NFL debut in Week 3 at New Eng- yards in the regular-season finale at son. land and collected one tackle.

Tennessee . . . CAREER: Has 24 recep WR Aaron Burbridge — tions for 198 yards in 27 career games.

San Francisco 49ers CB Tony Lippett — Miami

(rookie season) Dolphins (second season) TE Dion Sims — Miami Sixth-round draft pick played in all Recorded career highs in intercepDolphins (fourth season) 16 games for the 49ers at wide receivtions (four), pass break-ups (10) and Recorded a career-high 26 recep- er and on special teams . . . started tackles (67) in his first full year as a tions for 256 yards in 14 games, three games . . . had seven catches for starting cornerback . . . played in all including 11 starts . . . also hauled in 88 yards (12.6 avg.) . . . five of his 16 games and started the last 13 games a career-high four TD catches . . . seven receptions came in the last in a row . . . led team and ranked tied caught two touchdown passes and three weeks of the season . . . had two for 11thin the NFL with four inter- matched his season high with four catches for 29 yards at Atlanta in ceptions . . . recorded a career-high receptions overall for 31 yards in the Week 15 . . . matched his season high nine tackles in Week 5 at Tennessee . . Week 15 victory over the Jets . . . had with two receptions for 15 yards in . had two interceptions, including one a 7-yard TD catch vs. Arizona in Week 16 win at Los Angeles . . . had a in the final minute, to preserve the Week 14 . . . had four receptions for season-long 24-yard reception in the 31-24 win over San Diego in Week 10; 53 yards, including a 16-yard touch- season finale at Seattle. also had seven tackles against the down, in the Week 12 win over the

Chargers . . . had two interceptions 49ers . . . also had four catches for 46 LB Shilique Calhoun — and five tackles in Week 15 win over yards in the Week 3 win against Oakland Raiders (rookie season) the Jets . . . broke up two passes and Cleveland . . . CAREER: Has 74 Third-round draft pick saw action tallied six stops in Week 16 win at catches for 699 yards and eight TDs in in 10 games at linebacker and special Buffalo . . . CAREER: Has 80 tackles, 56 career games. teams before being placed on injured 10

January 2017

First-round draft pick (No. 8 overall) lived up to his billing with an impressive rookie campaign . . . named to the AP All-Pro Team . . . started all 16 games for the Titans and graded out as the highest-rated right tackle in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus . . . also ranked the No. 3 overall rookie during the 2016 regular season by PFF . . . allowed only four combined sacks and hits, the second fewest of any starting offensive tackle in the NFL . . . named a Pro Bowl alternate . . . helped the Titans to a 9-7 regular-season record, a sixwin improvement from 2015 . . . his steady presence on the offensive line helped Tennessee to the No. 3 rushing offense in the NFL.

QB Kirk Cousins — Washington Redskins (fifth season)

Fifth-year quarterback once again ranked among the NFL leaders in passing yards (third with 4,917), passing yards per game (third with 307.3 ypg), pass completions (third with 406), pass attempts (sixth with 606), completion percentage (eighth at .607) and touchdown passes (13th with 25) . . . registered career highs and set franchise records in passing yards (4,917), completions (406) and attempts (606) . . . started all 16 games for the Redskins and became just the fourth QB in Redskins history to start every game in back-to-back seasons . . . tied his own team record with seven 300-yard passing games . . . had two 400-yard passing games (career-high 458 vs. Cincinnati in Week 8; 449 vs.

Dallas in Week 12) . . . the 458 yards

SPARTAN SCENE vs. Cincinnati and the 449 vs. Dallas were the second- and third-most passing yards ever in a single-game by a Washington quarterback . . . helped lead Washington to the No. 2 passing offense and No. 3 total offense in the NFL . . . CAREER: Has thrown for 12,113 yards and 72 touchdowns in 46 career games, including 41 starts (32 consecutive), all with the Redskins . . . owns the franchise record for most 300-yard passing games (18) . . . ranks among Washington’s all-time leaders in completions (fifth with 1,025), passing yards (sixth with 12,113) and touchdown passes (sixth with 72) . . . since 2015, is tied with Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan for the most games (30) with a touchdown pass.

Veteran defensive tackle recorded 37 stops and tied a career high with three pass break-ups in 16 games . . . tallied a season-high five tackles twice (Week 2 vs. Steelers and Week 3 vs.

Lions) . . . CAREER: Incredibly durable 11-year veteran has started 118 consecutive games for the Bengals, the fifth-longest streak in franchise history . . . has 516 tackles, 18.5 sacks and 12 pass break-ups in 171 career games, including 156 starts . . . his 171 games played are eighth most in franchise history and fourth most by a defensive player.

LB Marcus Rush — Jacksonville Jaguars (second season)

Was on the active roster for the final two games of the season and saw game action in Week 16 vs. Tennessee and Week 17 vs. Indianapolis . . . was on the practice squad for the 49ers a majority of the season before signing as a free agent with Jacksonville on Dec. 20 . . . CAREER: Spent the 2015 season on the 49ers practice squad.

TE Kellen Davis — New York Jets (ninth season)

Ninth-year veteran tight end played in eight games, including seven starting assignments . . . finished the year on injured reserve . . . CAREER: Has 53 receptions for 579 yards and 13 touchdowns in 125 career games.

QB Drew Stanton — Arizona Cardinals (10th season)

CB Darqueze Dennard — Cincinnati Bengals (third season)

Former first-round pick and thirdyear cornerback recorded a careerhigh 47 tackles and played in a careerbest 15 games (three starts) . . . collected a career-high eight stops against Baltimore in Week 12 . . .

CAREER: In 39 career games, including four starts, has 84 tackles, five pass break-ups and one interception.

Tony Lippett

games of the season . . . CAREER: Spent the 2015 season on the practice squad for the Bengals . . . split time on the practice squad in 2016 with the WR Bennie Fowler — Denver Broncos (third season) Bengals and Browns.

Third-year wide receiver had 11 DE William Gholston — catches for 145 yards and two touchTampa Bay Buccaneers downs in 13 games for the Broncos . . (fourth season) . also played on special teams . . . had Fourth-year defensive end recorded a season-high three receptions for 22 yards, including a 5-yard TD grab, at 49 tackles and tied his career high San Diego in Week 6 . . . had a career- with three sacks (24 yards) in 14 long 76-yard touchdown reception in games, all starts, with the Buccaneers Week 12 vs. Kansas City . . . CAREER: . . . had seven quarterback pressures, Has 27 catches for 348 yards and two one forced fumble and one fumble TDs in 29 games with the Broncos . . . recovery . . . collected a season-high member of the Super Bowl 50 Cham- seven tackles, including a sack, in win pion Broncos and caught a 2-point over 49ers in Week 7 . . . tallied six conversion pass from Peyton Man- tackles in Week 3 vs. Los Angeles . . . ning in the Super Bowl win over Car- CAREER: Has 188 tackles, 10 sacks and eight pass break-ups in 57 career olina. games, including 36 starts.

OT Dan France —

Carolina Panthers (third season)

After spending a majority of the season on the practice squad for the Browns, was signed as a free agent by the Panthers on Nov. 29 . . . dressed but did not see game action in Weeks 13-15 . . . was inactive the last two

QB Brian Hoyer — Chicago Bears (eighth season)

Eighth-year veteran quarterback played in six games for the Bears, including five starts, before suffering a season-ending injury Week 7 at Green Bay . . . completed 67 percent of his passes (134-of-200) for 1,445

Tenth-year veteran quarterback played in five games, including one start, for the Cardinals . . . completed 19-of-48 passes for two touchdowns and three interceptions . . . started in Week 5 at San Francisco and was 11-of-28 passing for two TDs in Arizona’s win over the 49ers . . . CAREER: Has thrown for 3,165 yards and 14 yards, six TDs and no interceptions . . touchdowns in 33 career games. . became the first Bears QB in fran chise history to throw for more than DL Lawrence Thomas — 300 yards in four consecutive games New York Jets (rookie season) (Week 3 to Week 6) . . . completed Rookie was off to a fast start in his 33-of-43 throws for a career-high 397 first season with the Jets but suffered yards and two touchdowns at India- a season-ending injury in Week 3 at napolis in Week 5 . . . CAREER: Has Philadelphia . . . undrafted free agent thrown for 8,608 yards and 44 touch- made the initial 53-man roster after downs in 49 career games. an impressive preseason camp . . . had

four tackles in his first three games . .

RB Jeremy Langford — . started his first career NFL game and Chicago Bears (second season) recorded three tackles against CincinSecond-year running back ran for nati in Week 1 . . . finished the season 200 yards and four touchdowns on 62 on the injured reserve list. carries in 12 games, including three

starting assignments . . . started the CB Trae Waynes — Minnesota first three games of the season, but Vikings (second season) injured his ankle in Week 3 at Dallas Former first-round pick and secand missed four games due to injury . ond-year player improved in 2016 . . rushed for a season-high 57 yards after a strong rookie campaign . . . and one TD on 17 carries at Houston started eight times and played in 15 in Week 1 . . . CAREER: Has rushed games overall . . . ranked second on for 737 yards and 10 touchdowns on the team with three interceptions . . .

210 carries in 28 career games, includ- also had 11 pass break-ups . . . ranked ing five starts . . . also has 41 catches ninth on the team with 50 tackles . . . for 421 yards and one TD. recorded a career-high 10 stops in the

season-opening win at Tennessee . . .

DT Domata Peko — had four tackles, a pass break-up and Cincinnati Bengals an interception in the victory over (11th season) Green Bay in Week 2 . . . also had an SPARTAN Magazine

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SPARTAN SCENE interception and pass break-up in Week 3 win over Carolina . . . recorded his third interception of the season in the regular-season finale at Chicago . . . CAREER: Has 80 tackles, three interceptions and 15 pass break-ups in 30 career games for the Vikings.

DT Jerel Worthy — Buffalo Bills (fourth season)

Played in 13 games, the second most of his career, in his second season with the Bills and fourth overall in the NFL . . . recorded 12 tackles on the season . . . CAREER: Has 27 tackles, including 2.5 sacks, in 31 career games.

Spartans on injured reserve who did not see game action in 2016: Donavon Clark (Chargers) Kurtis Drummond (Texans) Spartans who played in NFL in 2016 but are not currently on an NFL roster: Keshawn Martin (one game with 49ers) Taiwan Jones (two games with Jets)

Former Spartans on CFL rosters: Johnny Adams (Hamilton) James Bodanis (Montreal) B.J. Cunningham (Montreal) J’Micheal Deane (Ottawa, won Grey Cup) Kyler Elsworth (Toronto) Greg Jones (Saskatchewan) Mitchell White (Ottawa, won Grey Cup) Draymond Green Talks Warriors Turnaround: When Draymond Green (2012) was reminded of the Golden State Warriors’ opening round upset of the Denver Nuggets back in the 2013 playoffs, the All-Star forward immediately thought of Andre Iguodala.

“Well, we stole one of their players from that team,” Green joked before it was pointed out that the Dubs have actually nabbed two ex-Nuggets with JaVale McGee now on the Golden State roster.

“Yeah. We stole one immediately, though,” Green said. “So that helped.

No, but that was a very good team. I think that was definitely one of the turning points in where this team is at now.”

The sixth-seeded Warriors took out the No. 4 seed Nuggets in six games, bringing a sour end to Denver’s season, which had included a teamrecord 13-game winning streak. The Nuggets also axed head coach George Karl after the early postseason exit.

The win over Denver marked the Warriors’ first playoff series win since the 2006-07 season and began a run 12

January 2017

Draymond Green

of four consecutive postseason appearances.

With the Warriors holding the one seed in the West and the Nuggets currently tied for the No. 8 spot, the teams could meet again come April.

With the Warriors hosting the Nuggets at Oracle on Monday night, Green isn’t ready to start scouting for the playoffs just yet.

“No. Not at all,” Green said when asked if he views the matchup as a potential postseason preview. “[Head coach] Steve [Kerr] would probably say that, but it doesn’t change the way we look at them” (SFExaminer.com, 1-2-16).

Draymond’s Not Changing: Upset with a second questionable foul call in the opening minutes on Sunday in Cleveland, Draymond Green landed, heard the whistle and angrily stormed toward the Warrior bench.

He didn’t say anything to the referee. But his displeasure was obvious.

And that apparently was enough to earn him a technical foul. It was Green’s team-leading seventh technical of the season. Players get an automatic one-game suspension for a 16th technical and a one-game suspension for every two technicals after that.

So as Green approaches that threshold, will he watch himself around referees?

“I don’t know what else I can watch,” Green said. “I don’t really talk

to them much anymore. So no. I don’t know what else to watch at this point.

Just continue to be me. If I get the tech, so be it. Continue to be me.”

Three of Green’s seven technicals this season have been celebratory. He got one for screaming in LaMarcus Aldridge’s direction after a dunk in the season opener, one after boisterously celebrating a Kevin Durant block of a Russell Westbrook shot and one against the Jazz last week for hanging on the rim too long after a dunk.

The last one is why Green seemed so furious after LeBron James wasn’t called for an even longer, more egregious rim hang after a late dunk on Sunday. The policing can be inconsistent.

“I don’t really have any answers for you,” Green said. “Seems like stuff changes on the daily. I don’t know. I can’t judge it. You judge it one way and you think you got an understanding. Then the understanding you thought you had goes completely a different way the next time. Maybe they’ll figure it out one day. It’s not up to me.”

Green could perhaps tame down his emotions after highlight plays or try not to storm away as angrily after questionable whistles. But if you’re expecting any kind of change from Green, don’t.

“Change my approach from what?” he said. “I don’t know what other

approach to take than walking toward the bench. Like, there’s no other approach to take than that. I’m going to continue to be the only person I know how to be. And that’s me.

There’s a lot of guys who get home at night and they’re exhausted from acting all day. I only know how to be Draymond. That’s who I’ve been my entire life, that’s who I’ll continue to be. I won’t be exhausted from acting when I get home. That ain’t going to work for me. I won’t change my approach for anything. There’s no point.”

Kevin Durant, who has six technicals himself this season, said it’s best the Warriors don’t “muzzle” Green because of what that emotion brings out of the team.

“I never was the one to try to reign a guy in for his passion for the game,” Durant said. “He got a few techs for screaming, beating his chest, walking away fast. I think if the refs feel like you show them up or embarrass them in front of everybody, they could just throw a tech on you. If you curse at the ref, I understand that, but if you’re just out there playing and you quoteunquote show the ref up, they get to do whatever they want. It’s not on him sometimes, just more so on how the ref is feeling that night. You can’t control that. We don’t want to harness him, put a muzzle on what he does for our team, the energy he brings” (Mercury News, 12/28/16).

MICHIGAN STATE BASKETBALL

SPARTANS LOOKING BETTER, BUT ISSUES REMAIN Here’s a Look at Five Questions Looming for Izzo’s Team

BY PAUL KONYNDYK A 12-point win over Oakland to close out non-conference play may not have quelled speculation about Michigan State’s 19-year NCAA Tournament appearance streak being in jeopardy after an 8-5 start to the 2016-17 season. But the confidence gained from that win over a quality mid-major opponent has carried over into Big Ten play where Michigan State has shown newfound toughness and the ability to grind out quality wins.

With Miles Bridges returning to the rotation after missing an entire month with an ankle injury, and Nick Ward and Cassius Winston playing like Big Ten Freshman of the Year candidates, the future of this Michigan State team looks much brighter now than it did in midDecember following a home loss to Northeastern.

The Spartans’ loud start to Big Ten play came as no surprise to Oakland coach Greg Kampe. He saw this coming before he rebuked media for writing Michigan State’s NCAA Tournament obituary before the start of the Big Ten play.

“For people to sit there and say that crap about them is ridiculous,” said Kampe following his team’s loss to the Spartans. “This is a gold standard basketball program in this country, coached by probably the best coach in the country. If you think that they’re going to fold in December, you guys are crazy. That guy can coach and he’s got talented players.

“Does he have some guys missing?

Yeah. Is that great player missing? Yeah.

All that is going to do is make those other guys better, so when that kid gets back, they’ll be better. I guarantee you they will be there in March and they will be there.

They’re no bubble team. They’re going to kick a lot of people’s rear ends.”

Michigan State isn’t off the tournament bubble yet. And the Spartans aren’t kicking rear ends in early January. But the outlook has changed considerably in recent weeks, and Tom Izzo is talking about banners again.

“Look up (at the banners in Breslin Center), what have we accomplished?”

Izzo said. “We are the same team we were.

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Miles Bridges

We’re learning to play a little bit harder.

We’re not playing smarter yet, and we have a long way to go. But the goals are the same, and if the goals are the same, I appreciate that we’ve learned how to play harder. I appreciate that we are doing a better job in that, but I’m not even close to satisfied. This team has a lot more to give.”

Izzo wasn’t talking as much about program goals on media day in October.

Back then Michigan State’s Hall of Fame coach didn’t know how his young and, to a certain degree, flawed team would get on without size, depth, and experience in the frontcourt following injuries to senior power forwards Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter.

And while lack of size and depth in the frontcourt may ultimately prevent the Spartans from being a Big Ten-champi-

onship caliber team in 2016-17, the rapid rise of Ward as a productive presence inside has raised Michigan State’s ceiling from where it was when the season began.

For the time being, Michigan State looks like a team that could be a dark horse in the Big Ten. Significant progress, however, must be made in several key areas for the Spartans to establish themselves as a serious contender for a regularseason Big Ten title.

Below is a look at five of the biggest questions Michigan State faces during the first month of league play:

ball before suffering a severe ankle sprain during practice within days of a ninepoint loss at Duke in the ACC Big Ten/ Challenge.

Bridges led Michigan State in scoring (16.8) and rebounding (8.8) during his first eight games. If he maintains those averages throughout his freshman season, Bridges will rank second all-time among Michigan State freshmen in scoring behind Magic Johnson (17.0) and second all-time among Michigan State freshmen in rebounding behind Greg Kelser (9.6).

The emergence of Cassius Winston and as reliable playmakers, as well as the unexpected rise of senior guard Alvin CAN THE SPARTANS Ellis, should reduce the burden for BridgGET MILES BRIDGES BACK es to be Michigan State’s go-to option on TO NOVEMBER FORM? Flint native Miles Bridges was playing a game-to-game basis during his transias well as any freshman in college basket- tion back to the playing group. For this SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE BASKETBALL team to maximize its potential, however, MSU will need Bridges to work through the rust from a lengthy layoff and reestablish himself in a starring role.

Bridges expects to be back to his old self after a transition period of one or two games.

“It will take me a game or two to get back,” Bridges said. “But I feel like I’m in great shape. I was on the bike so much, and I give all of the credit to my trainer for pushing me, and the players for helping me out.”

Bridges could be in for a rude awakening. Realistically, the reintegration process is likely to take much longer than a game or two.

“We’re going to try and get him in there slowly, but as fast as he can physically go,” Izzo said. “The hardest part is that you’ve still got to win games. He’s not going to be the same. Everybody’s not going to be used to him. He’s not going to be used to everybody else. But I’m excited.”

Bridges’ effectiveness as a perimeter scoring threat will likely be diminished for a couple of weeks until he works through the rust of not being able to work on his shot for more than a month. Simply having him back, however, makes it more difficult for opponents to gear their defensive game plan toward stopping one person.

Having Bridges on the floor with Ward, for instance, makes it less likely for teams to double team Ward. A double team for Ward would be a no-brainer if he were playing with former walk-ons Kenny Goins or Matt VanDyk. “We’ve had some lineups in as you guys know that some of those guys, scoring isn’t their thing, so it is hard to score if they’re in there by themselves,” Izzo said.

“That’s not a negative, it’s just a fact of life.

There are other things that they do for us.

But having a guy that is a little bit more well-rounded will help Nick, and it will create few more problems the defense.”

Michigan State wisely resisted the urge to rush Bridges back before he was physically ready to play. Being sidelined for a month was difficult for the star freshman.

“I’m very excited to get back out there,” Bridges said. “I’ve been missing it a lot.

This is the longest I’ve had to sit out in my life, so it’s going to be great getting back out there. Getting injured made me appreciate the game a lot more from not being out there. I just want to give energy 24/7.”

With Bridges back, Michigan State should see an immediate benefit in rebounding, an area of where lack of frontcourt depth and size has hurt productivity. The Spartans enjoyed a plus 4.3 rebounding margin in games played with Bridges, who led the team with 8.8 rebounds per game. That margin may seem unspectacular given the historical dominance on the boards during the Izzo 16

January 2017

era, but the fact that the Spartans equaled or outrebounded five of their first eight opponents with Bridges on the court is significant, considering the size and talent of level of opposing frontcourts from Baylor, Arizona, Kentucky and Duke.

While defense is not yet a strength in his game, Bridges does provide Michigan

get him some minutes, and if everything goes well, hopefully we can build on that.”

Taking notes during games and filmstudy helped Bridges stay engaged mentally during his lengthy layoff.

“I really think that sitting in front of the bench listening to the coaches, figuring out what you’ve got to do, I think all of

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Kenny Goins

State with much-needed rim protection beyond what the team is getting from Ward, and to a lesser extent Goins. From an operational standpoint, however, having five more fouls to work with in the frontcourt will also reduce the frequency of ineffective personnel groupings during quick-whistle games. Michigan State would prefer not to play VanDyk or Kyle Ahrens at the five if it can be avoided.

With Bridges out, Michigan State was forced into frequent unfavorable matchups.

Bridges worked hard to keep his conditioning while sidelined during December.

“Thank God for the way he killed himself on that bike,” Izzo said. “I think he’s going to be in decent shape, not playing shape, but in decent shape … our job is to

those things are going to help him,” Izzo said. “But there is no substitute for experience.”

Bridges looks at the game differently now, then he did before his injury.

“I saw the little things you have to do to win, and the game-deciding things like free throws and turnovers,” Bridges said.

“Just playing hard in general. I see how just one step can determine whether somebody scores or not.”

CAN MICHIGAN STATE CUT DOWN ON TROUBLING STRETCHES OF BAD BASKETBALL?

The Spartans showed impressive grit in digging themselves out of a 13-point halftime deficit at Minnesota to grind

out an overtime victory against one the Big Ten’s hottest teams entering league play. Minnesota’s ability to upset No. 15-ranked Purdue on the road one game later, adds to the significance of MSU’s come-from-behind win in the Big Ten opener.

Michigan State needed its best half of basketball to pull off a comeback win at Minnesota, after playing poorly for lengthy stretches of the first half. Unfortunately, long stretches of bad basketball have been a reoccurring problem.

Overcoming a bad first half was a significant breakthrough for this young ballclub and speaks directly to the backbone it developed during a brutal nonconference gauntlet. For Michigan State to take the next step in maximizing its potential during Big Ten play, the Spartans need to reduce the two, three, and four-minute stretches of poorly-played basketball that have short-circuited otherwise solid performances against quality opponents.

“We just have to play with more intensity, more focus at all times,” freshman point guard Cassius Winston said. “We have a little lapse every game where we’re not playing Spartan basketball. We have to play Spartan basketball for 40 minutes a game. We don’t have the depth or talent to have four-minute lapses of us playing awful basketball.”

At Duke, for instance, Michigan State turned the ball over three times during a critical two-and- a half-minute stretch in which the Blue Devils broke a 48-48 time in the second half with an 11-0 run.

“It’s funny because we played awfully good against Duke for a lot of minutes in that game, too. I think we’re learning, figuring out how to win,” Izzo said. “I think we’re learning how to figure out when things don’t go right, we got to knuckle down defensively so we can give ourselves a chance.

“That Duke game was boom, boom, boom. Two threes, two turnovers. Game was over, you know. We’re doing a better job of that … So, you know, I think there’s a lot of things. Most of them are just maturing and getting to know each other a little more. We’re going to get better. I said we’re going to get better. We still got some time at Christmas here to get a little better. And then we’ll be ready for a hell of a run, I hope.”

Michigan State can cut down on stretches of bad basketball by playing smarter and reducing turnovers. After averaging 12 or fewer turnovers each of the past three seasons, the Spartans are averaging 14.5 turnovers per game during 2016-17.

“We just have to play smarter, man,” said junior point guard Tum Tum Nairn.

“When we have those stretches where we’re turning the ball over, a lot of times it’s unforced errors and mental lapses.

MICHIGAN STATE BASKETBALL Those are things we have control over and we can eliminate. We just have to get better at it and we will.”

CAN MICHIGAN STATE GET JOSH LANGFORD GOING DURING BIG TEN PLAY?

Five-time Mississippi Player of the Year Joshua Langford has given Michigan State a spark off the bench as a scorer in a handful of games this season, but he has yet to emerge as the multi-dimensional contributor capable of impacting the game as a scorer, defender, and occasionally even as a facilitator.

Getting Langford on track during Big Ten play is essential for the Spartans to maximize their potential. Recent practices have Izzo feeling better about the progress Langford has made since midDecember.

“Josh Langford took some major, major steps in the last two weeks,” said Izzo of the 6-foot-5 guard, who is averaging 6.0 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 18.2 minutes per game as a part-time starter. “It’s the confidence level. He’s playing harder. He’s defending better. He’s rebounding better and shooting better.”

Langford also believes he is on the cusp of establishing himself as a consistent contributor the way other members of Michigan State’s talented freshmen class already have.

“I feel like I’m really close to putting everything together,” Langford said.

“The big thing for me has been conditioning. Getting my legs back has helped.

I’m running better and jumping better.

I’m getting more confident on defense, and I’m starting to rebound better.”

Langford put in a substantial amount of work on his conditioning beyond practice during December to get his body back to where it was prior to an October hamstring injury.

“It’s been really great for me,” Langford said. “We’ve been going really hard with the trainer. I’ve been doing a lot of conditioning on the bike. The hard conditioning, I feel like it’s really been helping me out pushing myself to my limit in practice and then some.

“I feel like I’ll be able to do a lot more.

Just be a killer on the court at all times.”

Langford hopes to provide Denzel Valentine-type versatility as he matures within the Michigan State program.

“I feel like with the attributes that I bring, me and him are kind of similar,” Langford said. “That’s the kind of guy that I look at when I watch film in the office and different things like that. But it’s going to take some time. It didn’t happen overnight for him, so it’s not going to happen overnight for me. Everything is a process, but I’m excited to eventually be able to fill that role like Denzel.”

Photo By Robert Hendricks

TumTum Nairn

CAN THE SPARTANS OVERCOME ISSUES AT THE FREE-THROW LINE?

Michigan State has been reliably effective at the free-throw line throughout the Izzo era. Even during occasional down years at the charity stripe, Michigan State players have taken steps to improve to improve their free-throw shooting.

During the holiday break in 2014-15, typically reliable free-throw shooters like Bryn Forbes, Matt Costello, and Valentine got serious about improving their foul shooting after squandered opportunities at the free-throw line were a contributing factor in several hard-to-stomach non-conference losses, including an overtime loss to Texas Southern. Unfortunately, spotty free-throw shooting continued to haunt Michigan State into the Big Ten season, beginning with a double overtime loss to Maryland in the Big Ten opener.

Michigan State finished the season with the same percentage at the freethrow line (63.2 percent) that they had at the end of non-conference play despite their hard work.

Although team free-throw shooting changed little over the course of the 201415 season, Michigan State found a way to get its best free-throw shooters – Travis Trice, Valentine, and Forbes, on the line more during critical moments in the game as the year progressed. Trice, Michigan State’s leading scorer in 2014-15 at 15.3 points per game, scored just under 20 percent of his points as a senior at the

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Josh Langford SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE BASKETBALL free-throw line. During non-conference games, made free-throws accounted for just 11.1 percent of Trice’s scoring.

In 2014-15, Michigan State’s team freethrow shooting percentage was dragged down by the struggles of several players shooting under 60 percent, including Branden Dawson (49.0 percent), Gavin Schilling (47.9 percent), Tum Tum Nairn (57.4 percent), and Alvin Ellis (45.5 percent). None of those players, however, impacted the Spartans’ team free-throw shooting percentage in 2014-15 as much as freshman Nick Ward has in 2016-17.

Ward has attempted 26.8 percent of his team’s total free throws to this point in the season and is shooting 53.5 percent. Since the start of December, Ward has averaged nine free-throw attempts per game. If that trend continues, Ward is on pace to have 250 attempts by the end of the Big Ten regular season.

Michigan State’s primary frontcourt contributors in 2014-15 –Dawson, Costello and Schilling – combined for 255 free-throw attempts over the course of the entire season, which included eight postseason games.

Ward has worked hard to improve his free-throw shooting and is looking more comfortable at the line during recent weeks than he did during November.

Ward just getting to the free-throw line has been favorable for the Spartans, given the foul trouble he has created for opposing big men.

His effectiveness as an imposing post presence has thrown a wrench in the frontcourt rotation of several recent opponents, including Oakland, Minnesota and Northwestern.

“I think you have to try to do your best to not give him deep post catches,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. “If he catches it two feet in the lane, it’s going to be really hard. It’s hard to send help, he’s so powerful, and he draws fouls so well.”

Michigan State’s free-throw percentage will likely remain in the low 60s if Ward continues to shoot under 55 percent at the line. If things remain status quo, Michigan State needs its best free- throw shooters to help pick up the slack. Good free-throw shooters like Matt McQuaid, Cassius Winston, Eron Harris and Kyles Ahrens, who have been solid at the freethrow line during their college careers or in high school, need to make the most of their opportunities at the free-throw line.

CAN MICHIGAN STATE GET CONSISTENCY FROM VETERAN PLAYERS?

Senior guard Ellis has been playing out of his mind since earning trust by delivering a strong all-around performance against Oakland. His breakthrough came one game after he was called out by Izzo for lack of effort in a mid-December loss to Northeastern.

The emergence of Ellis as a steady 18

January 2017

contributor has helped the Spartans overcome the lack of offensive production from veteran guards Harris and McQuaid. If MSU is going establish itself as a serious contender in the Big Ten, however, Harris and McQuaid need to score with greater consistency.

The same thing is true of sophomore Kenny Goins, who has been inconsistent as a defender and on the glass, areas where he has contributed substantially in the past.

“I’ve said this for two weeks now, if this team is going to go from good to great, No. 1, we’ve got to get Miles back,”

better on ball screens and things like that,” Izzo said. “That was not a strength of Miles either. The reason Nick got better since finals is practices, and Miles didn’t get that.”

For Goins to make an impact as a defender and a rebounder, he needs to avoid foul trouble. In games against teams that drive to foul, for instance, Goins has struggled to avoid foul trouble.

“It’s frustrating when you’re getting called on drives and screens and things like that,” said Goins, who played just seven minutes in the Big Ten opener against Minnesota. “I’ve got to do a better

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Matt McQuiad

Izzo said. “But really, three guys have to take a giant step forward. Eron (Harris), we’ve got to get more out of. Matt (McQuaid), we’ve got to get more out of and Kenny Goins. Maybe (having Bridges back) will take some of the pressure off Kenny.”

Even with Bridges back in the rotation, there is an opportunity for Goins to play a key role on defense given his freshman teammate’s struggles with ball-screen defense.

“Nick (Ward) has gotten enormously

job of adjusting to the way games are called and play smarter so I can play my role.”

Goins also needs to be more opportunistic around the rim. As a first-year contributor last season, Goins made the most of limited scoring opportunities.

Although he averaged just two points and two rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman, Goins was an efficient scorer, making 20 of 29 field goal attempts (69 percent) while playing 10 minutes per game.

Although Harris ranks third among active Big Ten career scoring leaders behind Wisconsin senior Nigel Hayes (1,536) and Illinois senior Malcom Hill (1,532) with 1,382 points, the West Virginia transfer has failed to provide consistent scoring for the Spartans aside from an eight-game stretch in which he finished with double figures seven times.

Harris is averaging 12.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while playing 24.8 minutes per game this season. But his production during Big Ten play thus far is reminiscent of his rocky start to the season. After scoring 15 in a promising debut as a back-up against Oakland, Harris faltered during the first week of Big Ten play, scoring just nine points total.

“Sometimes when you’re a senior, you put pressure on yourself, and sometimes you got to figure out what you got to do to stay on the floor,” Izzo said. “And if you’re not shooting well, you got to do other things. So, I’m not ready to pull the plug on anybody yet.”

Although he has struggled to score points, McQuaid has earned his keep on defense in recent games. Against Minnesota, McQuaid uses his length to force an awkward shot by Golden Gophers’ leading scorer Nate Mason at the buzzer.

“I want to bring more energy and be a bigger presence on the defensive side, and I think I can bring more rebounding, too,” said McQuaid, who missed two games with concussion-like symptoms during December. “I feel like I can help out our bigs with some more guard rebounds.”

McQuaid’s late-game defense against Minnesota is an example of recent growth from the sophomore who is starting to get some of his athleticism back after undergoing double hernia surgery during the off-season.

“Coming back from injury is tough and the hardest part is conditioning,” McQuaid said. “I feel like myself (now).

I really pushed myself, and my teammates pushed me to get my conditioning back.”

McQuaid may be moving better, but his consistency as a perimeter scoring threat is not where it was at this point last season. As a freshman, there was less pressure on McQuaid to produce as a primary scoring option with veterans like Valentine and Forbes providing the bulk of the team’s perimeter scoring.

McQuaid has done a better job than most of not letting his struggles on offense dictate his performance level in other areas. At some point, however, Michigan State needs McQuaid to provide the perimeter scoring that helped earn him a scholarship.

“I just to stay aggressive and confident,” McQuaid said. “My coaches and teammates need be to me to be a scorer, and that what I need to give us more of.”

MICHIGAN STATE BASKETBALL

WARD MAKES AN EARLY SPLASH

Freshman’s Impact On Offense Critical With Key Players Injured

BY PAUL KONYNDYK Nick Ward signed with Michigan State as the lowest ranked member of Tom Izzo’s consensus Top 5 recruiting class in 2016. But entering Big Ten play, the big Ohioan has already established himself as one of the nation’s most productive underclassman power forwards.

“What I love about the kid is he’s getting better,” Izzo said. “So, it’s maybe three steps forward and a step back, maybe four steps forward and two back.

Some days, it’s one forward and one back.

But at the end of each day, I see him making progress and so it’s kind of fun. I know the game’s important to him.”

The 6-foot-8, 250-pound Ward is averaging 13.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks while playing 17.6 minutes per game as a freshman. He leads the Spartans in blocked shots, ranks third in scoring, and second in rebounding entering Big Ten play. His productivity on offense has been a godsend to a team playing without injured senior big men Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter since the beginning of the season, as well as dynamic freshman Miles Bridges during Michigan State’s final five non-conference games.

“Nick has been great for us, man,” junior point guard Tum Tum Nairn said.

“Having him inside opens up the floor because teams have to account for him. I don’t know where we’d be without Nick stepping up the way he has with our situation.”

Ward’s production increased significantly during the five non-conference games Michigan State was without Bridges, the program’s leading scorer (16.6 avg.) and rebounder (8.8). Ward led the Spartans in scoring (17.8), rebounding (8.0), and blocked shots (2.8) during the non-conference games Bridges was sidelined by injury.

Ward, who’s from Gahanna, Ohio, a Columbus suburb, reached double figures in scoring in each of Michigan State’s final five non-conference games, scoring 20 points or more in games against Oral Roberts and Oakland. He was unstoppable on offense and effective on defense throughout his 25-point, nine-rebound performance against Oakland in his first career start.

“He is dominant down there, there is no other word for it,” said freshman point guard Cassius Winston. “If he is down there one-on-one, he’s going score or get

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Nick Ward

fouled … He’s a force down there and it’s a good thing to have him on our team.”

Ward’s production as a freshman is notably higher entering Big Ten play than other first-year post players at Michigan State in recent years, including one-anddone talent Deyonta Davis, who averaged 8.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocked shots in his first 13 games last season.

Ward’s numbers would be even better if he were better at the free-throw line, where he has made 43 of 77 (55.8 percent) foul shots attempted to this point in the season. Aside from a 1-for-6 performance at the free-throw line against Youngstown State, Ward showed improvement at the free-throw line during Michigan State’s non-conference home stand before the start of Big Ten play.

“I’m going to the free-throw line a lot and I’m getting more comfortable with it,” Ward said. “We changed the way I shoot free throws a little bit before the season and it took some time to adjust. I’m shooting it with more confidence.”

Ward’s increased confidence at the free-throw line was evident in his careerbest 11-for-17 free throws in Michigan State’s 77-65 win over Oakland.

“That kid has lived on the free throw line,” Izzo said afterward “Even his misses looked good, other than one today. He kind of got what he deserved, which is how life goes I guess. He has spent days on that free throw line. He even made 16 in a row the other day, which is a North American record.”

Ward’s focus on free-throw shooting

during the month of December has been time well spent, given that he has gone to the free-throw line more than any Michigan State player. His 77 free throws attempts are more than twice the number attempted by Eron Harris, who ranks No. 2 among Michigan State players with 38 free throw tries entering Big Ten play.

Even on nights he hasn’t shot a high percentage from the free-throw line, Ward’s effectiveness as interior scorer has led to an accumulation of fouls on opposing big men. His dominance inside was a factor in three Oakland big men fouling out.

“Nick is tough to defend because he’s big and he’s really quick for someone his size,” said former walk-on forward Matt Van Dyk, who has spent a significant amount of time guarding Ward during practice. “He has good footwork and he can use either hand, and he’s a strong kid.

He’s a match-up problem for a lot of guys.”

Ward has improved every facet of his game since the season began, including his defense, which is his biggest deficiency as a first-year player. His improvement on defense is the result of improved conditioning and being pushed by Izzo to become a complete player.

The same week Ward was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week following his 24-point, 10-rebound performance against Oral Roberts earlier this month, he was taken to task by his head coach for playing one end of the floor and not the other.

“Don’t be fooled by some players in the NBA that score a lot of points and their

teams never win,” Izzo said. “You do have to play both ends. But I think the biggest thing that Nick’s had to go through is the conditioning part. And like I said, part of it was the loss of all that weight and part of it was all the travel that we had and him never getting to work out. Part of it isn’t his fault. If we’re going to be a good team, we can’t say ‘Oh we’ll just be good on this end.’”

Ward doesn’t mind being held accountable by Izzo.

“He’s tough on me because he knows what I’m capable of and he wants me to be a complete player, which is what I want for myself,” Ward said. “He’s a Hall of Fame coach, he knows what he’s doing.

I have to listen and learn, keep working hard.”

Like most freshman frontcourt players, Ward has struggled with ball screen defense, which is one reason why he played so few minutes in Michigan State’s non-conference loss to Northeastern. In that same game, however, Ward was impressive as a rim protector, leading the team with a career-high six blocked shots.

Entering Big Ten play, Ward has 25 blocked shots -- one fewer than Davis had for Michigan State entering Big Ten play last season. Ward’s surprising effectiveness as a rim protector is tangible evidence of his improving athleticism following significant gains in conditioning since the summer.

Ward is running better, jumping better and doing things he’s never been capable of before now. Those gains have raised the Ohioan’s ceiling and the level of excitement in the Michigan State program about Ward’s long term potential as an elite power forward.

“If you watched him those last five minutes when he went out there and guarded like a big-time player,” Izzo said after Michigan State’s win over Oakland.

“Nick’s got quick feet. He’s just got to stay focused on what he has to do, and realize that he’s got a new body which we all would like to have. And it takes some time to readjust to it.

“If that’s not on his mind everyday going harder, doing this, doing that, then it’s not going to work. I don’t want to dampen anything because I love the progress he’s making, but there’s a reason why he never played 25 minutes most games. It wasn’t his play always. It was what he could do and if he could stay in that long.”

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MICHIGAN STATE BASKETBALL

WINSTON EARNS A STARTING SPOT Improving Freshman Point Guard Dazzles as a Standout Playmaker

BY PAUL KONYNDYK

Freshman Cassius Winston (6-0, 185) has established himself as Michigan State’s starting point guard entering Big Ten play, but the prestige of starting matters less to the reigning Hal Schram Michigan Mr. Basketball Award winner than winning games.

“I’m going to do whatever I can for this team, whether I’m coming off the bench or I’m in a starting role,” said Winston, who is averaging 7.5 points and 6.0 assists per game entering Big Ten play. “I am still going to play hard and give effort to win games. That’s what it all comes down to - starting or not doesn’t really matter.”

Winston’s poise, confidence and his effectiveness in his first career start against Oakland served as validation for his move into the starting lineup ahead of junior captain Tum Tum Nairn. The talented freshman made his presence felt immediately, feeding Nick Ward inside for Michigan State’s first points and giving the Spartans the lead with a jumper on the next possession. With Oakland sticking around in the second half, Winston continued to impact the game with his passing, as well as timely scoring.

“Cassius is a playmaker, and now that the game is starting to slow down a little bit for him, everybody is getting to see what he can do,” senior guard Eron Harris said. “He’s playing well and it’s making everyone else better.”

Winston’s nine-point, eight-assist game against Oakland closed out a strong month of growth for the talented freshman, who averaged 11.8 points, 9.0 assists, and 2.6 rebounds while playing 26.6 minutes in Michigan State’s final five non-conference games.

Winston might have moved into the starting lineup earlier if he hadn’t been a liability on defense during the first month of the season.

“To play here, you’ve got to play defense,” Winston said. “If you’re not going to play defense, you’re not going to be on the court, and I definitely didn’t come here to sit on the bench.”

It is not a coincidence that Winston’s promotion to the starting lineup came one game after his best defensive performance of the season. His effort on defense against Northeastern earned Winston a career-high 33 minutes. As a result, Winston recorded his first double double, scoring a career-high 21 points on 7 of 8 shooting and adding 10 assists

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Cassius Winston

as the lone bright spot in an 81-73 loss.

“Cassius Winston played the best offense-defense on our team today,” Coach Tom Izzo said afterward. “His defense has improved enormously and that’s why I started him the second half.”

Winston’s improvement on defense has led to more minutes for the rapidlyimproving freshman from Detroit. More playing time has enabled Winston to do what he does best – make everyone else on the court better with his elite passing ability.

Winston leads the Big Ten in assists per game (6.0) entering Big Ten play. He averaged nine assists in Michigan State’s final five non-conference games, which is impressive even more impressive considering that Michigan State played without its best player, Miles Bridges, during that stretch.

Winston credits the scoring ability of teammates for his recent spike in assists.

“Those guys are making me look good,” Winston said. “I’m not doing anything special, just getting the ball inside to Nick (Ward), who is hard to stop oneon-one. If they stop Nick, our shooters are going to knock down open jumpers.”

Winston’s starting role is unlikely to create chemistry issues with Narin, who has been a team-first player throughout his career. Nairn’s willingness to take Winston under his wing has made the freshman’s transition to college smoother.

“If Tum played five minutes or 35 minutes, that kid is never changing,” Izzo said. “What I enjoyed the most about the summer was watching Tum, knowing that Cassius might take his time, embrace him and bringing him in and helping him. Those two get along great.”

Winston and Nairn are bound together by their common goal of winning.

“Me and Tum Tum, we want to win games,” Winston said. “That’s our mindset, and we’re going to do whatever we can to win games. We both play starting minutes. Starting or not, whoever gets their name called, it doesn’t matter.”

Winston struggled with inconsistency during Michigan State’s arduous first eight non-conference games, averaging 4.9 points, 4.1 assists, and 1.5 rebounds in 17.1 minutes during the month of November. He turned his season around with a breakthrough performance against Oral Roberts, scoring 15 points on 4 of 9

shooting and adding nine assists less than a week after struggling in a road loss at Duke.

“I’ve got to speed up the process,” Winston said. “That’s a big thing that they (coaches) keep telling me. I’ve got to speed up the process for us to be where we want to be as a team. I just have to focus on that.”

Two days before playing Oral Roberts, Winston had a two-hour meeting with Izzo in the Breslin Center parking lot.

The Hall of Fame coach challenged his young point guard to play a bigger role, and use Michigan State’s remaining nonconference games to accelerate his development.

“That was definitely a big moment,” Winston said of his conversation with Izzo. “That’s probably something I’m going to tell my kids about someday, sitting in the parking lot talking to Coach Izzo.

“We just had a good talk man-to-man.

He talked about all the things he has planned for my future, things I have planned for my future. Things he plans for me now, things I plan for me now, and things we have to do to accomplish that.”

SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL

Photos By Robert Hendricks

Mark Dantonio

‘WE’LL RESTART THIS’

Dantonio Confident MSU Can Bounce Back, but Youth Must Rise Fast This is the second in a two-part series analyzing what went wrong during the 2016 season, what needs to be done to correct it and the chances of those corrections coming to fruition. In the previous issue of SPARTAN Magazine, dynamics such as coaching continuity, injuries, offensive design and play calling, the lack of sacks and forced turnovers, finding the inches and the art of “making a play” were examined.

BY JIM COMPARONI A book could be written about the thoughts that went through Mark Dantonio’s head during the drive.

His drive was nothing like Elway’s or Montana’s. It wasn’t a happy one. But it

ended hopeful.

It was a five-hour journey from East Lansing to a Cincinnati-area high school for a recruiting trip, two days after the season ended. It was a trip that was profound enough that he mentioned it during his one and only press conference during the month of December.

It seemed interesting enough that he would be asked about it again by television and radio hosts in the days afterward, and will be asked about it - and the lessons of 2016 - again and again through spring practice, Big Ten Media Days, August camp and possibly for years afterward - depending on whether Michigan State bounces back from 2016.

The drive to Cincinnati marked the longest time he had by himself since the

season started. On the way back, he stopped and visited his mother. He hadn’t seen her since July. By the time he arrived at his mother’s driveway, he felt better about things, felt he had a handle on how to forge the future. And for a couple of hours, he could exhale and go back to being the son, Mark Dantonio, for a nice visit before starting the drive back north and the rest of his coaching career.

During the drive to Cincinnati, he had four straight hours to think about nothing but the failure of the 2016 season, spiced with his belief that it was all pretty close to being so much better than the 3-9 wreckage it became.

He thought about the causes and effects that led to the terrible string of

losses, and arrived at the conclusion that change needed to start at the top, with himself.

“You climb out of bed on Sunday after a loss and the season is over and you’re disappointed like everybody,” Dantonio said. “I just started driving and just reflecting on all the different things, through every game, through the injuries and through the different points of pressure, whether it’s moving positions or games or whatever it is and just sort of walking myself back through those things and then just finding my way out of it and saying, ‘Okay, this is what needs to happen. This is what we need to do.’

“And I basically just took the approach that we needed to go back to basics in SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL terms of who we are and what we’ve done to get here.”

The legendary run of 40 wins in 45 games, the two Big Ten championships, the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the berth in the 2015 College Football Playoff, those things were borne out of strict effectiveness in blocking and tackling, punctuated by important ball plays at just the right time.

It takes leadership and experience to sharpen a football army of 100 college kids into the type of team that can uphold a championship level of blocking and tackling after a massive turnover in personnel. In 2016, the Spartans weren’t able to uphold it.

“I think sometimes when you have this type of success, you just think it’s going to happen, whether you’re a coach or whether you’re a player, especially if you’re a player that hasn’t been counted on before,” Dantonio said. “If you are a player that is now coming up and now it’s your turn, that’s a lot on your shoulders.

“Some of our freshmen got thrown into that mix, which is very, very difficult. I hand the ball to Brian Lewerke, who is a redshirt freshman, and say, ‘Go ahead with it.’ I think that was the Michigan game. That is a big responsibility for a young person but there’s a lot of growth that comes with that.”

He thought about the troubles at the quarterback position, the injuries up and down the roster, the leadership void.

Through the 40 wins in 45 games, Dantonio often remarked that you win with people. That was true then. It’s true now. And it’s true that Michigan State lost with people in 2016. He’s not going to mention who were the prime culprits.

But he lists himself among them. And, aside from senior graduation, some incoming freshmen and probably a little bit of attrition, there will be no overhaul in the people who will be tasked with doing a 180-degree pivot into 2017. He believes he still has the right kind of people. There just needs to be sharper direction and a re-commitment.

“So, there’s a lot that went into my thoughts as I drove down that road but at the end of it all, I felt a lot better,” he said. “I just felt that I needed to take the approach that we are going to win with the people that are here. We are going to do things right, with a higher level of internal discipline, a higher level of accountability and I point the finger right at myself as I do this, too.

“There are some tangible things, but there are some intangible things as well.

There’s the tangible things like turnovers and sacks and simply finishing a play, making a play. But it’s a little bit of a mindset, too. You have to have the confidence in yourself to make the play 26

January 2017

down the stretch. The only way that you can get to that level is by playing and having success. Success breeds confidence.

“I feel pretty confident that we will be successful. I feel very confident that what we’ve done here in the past has worked. It doesn’t mean that you don’t tweak things and change schemes up, because people have a book on us as well. People go to work to try to defeat

mances.

Whether it was a lack of natural leadership ability, a derailment of past principles, or if the problems were caused by seniors failing to perform on the field, the 2016 team was severely lacking in the leadership department.

Linebacker Riley Bullough tried to lead the team. But he dealt with an injury-plagued September. According to sources, by the time he came back to the

was benched for the second half of the game against the Terps for unknown reasons.

MSU played the second half of that key road game with none of its captains available.

A week later, against Michigan, Cox wasn’t given the privilege of participating in the pre-game coin toss.

One week later, he didn’t make the trip to Illinois.

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Demetrious Cox

that, so you have to be able to change in that respect.

“There’s a lot there and I sort of finally said I have to fix the things that that crazy guy did who was coaching this team last year.”

From I-75 to US-23 to I-96 to the Okemos Road exit, he could envision a path back to Michigan State greatness.

“Just sort of reflect and you find your way out of that hole a little bit,” Dantonio said. “You start to fight back. And I feel our football team feels that way, too.”

PROBLEM: CHEMISTRY, SENIORS

A continuation of the analysis from the previous issue of SPARTAN Magazine: When talking about the success of his program in previous years, Dantonio cited great team chemistry, led by seniors.

In order for seniors to lead, they have to feel great about their own perfor-

field, there were too many players who weren’t willing to be led.

By the time Bullough returned to the field for the Northwestern game on Oct. 15, MSU was 2-3 and fellow captain Tyler O’Connor had lost his starting job.

O’Connor came off the bench that day and happened to play his best game of the season, against the Wildcats, a 54-40 loss, blowing a 14-0 lead.

O’Connor’s strong game further muddied the QB picture. He was good enough to stay in the race to lead the team, but not good enough - and sometimes not healthy enough - to be a difference-maker and take it over.

The week after the Northwestern loss, Bullough tried to do too much too early in the game at Maryland and was ejected due to a targeting infraction.

O’Connor went down with an ankle injury in practice a few days earlier. The team’s third captain, Demetrious Cox,

By the end of the season, he was off the team after being arrested for allegedly punching a cab driver.

Cox, a former four-star recruit, began the season in promising fashion, but then struggled against Northwestern, and face-planted the second half of the season.

Bullough’s frustration, Cox’s downfall and O’Connor’s inconsistency sadly represented the best that the senior class of 2016 had to offer.

“Having three senior captains and them not even being on the field in certain games, that’s difficult,” Dantonio said. “I think that you’ve got to have productivity as a leader. So, your quarterback get knocked out with the foot, missed two games. We had some changes in there, giving other people some opportunities at that position and that’s tough.

“And Tyler did an outstanding job in terms of leadership.

MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL “Riley Bullough is out for three weeks with a fractured scapula, and then he comes back and he plays his first game and in the first quarter gets a helmet to helmet shot. So, he’s out basically four games.

“Those are tough situations. Both those guys raised up and led. So, we got ourselves ready to play and our guys continued to work.”

There weren’t many able or willing

had opportunities to win in a lot of games. So you deal with all those things, but at the end of the day you are what you are and you’ve got to own that.”

Owning it means blaming shortcomings in recruiting, whether it be losses on the recruiting trail, poor evaluations, misguided player development or players simply jumping off track. The MSU recruiting classes of 2012 (mediocre) and 2013 (poor) represent the player-

deep, productive senior classes. However, with such little attrition, Michigan State had limited scholarship space to replenish the roster.

MSU had room to sign only 18 players in 2012 and 17 in 2013.

MSU’s 2012 recruiting class had an attrition level of 27 percent, which isn’t bad. That’s a passing grade. But when only 72 percent of an 18-man class manages to earn two letters, and two of those

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Shane Jones

veterans who stepped up to carry the flag while Bullough, O’Connor and Cox went through their troubles.

“Our senior group, guys are hurt, in and out throughout the entire time,” Dantonio said. “When you look at seniors to lead, they’ve got to be extremely productive and they’re the ones that have to have their best year.

And it’s tough. When you lose a football game, it’s tough on everybody. It’s tough on our captains. It’s tough on your senior leadership.

“If you’re at practice every practice, they did a tremendous job. Practices were competitive, they were very energetic. Had some fights. It’s all good.

“When you talk about leadership, you’re talking about the head football coach, too. Leadership is (from the) top down. I have to walk in there every day, and make sure that I’m doing the best job that I can as well as our coaches. So, it’s top down.

“So, we did what we could do. At the end of the day you got to win. But we

level base of the problems in 2016.

ROOT PROBLEM: RECRUITING

In the August issue of SPARTAN Magazine, the four-year recruiting review, our headline on Page 67 warned of potential problems for the Class of 2013 in our annual four-year recruiting review: Shaky Class Gets a Failing Grade.

Ironically, MSU’s super success with the 2010, ’11 and ’12 recruiting classes laid the foundation for big wins in 2013 and ’14, but left few scholarship slots for the 2012 and ’13 recruiting classes.

MSU recruiting became a victim of the program’s success.

When winning big in 2013 and ’14, MSU had a run of great recruit success stories. More players were staying at MSU for all four or five years, and earning letters, than ever in the 85-scholarship era. Attrition was at an all-time low for the program.

This proved to be a good news/bad news situation. MSU benefited from

players (Aaron Burbridge and Macgarrett Kings) played as true freshmen and were no longer available, and grey shirt Jack Conklin opted to turn pro a year early, it left MSU with only nine fifthyear seniors in the playing group for 2016.

Two other members of the class, Mark Meyers and Jermaine Edmondson, were invited to leave the program at mid-summer. Edmondson had had a history of varying degrees of commitment. His exit was made more awkward when he was involved in a late-night scrape with Draymond Green outside an East Lansing eatery.

Sources tell SPARTAN Magazine that Edmondson’s situation and Cox’s escapade represented a deeper problem.

Off-field recreation among players had become less wholesome, shall we say, than in previous years. The problem led Dantonio to dismiss promising young d-linemen Montez Sweat and Craig Evans last spring. But wayward activity was never properly corralled and had an

impact on the season’s downfall.

As for seniors, offensive lineman Kodi Kieler, tight end Josiah Price, tight end Jamal Lyles, offensive lineman Benny McGowan, defensive end Evan Jones, wide receiver Monty Madaris joined O’Connor, Bullough and Cox as fifth year seniors.

Lyles was left home from the trip to Illinois in November for unspecified reasons.

Jones missed half the year with an injury.

Kieler, Price and McGowan emerged as the only seniors who steadily held down starting jobs. Three players in the fifth-year senior class? That’s not a recipe for success.

Cox and Bullough were being relied upon to become stars. For various reasons, they couldn’t make it happen.

Coaches hoped Madaris, O’Connor and Jones would flourish in each player’s first year as a regular in the playing group. All three fell short of the expected standard.

The seniors in this class had far from their best year, failing to live up to the expected standard.

But at least they finished their careers at Michigan State. Meyers, Edmondson, defensive lineman David Fennell (injury), cornerback Ezra Robinson, wide receiver Kyle Kerrick and offensive lineman Zach Higgins (injury) represented the 27 percent attrition, along with running back Nick Tompkins, who remained part of the roster for five years but is recorded as a washout in our ongoing recruiting analysis due to the failing to earn a letter.

One bad class can be absorbed. Two straight unproductive classes is a major problem. And that’s what hit MSU in 2016.

Earlier in the decade, Dantonio prided himself in stacking strong recruiting classes together. In 2013 and 2012, the opposite happened.

Whereas the class of 2012 had its problems, MSU didn’t have enough numbers or talent in the 2013 class to offset the situation. And the problem will likely continue to show itself on the field 2017:

LEADERSHIP: THE FUTURE

MSU signed only 17 recruits in 2012, six will fail to earn a letter.

That leaves only 11 who had a chance to make an impact in 2017, and four of them (Delton Williams, Darian Hicks, Michael Geiger and R.J. Shelton) played as true freshmen and are now out of eligibility.

That leaves only seven fifth-year scholarship seniors for the 2017 football season and precious few standouts.

The fifth-year seniors for 2017: defensive end Demetrius Cooper, offensive SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL tackle Dennis Finley, center/defensive tackle Devyn Salmon, quarterback Damion Terry, linebacker Shane Jones, linebacker Jon Reschke and running back Gerald Holmes.

It’s possible than none of those seven will start in 2017. Cooper started in 2016 and finished on an up note, but was terribly unproductive as a pass rusher in comparison to the standard he was replacing in the graduated Shilique Calhoun. With young players beginning to emerge at d-end, Cooper will need to have a better season in 2017 in order to hold onto his starting job.

Chances are that Cooper will be improved in 2017 and hold onto his job.

But he doesn’t have much positive company in this recruiting class.

Finley was once a promising offensive tackle but he had a terrible time in 2016 trying to come back from a broken leg which he suffered in 2015. There are concerns that his will to play football has left him.

Terry isn’t likely to start at QB. Salmon has been a career third-stringer.

Jones was passed up by true freshman Joe Bachie in 2016, but Jones did play well against Ohio State late in the season. Holmes is a quality player and a potential leader. Reschke, who missed most of 2016 with a foot injury, is one of the most talented players on the roster, but has some major issues to work through.

The list of busts is a short one: defensive lineman Noah Jones, cornerback Justin Williams, wide receiver Trey Kilgore, tight end Dylan Chmura and defensive back Jalyn Powell. Plus, University of Toronto transfer James Bodanis exhausted his two years of eligibility without ever making a mark.

A d-line class of Noah Jones, Bodanis and Salmon missed the mark entirely, and may have played a role in former defensive line coach Ted Gill getting fired after this class was signed. When Calhoun, Joel Heath and Lawrence Thomas graduated, and Sweat and Evans were dismissed, the Spartans needed members of this class to rise up strong on the defensive line - but this class didn’t offer a thing for 2016 on the d-line.

Over this two-year period, MSU signed only four defensive linemen: Fennell, Bodanis, Noah Jones and Salmon. Bust, bust, bust and a question mark.

Six busts overall from the 2013 class isn’t a terrible number. But when it’s a class of only 17 players, an attrition rate of 35 percent is debilitating - leading to the shallow number of fifth-year seniors, and potential leaders, for 2017.

Most power programs find a way to sign at least 25 players a year or 50 over a two-year period. MSU signed 34 during this two-year period.

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January 2017

From 2013 to 2016, Michigan State signed 79 players. During the same period, Ohio State signed 99. Alabama signed about 10 more than that.

The difference in 20 scholarship players is equal to the difference between Division 1 and Division 1-AA (or FBC and FCS as they are called today). The difference in the number of players Alabama signs and MSU signs is the same as the difference between Michigan State and Youngstown State.

Michigan State has been against “running players off ” in order to clear schol-

season, Dantonio seems to be altering that viewpoint.

“I expect some attrition,” Dantonio said during his mid-winter press conference. “Absolutely I do.”

He said it as if he’s looking forward to it. It’s an ethical bridge that Dantonio is encountering, but it appears to be one his program must cross in order to compete in the Big Ten East. Even Penn State, with its NCAA-imposed scholarship limitations, signed more players (86) than MSU did from 2013-16.

“I can’t go into specifics or names but

coaches will push him to develop in all areas.

Shane Jones plays a position of leadership, middle linebacker, but he will have a hard time winning a starting job.

But he could be a background leader, like an RJ Williamson in 2015 or even Mylan Hicks in 2014. When Jones registered a sack against Ohio State, teammates responded resoundingly for him.

The others? Terry is not a favorite to earn the starting QB job. And if he inherits the job somehow, can he stay healthy?

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Joe Bachie

arship room for the next group of tryouts, and that’s what recruits are at Alabama, and - lately - Ohio State, and most likely Michigan. They are tryout fodder.

They might be four- and five-star recruits, but a percentage of them will be forced off the team by their third or fourth year to make room for the next batch of tryouts.

MSU has not approached roster construction that way under Dantonio. He’s been benevolent to a fault, keeping players like Salmon and Tompkins around for five years despite their showing little hope of becoming regular contributors.

If a recruit turns out to be an inadequate player, Dantonio is more likely to blame himself than the player, if the player has done everything he can to try to develop - which isn’t always the case.

Having gotten stuck shorthanded this

I do expect that (attrition),” Dantonio said. “We’re going to find out who wants to be here and we’re going to make sure that everybody is doing the correct things here, and if they’re not, then there will be some exits.”

As for potential leaders, the pool of upper class candidates will be a shallow one again in 2017.

Of the returning fifth-year scholarship seniors, Gerald Holmes seems to be the most natural leader.

“I want to lead, like I did in high school,” Holmes said after the season.

He may have to do it as a backup running back, which isn’t an easy position from which to lead.

Cooper has the most playing experience, but he doesn’t quite have the confidence and personality to be a leader.

It’s possible he could blossom and

Reschke? His playing style is tremendous, when he’s healthy, available and on the team. Do you want him on your side? Yes. Do you want him on the field?

Yes. Does he have a penchant for saying the wrong thing? Yes. A leader? No. That takes us to the Class of 2014, the true seniors and redshirt juniors. Montae Nicholson was the most experienced player in this group. But he made the shocking decision to forego his final year at Michigan State in order to turn pro.

MSU has precious few captain candidates. Nicholson was far from an attractive candidate for the job, but he was a candidate nonetheless. And now he’s gone.

Returning starters in this class include: linebacker Chris Frey, offensive lineman Brian Allen.

MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL Returning lettermen include: linebacker Byron Bullough, tight end Matt Sokol, linebacker TJ Harrell, running back Madre London, defensive end Robert Bowers, offensive lineman David Beedle, safety Matt Morrissey, defensive tackle Gerald Owens, safety Jalen WattsJackson, cornerback Vayante Copeland.

And that’s all. Frey and Allen are the only established starters. And they’re true seniors. They have been around for only four years, not the perfect formula for leadership.

Frey has the heart and desire to lead.

Does he have the soldiers to follow him?

He’s a good player, not a great one. Greatness would help. Ask Calhoun and Dennard.

Allen isn’t the natural leader that his brother, Jack, was. But he is being encouraged and prodded to become one, partly because there are such few candidates.

Is there a chance a redshirt sophomore or true junior could emerge as a leader?

Brian Lewerke? Khari Willis? Yes, it’s possible because there are few others out front. But can they command the respect of a roster?

Dantonio doesn’t seem worried. He’s saying the things a good leader says.

“We are reconstructing things - where did we fall down, what do we have to do?” he said. “There is strength and that strength will resurface. We are all extremely competitive people and this bothers us. And we work extremely hard to get through the next challenge. We’re all going to go through something like this at some point in time and that’s ultimately what defines people.

“We’re using this time to identify our leaders on our football team. We need to find the leaders on our football team, establish who they are; develop our chemistry, our attitude, our discipline, refocus on that aspect of it.

“We are where we’re at. We’ve taken a step back. Now what’s very important to me is that we put our foot in the ground and plant our feet in the ground and drive forward, and that’s what we will do.

The basic thought process here, though, is that we’ll restart this.”

A restart is going to require the next Kirk Cousins, the next Joel Foreman, the next Max Bullough, the next Blake Treadwell, the next Darqueze Dennard, the next Kurtis Drummond. Those guys were captains from 2013 to 2015. Some of them were far from captain material early in their careers. But they went through the process.

If there are great leaders on this team, they’re probably going to have to come from the younger generation of players.

Those players probably don’t exist in the classes of 2012 and 13. And this rebuilding job might take more than a year.

Critics can point to play-calling and defensive schemes. But those won’t work without proper blocking and tackling,

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Mark Dantonio

which are rooted in commitment and physical discipline. Those elements were lacking in 2016, whether the Spartans tried to run the ball on four straight downs inside the 5-yard line against Michigan or failed to release a pass to an open receiver on a two-point conversion against Ohio State.

Red zone offense was just as bad as MSU’s pass rush, which was just as bad as MSU’s inability to force takeaways.

But through it all, Dantonio sees a seed of future success in the fact that MSU led in all 12 games. He sees plays in each loss that went against the Spartans that might have changed the outcome with the right bounce, a break or a finished opportunity.

“Three wasn’t one football game or one week where we didn’t come out focused and prepared in that given week,” he said. “That’s a compliment to everyone involved. That element remains in our football team.”

Don’t try to tell him that most of the 40 opponents he beat during that 40-5 streak could probably say the same thing about the way they lost to the Spartans.

He’ll remind you that it all comes down to inches anyway and this team needs to re-find those inches.

“If you look back at 2016, you have to own it, but I don’t think there was any football game that we couldn’t have won,” Dantonio said. “I keep asking myself was it us or was it them? Was it us blowing a coverage or missing a sack or not hitting the right hole with a running back? It was us a lot of times in very important aspects of the game and you have to change that aspect of it and usually that happens when you become a more confident football player.”

It needs to start with blocking and tackling and physical discipline. They will need a deep, talented, forceful defensive line to help bring it back. Pieces are being put in place in that area. But again, excellence in that area might be more than a year away.

But we didn’t see 40-5 on the horizon after the Spartans wrapped up an ugly but satisfying pair of victories against Minnesota and TCU at the end of the 2012 season. Those two wins were the first of the 40.

“I think people see end results and they don’t even know how we got there,” Dantonio said. “We were able to find the inches. That’s what separated us from 2015 to 2016, really.”

Dantonio felt he was onto something after 2012. He told the 2013 team that they would be the ones.

Dantonio isn’t likely making any proclamation close to that, but he unquestionably has belief.

“I’m not looking for hope,” he said.

“We’re going to get this done with hard work. I think we have a great mindset right now.

“From my perspective, the future is bright in a lot of ways. We’ll be a young football team next season, very young in the respect that we only have 10 seniors, but we have some very talented juniors and rising sophomores and redshirt freshmen. There’s a lot of positives in that.

“So, we’re going to make sure we move in the right direction here. We’ve always taken that type of approach after a season and we’ll take a more direct approach this off-season. We’ll respond.”

SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Brian Lewerke

LEWERKE QB FRONTRUNNER Shelton: He Has Confidence, Doesn’t Get Rattled Easily

BY PAUL KONYNDYK

Brian Lewerke enters the off-season as the frontrunner for the role of Michigan State’s starting quarterback in 2017 after demonstrating a versatile skillset against Big Ten opponents as a redshirt freshman.

“I think he’s done enough to warrant him to be the guy to beat out,” Coach Mark Dantonio said during his season wrap-up press conference on December 15. “He’s the guy.”

Lewerke, who’s 6-foot-3, 202 pounds, completed 31 of 57 passes (54.4 percent) for 381 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in four games, including two starts. He also demonstrated the ability to make plays with his feet, rushing 149 yards on 21 carries (7.1 avg.), before breaking his tibia in the fourth quarter of Week 7 loss to Michigan.

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January 2017

“Lewerke did some great things this season,” Dantonio said, “probably would have been our guy through the last four games.”

Lewerke is on schedule to participate in spring football barring any setbacks during rehab.

“He’s out of the boot and he’s walking,” Dantonio said, “and he’ll progress from there, probably come back here after break and be able to be moving some, rehabbing.”

Although Lewerke, who’s from Phoenix, Ariz., had moments of inconsistency during his first season as a contributing quarterback, his poise under pressure and his command of the playbook were impressive given his lack of playing experience entering the 2016 season.

“He has confidence and he doesn’t get rattled easily,” outgoing senior wide receiver R.J. Shelton said. “He has com-

mand of the huddle and you can see his leadership. He hasn’t been here as a long as a Tyler (O’Connor) or Damion (Terry), but he knows offense well.”

Lewerke’s willingness to escape the pocket when pass protection breaks down differentiates him from several Dantonio era quarterbacks. O’Connor possessed the willingness to tuck the football and run, but not to the degree that Lewerke does.

“I like to run the ball,” Lewerke said.

“In high school, I had almost 2,000 yards rushing in two years as a starter.

That’s something I like to do and that’s something I want to do. I just need to control how much I do it. I need to be a pocket passer with the ability to run.”

As he matures within the Michigan State offense, Lewerke will learn to go through his read progressions before scrambling for available yardage.

“You always talk in terms of results-

oriented,” quarterbacks coach Brad Salem said. “I do think there’s more patience with more growth. As you get more comfortable, you’re not so quick to escape. You know more with your eyes where to go. And right now, he does when you talk to him – but then all of a sudden, it’s real and you might be here and you’re racing over here when you skip the two reads in between.

He’ll get better.”

Lewerke rushed for a season-best 79 yards on 10 carries in a 28-17 loss at Maryland in his second career start. His passing numbers were less impressive, however, as he completed 11 of 24 passes for 153 yards without a touchdown and one interception.

Lewerke described his performance as average afterward, expressing disappointment that he hadn’t shown more patience in the pocket.

“I think I escaped the pocket a little

MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL too much,” Lewerke said. “I just need to get better.”

Lewerke felt more comfortable in his role as a starter during Michigan State’s loss at Maryland than he did one week earlier against Northwestern when he became the first freshman quarterback to start a game for Michigan State since Stephen Reeves in 2004.

“Obviously, it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as my first start,” Lewerke said. “I think the I did a good job of calming my nerves. The game slowed down some, probably not enough, but I think it will continue to slow down as I gain experience.”

Lewerke completed 12 of 19 passes for 99 yards and a touchdown while adding 38 yards rushing in his first career start against Northwestern, before being replaced by O’Connor in the second half of the 54-40 loss.

“I thought both guys did some good things, and both guys did some things that they’d like to have back,” Dantonio said afterward. “So, we’ll look at it and evaluate, but I do think that Lewerke gave us a spark initially. I thought he did some good things for a redshirt freshman.”

Lewerke established himself as a future leader on offense with the way he carried himself on the scout team as a true freshman in 2015. Since that time, he has been touted as a potential captain in the mold of Kirk Cousins.

Whether Lewerke takes on that type of leadership role as a sophomore next season remains to be seen. Cultivation of leadership at the player level, however, is point of emphasis this off-season.

“We need to find the leaders on our football team, establish who they are,” Dantonio said. “Leadership at the coaching level, it starts with me, but it trickles all the way down through our football program. And to be a leader you got to be productive. I don’t think there’s any question about that as well.”

Ineffectiveness as a starter negatively impacted O’Connor’s ability to lead as a captain.

“In order to lead, sometimes you got to be extremely productive and you have got to worry about yourself and got to produce,” Dantonio said. “And it’s tough. When you lose a football game, it’s tough on everybody. It’s tough on our captains. It’s tough on your senior leadership.”

THE CHALLENGERS

Junior Damion Terry and freshman Messiah deWeaver will challenge Lewerke for the starting job at quarterback during spring football.

When the quarterback competition heats up in the spring, Terry and deWeaver must make the most of their opportunity to impress, given the fact

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Brian Lewerke

that Lewerke will still be working off rust from his season-ending leg injury.

Terry, 6-foot-4, 232 pounds, from Erie, Pa., earned trust as a functional quarterback with his play in a starting role at Penn State. He completed 7 of 12 passes for 101 yards, while adding 15 rushing yards on four carries in a little more than a quarter before leaving the game with a concussion.

“Damion came out and did a great job,” Shelton said. “He fought and you know you’re going to get that from [him].”

Other veterans felt comfortable with Terry leading the offense.

“I think we know what we’re getting with Damion,” senior tight end Josiah Price said. “I think today he was able to showcase that a little bit. He put together a lot of great drives, runs, throws, taking hits and making great throws.”

Although Michigan State failed to convert red zone trips into touchdowns against Penn State, Terry was impressive nonetheless.

“I thought he played very well until he got hurt,” Dantonio said. “He drove us down the field four times, but we just

have to work on getting into the end zone.”

Losing Terry to a concussion two minutes into the second quarter staggered Michigan State’s offense.

“Every team faces injuries,” Price said, “but definitely, that’s the worst part of the game…especially a guy like Damion. He played really well in the first half. That was sad to see him get hurt.”

Terry completed 22 of 46 passes (47.8 percent) for 253 yards with one touchdown and one interception in seven game appearances this season. He added 85 yards rushing on 26 carries with one touchdown.

“Being able to come in and learn has been huge,” Terry said. “Before, I’d just come in and run the ball. Being able to throw in different situations of the game and different downs has been huge for me.”

Prior to his outing against Penn State, Terry gained confidence under fire with his performance against Illinois in which he completed 6 of 12 passes for 50 yards, including a go-ahead touchdown pass to R.J. Shelton late in the

fourth quarter.

Although he gained experience and earned trust during as a junior, Terry did nothing to quell concerns about his inability to avoid injury during his Michigan State career. The physically gifted Pennsylvanian needs to stay healthy in order to push Lewerke for a starting job next season.

“Damion’s been in and out with injuries and he played well in the Penn State game,” Dantonio said. “But he’s got to maintain his health.”

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound DeWeaver, who’s from Huber Heights, Ohio, and enrolled early as a member of Michigan State’s 2016 recruiting class, spent most of the season on the scout team until moving up the depth chart when O’Connor and Terry were unable to practice reps due to injuries.

“Messiah was thrust into No. 3 quarterback position and actually, when Damion Terry was out, Messiah got a lot of the two reps,” said Dantonio of the freshman, who signed with Michigan State as the No. 8 ranked pro-style quarterback and No. 178 overall prospect in the Class of 2016.

“So, he grew immensely in terms of coming off the scout team to being the quarterback there to getting active reps with our twos. He showed some promising things, but he also showed some things that lend to him being a freshman and being not in the mix for six, seven weeks. But I think there was growth there.

“He’s got a live arm. He’s a big guy.

But there’s other things he’s got to work on as he continues to improve. He’s got good ability and we’ll see how he shows in the spring.”

The reps deWeaver took with the second and third-string offense hastened his development after he moved up from the scout team due to injuries to the program’s other quarterbacks.

But even before he left the scout team, deWeaver was exposed to game plans and footwork drills specific to each week’s opponent.

“A lot of it is he’s over at scout team, but we’re getting some reps with our offense in certain situations just to keep him in our verbiage,” Salem said in mid-October. “We’ll talk after our practice, okay, what questions from our meeting? And then make him do the footwork with it. It’s just ever growing and ever knowing. The process of quarterback just never ends regardless of where you are.”

Committed high school senior Rocky Lombardi (6-3, 220), the No. 23 ranked pro-style quarterback in the senior class, will join the competition during training camp next August. It seems unlikely, however, that Lombardi will push for the job given his lack of experience.

SPARTAN Magazine

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Matt Sokol

MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL

‘THEY’LL STEP UP’

Sokol Getting On Track to Lead New Group of Tight Ends

BY JIM COMPARONI Michigan State is heading into its biggest transition of talent at the tight end position since 2012.

The Spartans are DEVELOPMENTAL UPDATE graduating 50 of their 52 receptions from the tight end position, with Josiah Price (38 catches) and Jamal Lyles (12 catches) having exhausted their eligibility.

Only one Spartan tight end returns with any tangible playing time - Matt Sokol. He is coming off a promising sophomore season.

This year’s situation marks the biggest changeover in personnel at tight end since 2012 when Dion Sims opted for the NFL Draft a year early, taking his 36 catches with him.

The Spartans entered the 2013 season with then-sophomore Paul Lang and junior walk-on Andrew Gleichert. They had only four combined career receptions heading into 2013.

Price was new to the playing group after redshirting in 2012.

Despite being largely unproven at tight end heading into 2013, Price, Lang and Gleichert proved to be a functional cog in what turned out to be a run to the Big Ten Championship and a victory at the Rose Bowl.

Price finished with 17 catches as a freshman, Gleichert had six and Lyles had five catches after making a surprise move from defense.

Tight end became a strength for four seasons with Gleichert becoming a good blocker and Lang becoming a very good one by 2014 and ’15.

Now, the tight end situation is back to being an area of unknowns.

Sokol (6-5, 250, Rochester Adams) saw action in all 12 games in 2016 as the No. 3 tight end. He had only two catches on the year, but one was a pretty 16-yarder against Illinois late in the season. He looked big, fluid, sure-handed and confident on that catch, sparking belief that he is beginning to polish up his talent in time to step into the No. 1 role in 2017.

On the 16-yarder at Illinois, Sokol lined up as part of a tight bunch set, accelerated quickly off the line of scrimmage and broke behind the linebackers on an over route. He caught the ball at 13 yards, with his

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Noah Davis

hands clean and out in front of his body, and was taken down by a sweep tackle for the gain of 16. He looked the part and he felt like it too.

“That was a huge growing opportunity for me,” he said of the 16-yarder, which was his second and last catch of the season. “I got through the second level, through the linebackers and I felt an opening and Tyler threw a perfect ball, so it was mostly a credit to him on a great read and a great ball.

“It felt great to be out there, it felt great to make a play in that game, it felt great to be contributing like that.”

Despite Sokol’s flash of talent, Spartan quarterbacks continued to target Price as the primary tight end for the rest of the season. Sokol was on the field as part of route combinations and blocking assignments on a regular basis throughout the year, and increasingly in the last month of the season.

Sokol played extensively at Illinois,

with Lyles being left home due to violation of team rules.

“I got some reps that I wasn’t getting earlier in the season, so that was progress,” Sokol said. “But it was nowhere near where I want to be, so I have to keep pushing.”

With Price and Lyles having graduated and Dylan Chmura having retired due to a medical disqualification last summer, Sokol is the only scholarship tight end with playing experience.

“I have a huge role model to look up to in Josiah Price,” Sokol said. “He plays the game so well, so smart. His biggest attribute is how smart of a football player he is. He is an incredible playmaker.

“Josiah and Jamal have been consistent playmakers for us so I try to learn a lot of things from them and try not to compare myself to them because I’m a different player than they are, and they are very unique with unique skill sets.

“Now I’m going to be the oldest guy in the room. I have a whole bunch of young guys and I have to lead them the same way these guys led me and try to perform like they have in the past.”

Sokol will be joined by a redshirt freshman, two true freshmen, a transfer and a walk-on in heading up the corps of tight ends for the Spartans next year.

A quick overview of who will be expected to join Sokol at the position in 2017: ▷ The Redshirt Freshman: Noah Davis (6-4, 258, Cincinnati St. Xavier). Davis, formerly a three-star recruit, redshirted in 2016 and is on schedule to contribute as a balanced tight end.

“Noah Davis got a lot of work at tight end in practice and he’s going to be a great tight end,” Coach Mark Dantonio said.

“Noah has been doing a great job,” offensive line coach Mark Staten SPARTAN Magazine

33

MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL said. “Most of the time, he’s with the scout team, but there are certain game time periods when I get to coach up freshmen like Noah, along with freshmen offensive linemen Luke Campbell and A.J. Arcuri and Matt Allen. And we’re able to get a look at Noah and how he’s coming along, and he’s going to be a terrific, terrific player for us. So, going forward, he and Sokol, we’re going to be on point. What we’ll be missing is experience.” ▷ The Freshmen Part One: Jack Camper (6-5, 240, Bradenton, Fla., IMG Academy/Virginia Beach, Va.) is enrolling at Michigan State in January. Two months of winter conditioning and spring practice with his new teammates in East Lansing will help give him his best opportunity to get into position to compete for an early role.

Camper played primarily at defensive end for IMG in 2015 and ’16, with occasional duty at tight end.

MSU began keeping tabs on him after assistant coach Jim Bollman noticed him as a sophomore on film when Camper player in Virginia Beach.

MSU continued to scout him after he transferred to Bradenton IMG Academy and offered him last summer after Camper stood out in camps as a tight end.

“Jack is one of those guys, from the moment he got here, who was on a mission to be the best student-athlete he could be,” said IMG head coach Kevin Wright. “Nobody outworks Jack. It’s been really neat to see his progress on the field and see him grow as a young man and see him do well academically.”

He hasn’t been a focal part of the IMG offense, but IMG coaches say practices are more competitive than most games.

“When he’s playing defensive end, he’s going against left tackle Robert Hainsey, who is going to Notre Dame,” Wright said. “He’s also going against Brock Bando, who is going to Nebraska. When he’s playing tight end, he’s going against (Maryland commit) Josh Kaindoh, who is one of the top defensive ends in the country.

But Jack has come here with a purpose. He’s locked in and has done a really good job for us.”

Now he will be able to focus on tight end and the level of blocking needed at Michigan State. He figures to be a strong-blocking tight end at some point. Whether or not he will be ready to contribute in that area in 2017 will begin to be answered this spring.

The Freshmen Part Two: Matt Dotson (6-5, 230, Cincinnati Moeller) is one of the highest-rated 34

January 2017

members of the 2017 recruiting class.

He’s ranked the No. 5 tight end in the country by Rivals.com, and No. 161 overall.

Dotson has slippery quickness and terrific hands to go with an athletic 6-foot-5 frame. Dantonio has never signed a tight end with a mixture of height and athleticism that Dotson presents. Dotson is expected to stretch defenses vertically more so than any tight end the Spartans have had under Dantonio, and he will also provide the ability to split out as receiver and present matchup problems in that regard. How quickly he

ship player. Sources indicate that Seybert emerged as a capable, functional tight end while on the scout team last fall. With a good frame and time spent in the program, he is in good position to become the type of walkon contributor at tight end that Gleichert became in 2013 and ’14.

The Walk-On: Hussein Kadry (6-3, 230, Sr., Dearborn Fordson) made the travel team for Michigan State’s games at Penn State and Illinois.

Kadry joined the team in the fall of 2015, suiting up for the first time since graduating from Dearborn

the travel team for the Penn State game, along with Sokol and Price.

“I’m looking forward to having those guys around us,” Sokol said.

“I’m going to have a big role to step into it and I’m excited to work toward that and prepare for it.

“In our room, the tight ends all work extremely hard and we’re always out here after practice catching extra balls, doing extra stuff. I’ve learned a lot this season and it felt good to pay off in some of those games late in the year.

“We’re going to have a lot to learn, a lot of things to improve on, strength-wise, physically, and also from a standpoint of football knowledge. I’m excited about it but it’s going to be a transition.”

If the coaches are concerned, they’re not showing it. When Bollman was asked about next year’s tight end’s picture, he smiled and said: “They’ll step up. I feel good about the guys we have. Matt Sokol is working hard in that direction. Noah Davis is a young man who showed that he’s going to have a lot of potential in that regard.”

THE BREAKDOWN ON SOKOL

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Hussein Kadry

will be able to do things will remain a question. He needs to mature physically and prove himself as a blocker, which could take some time.

The Transfer: Matt Seybert (6-4, 250, R-Soph., Traverse City, Mich.) transferred to Michigan State from the University of Buffalo during the summer. He redshirted at Buffalo in 2015 and had to sit out the fall of 2016 at MSU. He transferred as a non-scholar-

Fordson in 2012, where he caught 33 passes as an all-city performer. He attended Henry Ford Community College in 2013 and ’14, and spent two years away from football, before enrolling at MSU. The managemenåt major made an unlikely climb to become the No. 3 TE on the team for the trip to Illinois, with Lyles staying home due to a suspension.

With Lyles reinstated, Kadry made

Sokol has made a steady progression in learning the nuances of the position. Sokol was a quarterback at Rochester Adams High, but MSU recruited him as a tight end.

He was a functional QB at the high school level, but didn’t have the fineskill precision to play that position in college. However, he did have a tall, strong frame, with good athleticism and ball skills. He displayed hands and quickness while repping at tight end during summer camps prior to his senior year in high school, and earned a scholarship offer from Michigan State based on his blossoming potential.

“He’s always been one of those very good athletes, being an ex-quarterback, a really good route runner,” Bollman said.

Sokol’s strong showing in the Illinois game was a bounce-back performance. A week earlier, he missed a pair of blocks in the red zone during Michigan’s State goal line failure in the loss to Michigan: - On second-and-goal at the 8-yard line, Sokol missed a seal block on linebacker Jabril Peppers, resulting in LJ Scott being thrown for a loss.

However, MSU drew a pass interference flag on third down.

Then: - On first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, Sokol was beaten back and pancaked by Michigan defensive end Taco Charlton, causing the play to

MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Matt Sokol, left, and Noah Davis

bounce for a loss of one.

Sokol was then replaced by Lyles.

Earlier in the game, Sokol earned trust with a pair of strong blocks during the Spartans’ impressive gameopening TD drive: + On a first-and-10, Sokol and right tackle Miguel Machado moved Charlton with a double-team block, helping pave the way for Scott to gain 8 yards. (Tyler Higby pulled on a power to the D-gap and got good wood on LB Mike McCray, and Brian Allen got out to a LB on a combo block). + On second-and-goal, Sokol released inside for a good crack block on McCray and Scott carried for a short TD run.

However, Sokol had a week to obsess about the missed blocks in the red zone and improving his technique.

“You wish you could go back and do a couple of things differently, make your footwork and your hand placement different, but you just have to move on and learn from it and use it and apply it to the future,” Sokol said of the Michigan experience. “I definitely feel like they had some great players and they made some great plays, but I definitely could have done some things better. I was disappointed in the way I played in a couple of those plays down there, but you have to move on from it and learn from it. I learned a lot, playing against some really good talent. I definitely will carry that game with me in the future. They’re good players.”

A week later, as the interim No. 2 tight end with Lyles, out, Sokol delivered two plus blocks and didn’t have a negative block all day:

+ On the opening drive, executed a good “down” block against the defensive end, clearing the area for Scott to gain 8. + Provided excellent pass protection against dangerous Illinois d-end Dawuane Smoot, providing time for QB Damion Terry to throw deep (incomplete).

“I was happier with my performance against Illinois than I was against Michigan,” said Sokol, who has held steady at 250 pounds for more than a year. “That was the most substantially I’ve played in a game, so I got critiqued and was able to grow from that. There were obviously some things I could do better.

“I’m still trying to get better at a whole bunch of little things, but I definitely have more confidence than I had at the beginning of the year. I just have more knowledge.

“When you have that game time experience and knowing how different game time is from a practice, it means so much as you work to move forward.”

Said Bollman: “He’s becoming more and more consistent in everything that he does, and I’d say especially his blocking. He’s another one of those guys who has tremendous, tremendous work ethic, and he’s working very hard at trying to become a better blocker, and everyday he’s doing that.

“He’ll be a guy that we’ll depend on next year, no question. He’ll be the leader in that room next year.”

Is he ready to become a leader?

“Absolutely,” Sokol said. “I have a lot of goals to set and things to accomplish and I’m ready to work hard for it and help bring this room along.”

SPARTAN Magazine

35

MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL

THE BUILDING BLOCK Williams Emerges as Leader and Cornerstone after Finishing Strong

BY JIM COMPARONI Michigan State is entering a crossroads off-season as a program, trying to rid itself of the habits and pitfalls which led to a 3-9 season in 2016, while trying to regain the defensive prowess that led to 40 wins in 45 games prior to this year’s slide.

There are plenty of DEVELOPMENTAL UPDATE areas that need work.

But the foundational strength needs to come from the defense. And the foundational strength of the defense needs to come from the defensive line.

It needs to be done with talent and depth on the d-line, but also commitment and leadership.

Sophomore Raequan Williams is emerging as a cornerstone to the plans of rebuilding Michigan State’s winning habits on defense, up front, with talent and leadership.

Williams (6-4, 295, Chicago DePaul College Prep) has only recently completed his first year of varsity football at Michigan State, and second year in the program.

But he has the play-making ability and team-oriented attributes that are needed in the defensive front four.

The Spartans were low on leadership last year with the d-line being the most rudderless area of the team. Sources tell SPARTAN Magazine that ultra- talented Malik McDowell was not interested in helping lead young players, often butted heads with coaches and may have even stunted the development of others.

Michigan State needs to rebuild the great leadership the Spartans enjoyed prior to 2016. However, the Spartans might be low on senior leadership again this fall. Leadership for the future needs to start being encouraged and nurtured in the classes below, where there is more talent and there appears to be more natural leaders - with Williams among them.

Williams was elected to the team’s “Eagles” leadership council last year as a representative of the younger classes. Now that he has established

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Raequan Williams

himself on gameday as a playmaker, he is being asked to take more steps forward as a leader.

“Coaches want me to work on bringing my team along, bringing the d-linemen along,” Williams said.

“They want us to play faster, work hard. They push us to get better at everything and that’s what I like about these coaches because I like to be pushed and we can all learn from that and push each other.”

He’s only a sophomore, but he is entering his third year in the program - which gives him as much time in the system as linebacker Chris Frey and offensive lineman Brian Allen had last year when they were asked to be leaders. Frey and Allen did their best last year, and will need to take it up another notch during winter conditioning, heading into spring practice.

Williams is inspired by the taste of success he experienced as a redshirt freshman in 2016. He was the team’s most productive defensive lineman through the first four games of the season.

He led the team in sacks (2) and

tackles for loss (3) after four games.

However, he went down with an arm injury in the fourth game, at Indiana.

He missed the next two games (loss to Brigham Young and Northwestern). He returned for the game at Maryland, but wasn’t quite up to his old standards until the final three games against Rutgers, Ohio State and Penn State.

“Raequan was really impressive early on, had the injury, missed some time, then came back and in the last three or four weeks, he, along with Mike Panasiuk, were playing our best football of the year,” said coach Mark Dantonio. “He’s not a true freshman like some of these others, but he is still a freshman, still learning and improving. I think there’s been great improvement by our young players, and that’s usually the case, because I think, as a young player, the learning curve is maybe more drastic. You’re going to learn faster. I think there is more to learn, obviously, so you have more to gain, more room to grow. And Raequan is in that category.”

Williams was a Rivals.com four-

star recruit, ranked No. 153 in the nation and the No. 2 player in Illinois in 2015. He took official visits to Michigan State and Iowa before choosing the Spartans.

He was regarded as one of the more talented freshmen in the program in 2015, but the Spartans had the luxury of redshirting him, due to terrific depth on the defensive line.

He lived up to the hype in September with a sack at Notre Dame, followed up with a sack and four tackles against Wisconsin (including a forced fumble). He then had a TFL and a QB hurry against Indiana before going down with the arm injury.

“When I got hurt, there was a dip in the way I was playing, and then I started to get better and better again,” he said. “I saw myself getting better, game-to-game, at the end of the year, and that’s exciting.”

Sitting out two games with an injury and having to come back slowly made him more hungry.

“It frustrated me a lot and it made me want to force myself to play,” he said. “I was happy to get back playing and finish off strong. I felt good at SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL the end of the year, 100 percent.”

right. Williams got to Barrett as he released the pass and knocked him down. Incompletion. + Much better vs. the C/LG double-team on the first play of Ohio State’s third drive. Didn’t give an inch. + Extremely first vs. a C/RG double-team in the second quarter, this time working against Elflein and right guard Billy Price - both of who were voted first-team All-Big Ten by league coaches + Got off a C/RG double team on an inside zone to assist on a tackle vs. a QB counter keeper in the second quarter, holding it to a gain of 2 + Raced around Jordan and swallowed up the RB for no gain on firstand-10 at the Ohio State 4-yard line.

“We weren’t surprised we played well against them,” Williams said. “I felt like we practiced hard, prepared and we’re tough on ourselves and we wanted to improve. We just worked on our game, went out and played as hard as we can, and we showed what we can do.”

IRON MAN?

When Michigan State battled Ohio State to a 17-16 loss on Nov. 19, the Buckeyes went into the game ranked No. 2 in the country and had the No. 11-ranked offense in the nation.

With some help from wind and rain, the Spartans held Ohio State to what was then a season-low 310 yards of total offense.

SPARTAN Magazine unofficially charted Williams with playing 65 of Michigan State’s 67 defensive snaps, an astoundingly high percentage of snaps for a d-tackle in the MSU system.

Even Jerel Worthy never played that high of a percentage of plays back when he was easily the best d-tackle on the team with limited help around him. Worthy often came off the field when MSU’s nickel defense checked in for passing downs.

But Williams played nose guard as part of MSU’s 30 front in the nickel defense against the Buckeyes.

Gerald Owens checked in and subbed for Williams for two snaps, with 2:55 left in the third quarter.

After those two plays, Williams played the rest of the way.

Williams showed no sign of wearing down in the late stages of the game.

He finished with three QB hurries, including one knockdown. He also batted down a pass and had three tackles.

Williams played the one technique for most of the game, while rising d-tackle tag team partner Panasiuk started at the three technique.

When Kevin Williams subbed in to replace Panasiuk, Kevin Williams played the one and Raequan moved out to the three.

And, as stated, in the nickel defense, Raequan moved to an evenshade nose guard position.

He was strong, he was quick, he was versatile.

SPARTAN Magazine’s unofficial grade sheet for Williams in that game: - His worst play of the game came on the first snap when he was moved backward by a LG/C double-team on an inside zone. He allowed five yards of movement. He was visibly angry with himself after that play, and it didn’t happen again all day. = He was better against the exact same look on the very next play of the game, going against Ohio State’s Pat Elflein (a probable high-round NFL Draft pick) and Buckeye left guard Michael Jordan. + Batted down a pass on a seconddown in the first quarter. The batted38

January 2017

CHICAGO STRONG

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Raequan Williams

down pass is becoming an increasingly important tactic for defensive lines in today’s college football, due to all of the trouble defenses are having in stopping the modern offenses.

Getting pressure on QBs is becoming more difficult, due to tempo, the

quick-release spread offenses and the need to defend the run first when facing run-pass option pass attempts. + Spin move as a one technique defeated double-team pass protection. He converged with quickness as QB J.T. Barrett was flushed out to his

Williams and true freshman Panasiuk began working well together late in the season, with Williams coming back from injury and Panasiuk (6-3, 309, Roselle, Ill.) beginning to figure things out.

The Ohio State game marked their best performance of the season as a tandem with good indications of serving as a team strength for the next three seasons.

“It’s fun working with Mike and playing next to him because we practice hard together all the time,” Williams said. “We used to joke that we couldn’t wait until it was just us out there and when it happened, it was fun. It’s fun to play with him. Great guy.

“And we challenge each other a little bit and compete with each other.

Mike said he was going to get a sack before me in the Ohio State game, and he did. I was close but I didn’t get it. So, he got me on that one, but I was happy for him.

Panasiuk was forced into duty as a true freshman due to Michigan State’s need for immediate help at the position in 2016. Williams was able to sit out and work behind Joel Heath, McDowell and Damon Knox.

“It was hard to wait but it was good to wait,” Williams said. “I’m glad I did. I visualized how all this would go and it went well. So, I’m happy and ready to keep working.

“We have to work together as a unit, as a d-line, communicating and playing faster. We have work to do.”

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MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL

LATE BLOOMER? Rising Junior Robert Bowers Suddenly Showing Strength for 2017

BY JIM COMPARONI Robert Bowers emerged as one of the more interesting risers on the team in the late stages of the 2016 season and a promising sign for 2017.

Bowers wasn’t a regular in the playing group through the first half of the season, and the redshirt sophomore defensive end, in his third year in the program, was beginning to trend toward the disappointment category.

But then Bowers was given some playing time in November as the season went off a cliff and he responded with some good football. After the Spartans lost at Illinois, Bowers started ahead of freshman Josh King against Rutgers and he played well. Bowers was awarded with starting duty for the final three games of the year as King’s snaps became greatly reduced.

King started against Illinois but didn’t play the next week against Rutgers, apparently due to minor health reasons.

This opened the door for Bowers and he played a bit better than anyone expected. Bowers finished with three tackles and earned a start the following week against Ohio State.

That’s when Bowers (6-4, 244, Walnut Ridge High School, Columbus, Ohio) contributed the type of d-end play that was expected of him as a sophomore. He was a plus player for the Spartans against his homestate Buckeyes.

Bowers registered a sack in the second quarter, coming on the first play of an Ohio State drive, immediately after Tyler O’Connor had been intercepted deep in MSU territory. The Spartans needed a big play on defense to halt Buckeye momentum and Bowers delivered.

“We had the mindset that we were going to beat those guys and I had that mindset too, and I thought we were tough against them,” Bowers said. “After that Rutgers game, I thought I did pretty good. But I can do better on a lot of things.

“I felt like I needed to come with a great attitude for the Ohio State game, that I could help make a difference.”

On the sack, Bowers honored his outside gap after a play-action run fake.

Then he transitioned to the pass rush and encountered a pulling center.

He struck the center, disengaged with a shoulder wipe, and showed some burst in converging to assist with Mike Pana-

Photos By Robert Hendricks

Robert Bowers

siuk for the sack of Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett.

“I faked him outside and I went outside and I wiped it and I got to the quarterback,” Bowers said. “When I got that sack, it was a great feeling, an unbelievable feeling. It just made me more hungry to get more sacks.”

Panasiuk didn’t have to beat anyone for the half-sack. Panasiuk tried to press forward, hung around, ended up near the pocket and the QB came to him.

Credit Demetrius Cooper with an inside stunt to pressure Barrett and begin to flush him out.

the roster heading toward the spring, but he played very little in 2016, which isn’t a good sign for him, considering the open need MSU had at the position last fall.

Robertson might be the most physically gifted of the group, with quickness and good lower-body strength and some elusiveness.

King is strong and has good straightline speed, but maybe not the edgeturning ability needed for pure pass rush skill at d-end. He can be part of an outstanding d-line in the future, but don’t look for King to develop into a Shilique Calhoun type of pass rusher.

That’s not his gift.

As for Bowers, he has more take-off quickness than King and probably more closing speed. Bowers needs to improve his ability to power through contact.

“He is still a work in progress,” said defensive line coach Ron Burton. “But he’s shown in practice that he can go out and play football and be effective.”

“He has shown in practice that he’s ready to take that next step,” said codefensive coordinator Harlon Barnett.

“He had been talking about it and talking about it. I remember in camp he was talking about it and we saw some flags in there. But he really has grown up and matured to be there and be a really good practice player, as well as earn an opportunity to get on the field during the games. He’s always been a guy that has a fairly quick twitch and a motor. He was probably thinking too much early on in his career.

“He knows the defense now, so now his natural ability can come out. You can see why we recruited a guy like him.

Really excited for the future for him.”

Bowers came to Michigan State as a 5.6 three-star recruit, ranked No. 53 in Ohio by Rivals.com. He was a thin-butathletic 6-foot-5, 210 pounds who wasn’t close to being ready for the college level but had a high ceiling of potential.

“He’s athletic, he was an AAU basketball player, a guy that can move and use his feet, have some twitch to him and really some power in some one-on-one matchup situations,” Burton said. “He can flash because of his athleticism. He moves that well. That’s been good for us.”

son as the worst pass rush in the Big Ten. But Bowers - who rarely played in September and October - helped the pass rush reverse that trend a bit against the Buckeyes, setting a good tone for his sights on 2017.

“We’re hungry and we felt that helps set the tone for next year,” Bowers said.

“It makes you want to get back to work.”

MSU’s defensive end picture in 2016 turned out to be a disappointing one, with Cooper getting only 2.5 sacks and six TFLs despite playing an abundance of snaps.

In 2017, Cooper and Bowers return as d-ends, along with rising sophomores OUT LIKE A LION King, Auston Robertson and junior-to‘WE’RE HUNGRY’ Bowers saw action in only seven The sack was quite a moment for a be walk-on Dillon Alexander. Sopho- games, finishing with 12 tackles. But he defense that had played the entire sea- more-to-be Justice Alexander is also on started the last three. He played all but SPARTAN Magazine

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MICHIGAN STATE WINTER FOOTBALL two snaps in the first three quarters of the Penn State game. He played boundary defensive end at Penn State, after playing predominantly at field defensive end against Ohio State.

In the first half of the season, he played behind Evan Jones and Gabe Sherrod. Malik McDowell saw time at d-end as well.

By November, Jones had missed five games with an injury, Sherrod had been cycled out of the playing group and McDowell didn’t play the last three games due to an ankle boo-boo.

King and Robertson had some moments in early November, but Bowers ended up nosing in front of the true freshmen at the end of the year.

What did Bowers have to do in order to get playing time?

“Number one, understanding of the game plan,” Burton said, “And number two, the ability to adjust and not only play pass rush but be able to defend the run. He came in with a premium ability to rush the passer, but also being able to stop the run, and being physical is something you have to be able to do.

That’s what he’s shown for us and that’s why he was able to finally get out there on the field, because he can do both now.”

In the starts against Ohio State and Penn State, Bowers was solid-to-good in his ability to take on pulling linemen on trap and wham plays. His pass rush skills were better than those of Jones and King, probably better than Sherrod.

Last spring in the Green-White Game, Bowers looked explosive as a pass rusher but was terrible when the opposing team sent power runs right at him. He was remedial at the point of attack. Although Bowers proved to be good when taking on trap blocks at the point of attack in November, the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions sent only one direct run right at him, thus media and fans weren’t able to gauge his progress in that area. But Burton says there has been growth.

“Just us trusting him and putting him on the field has been a plus for him,” Burton said.

The weight room, training table and the film room were keys to Bowers’ eventual rise. He needed to add strength and knowledge of the game.

“I was just trying to get into the playbook and watch film with the coaches so that they could start to trust me on the field,” Bowers said. “They told me what I needed to do against the team we were playing every week and I went in trying to work hard to get to that level. I went to see them every day to learn the plays and our approach for each opponent.

“At first, I treated it like I was in high school. But I had a lot to learn. I learned how to try to perfect my game a little 42

January 2017

Photos By Robert Hendricks

Robert Bowers

more. I learned how to use my team in practice to prepare me for that and I became ready.”

Bowers finished with modest numbers on the season: 12 tackles and 1.5 TFLs. But he was productive in those final three games.

“I’m looking forward to the off-sea-

son,” he said. “I’m ready to get on my grind. I’m going to focus more this offseason on my hips and my upper body, my speed. Agility always is something you can work on. I’m going to try to change my diet, eat better and just work hard every day.”

He was recruited as a late bloomer

type of prospect. It took him awhile but the bloom might be starting to show.

“The coaches say to just keep working hard, keep being a leader with the young guys, keep working on my power moves and my speed and keep making progress,” Bowers said. “That’s what I intend to do.”

SPARTAN MAGAZINE FILM ROOM

FILM ROOM: ROBERT BOWERS Rangy Junior Defensive End Plays the Option Well

BY JIM COMPARONI Robert Bowers went from being outside of the playing group in the first half of the 2016 season to a starter in the last three games, and a productive one at that, making him an intriguing figure heading into the off-season and spring football.

Below is SPARTAN Magazine’s unofficial grade sheet for Bowers in his two starts against Ohio State and Penn State (KEY: + is a plus play, - is a negative play, = is a neutral play, * is a general observation): Versus Ohio State: - Vacated his outside gap responsibility in trying to duck inside to chase Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett on a QB power keeper. When Bowers ducked inside, Barrett bounced outside to the daylight caused by Bowers’ departure. Barrett gained 19 yards, on Bowers. + Sack in the second quarter, honoring the run on a play action fake, then converting to the pass rush, defeating a pulling lineman with a head fake followed by a club/wipe, then converged to finish.

Strong play all the way around for a wellearned sack. + Pretty good feel for the zone read right at him. He was left unblocked as the d-end being optioned on the second play of the second half. He honored the RB on the power option right at him but didn’t overcommit. Lateral movement to honor the RB, causing the QB to keep it. Bowers then changed direction to converge on the QB. Bowers still moves a bit awkwardly but covered ground made to make the tackle and hold it to a gain of 2.

- OSU didn’t send a point-of-attack blocking scheme right at Bowers late in the fourth quarter. With 4:30 remaining, he lost the outside shoulder of the right tackle and was swept inside on a QB counter. OSU gained eight yards. A good teaching point. + OSU ran at him on the next play, this time a center pull on a buck sweep type of play. Bowers took on the pulling center, set the edge, withstood the blow, and even won enough to take a step toward the RB and bounce the play. He flat out defeated the block of pulling center Pat Elflein, a first-team All-Big Ten player.

Andrew Dowell scraped over the top for the tackle, securing a loss of five yards.

Elflein was flagged for holding Bowers on the play after Bowers had whipped his butt. In all, Bowers set the edge, defeated the block and bounced the play AND

Photos By Robert Hendricks

Robert Bowers

drew a holding flag. That set up second and 16. Shilique Calhoun wouldn’t have played that play any better. = Next play: He stunted inside, covered ground pretty well, changed direction okay. MSU coaches liked what he did on the previous play and called a pressure that would feature Bowers. OSU ran a QB draw on the play and Dillon Alexander drew a holding penalty. Three plays later, OSU punted and MSU regained possession with a chance to win. * In the pass rush, he at times looks quick, athletic, covers ground and can turn the corner. But sometimes he is too finesse-oriented, not strong enough when he engages and dances around too much rather than engaging. He doesn’t have the come-forward power that is necessary when engaging. No pass rusher can avoid contact every time. At some point, horsepower is needed to beat blocks or counter. He has shown the strength to defeat pull blockers and trap blockers. Now he needs to defeat pass blockers. + He is much improved at engaging with o-linemen and hosting his gap vs. the run as a backside tender. Next, he has to prove he can do it as a play-side defender.

Versus Penn State: * He didn’t get a chance to turn his pass rush loose much vs. the Nittany Lions, and was assigned to check up and

read run first due to the zone read elements, QB keep threat and the run-pass option threat. * Bowers has some reasonably quick upper body movement, head and shoulder fakes. +/- Second play of the game, an inside zone run bounce outside toward Bowers.

Bowers had taken on the left tackle, was solid on the initial collision. Bowers left his gap and darted inside and got away with it, making the tackle while being the second MSU player in the gap, which is a mistake. He left his gap to “be a hero” on this play and succeeded, but was wrong in the film room. + He plays the zone read well. He covers ground with a good, quick first step, can take on a wham block if necessary. + Second play of second drive, slanted inside the left tackle as part of a blitz, knowing that blitzing LB Chris Frey would be blitzing through Bowers’ normal outside gap. Bowers was quick with the slant and low. The left tackle let him go and the left guard tried to pick him up, but Bowers was already past him and tackled RB Barkley for loss of three. + Late in the 2Q, Bowers was left unblocked and optioned on the play side, as part of a trap option buck sweep type of play. Bowers got wide, coiled, took on the wham blocker, used good lateral movement to set the edge and stay alive and turn the RB back inside toward

Shane Jones for a loss of five. Again, Bowers played that as well as Shilique Calhoun would have. Shane Jones and Andrew Dowell each had TFLs late in the year that were made possible by Bowers playing the edge expertly. +/- Midway through 3Q, on a zone read to his side, Bowers was unblocked and optioned. He got wide, took on a pull guard, and bounced the play. They seemingly had QB Saquon Barkley hemmed in, five yards behind the line of scrimmage, but Barkley made a head-andshoulder move to get around Bowers for an eventual loss of 2. Bowers did a good job to delay the RB and give LB a chance to pursue over the top. Bowers did everything well, but didn’t finish the tackle on what could have been a Bowers TFL for a loss of five.

- He had a rare pure chance for a pass rush on second-and-12 with seven minutes left in the third quarter, in a rare empty backfield situation with no RB run threat or option mesh look. The play turned out to be a deep TD pass. Bowers was one-on-one vs. the left tackle. Bowers had played a lot of snaps to that point and many consecutive snaps on this particular drive. He did not have a quick takeoff on this play. He sold the outside rush, faked an inside counter move, then went back outside with an arm-over and wasn’t bad with the counter, but the QB stepped up and went deep to tight end Mike Gesicki. (Dillon Alexander was the other d-end and the PSU right tackle did a good job of getting his hands inside and holding him without detection.) + Stunted inside on a third-and-seven blitz and turned the corner up inside pretty athletically and helped flush the QB. - On second-and-seven at the MSU 14, he missed a tackle on an inside zone run.

He charged upfield, maybe too far, seemed a little confused when the tight end released wide. Went one step too far.

He needed to stay and squeeze tighter to the LT. Was too far away to change direction back to the inside to try to tackle the RB. As it turns out, he had the best chance to tackle the RB of anybody, as Frey and Riley Bullough kind of got knocked back when MSU d-tackle Kevin Williams allowed a yard of movement vs. a double team. The RB got away from Bowers for the TD. Frey and Bullough weren’t able to make the play because Bowers didn’t play it quite well enough and Williams was blown back by a double-team block.

SPARTAN Magazine

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COMP’S CONVERSATIONS

Comparoni & Dorsey Discuss Recruiting, Heading Toward Signing Day

With the recruiting calendar accelerating toward Signing Day, SPARTAN Magazine recruiting analyst Matt Dorsey and SPARTAN Magazine publisher Jim Comparoni sat down and discussed some of the commitments, targets and dynamics involving Michigan State recruiting in the early days of 2017:

Jim Comparoni: Matt, When you look at the first 17 commitments of this recruiting class, who is the one name that you find yourself looking back at as new film comes in and thinking highly of that might be easy to forget about at this time of year?

Matt Dorsey: I think you have to be excited about the tight ends that they are bringing in, between Matt Dotson of Cincinnati and Jack Camper of Bradenton IMG Academy by way of Virginia. That was an area of need that Michigan State really had to address, for help in 2017, with Jamal Lyles and Josiah Price graduating. Michigan State went out and got two really good prospects at that position. Camper has already enrolled so he is going to get a jump on things, which will give him his best chance of helping early.

JC: I was just looking at Dotson’s film a minute ago and he is fluid, he’s 6-foot-5. He runs really well for a 6-5 teen-ager, and you figure he is just going to grow into that frame more. He catches the ball with great technique, using his hands, elevating his hands outside the frame of his body, giving him what they call a good catching radius, and he does it while on the run at a high speed.

Of all the tight ends that Mark Dantonio has signed at Michigan State over the years, they have never gotten one quite like him. Dantonio has a couple of tight ends in the NFL, and I’m not saying Dotson is better than those guys like Dion Sims and Garrett Celek, but I’m saying he has a different skill set than they do.

Michigan State needs immediate help from freshman tight ends, but he is only about 225 or 230 right now, so it’s going to be hard for him to be as big as they’ll need from a tight end by August.

Camper is more physical for blocking. He is listed at 6-5, 230 in the IMG game program, and 6-4, 225 on the Rivals.com bio page, based on how he weighed in at a Rivals.com summer event. He has a frame, but also needs to add some mass.

MSU has Matt Sokol in the program and not much else at tight end, in terms of proven players. MSU has that tight 44

January 2017

Matt Dotson

end transfer from the University of Buffalo, Matt Seybert (6-4, 250, Traverse City). And I’ve heard some good stuff about him, quietly behind he scenes. He is going to have a role and he is going to help. But Dotson is unique situation. He has all that talent, but expecting him to be an every-down tight end is going to be difficult with a slim yet athletic frame considering what MSU usually asks from its tight ends.

When I looked at his film I saw him bend his knees and get low and deliver some good blocks with some force at the high school level, so I think he is making progress there. I know he set out to improve in that area of the game as a high school senior and he’s at a good program, Cincinnati Moeller, to make progress in any area he chooses.

What’s your thoughts about his level of physical maturity in terms of being a traditional attached-to-the-line type of tight end in the MSU offense? I think he will be able to split out and run some routes and have the physical ability to be a pass catches right away. But if he can’t also block as an attached tight end, then you get into a situation where it’s a play-call tell depending on whether a guy is on the field or not, and that’s something MSU wants to avoid.

I’m eager to find out how ready he is, and how soon.

Matt: The one thing you have to like is the program he comes from, like you mentioned, Cincinnati Moeller. They are usually really well-coached coming from that program, when you think about how early Travis Jackson and Greg Jones were able to play. Plus, they play in a great league that enabled him

Jim Bollman does. He’s pretty oldschool, but other staff members certainly watch the camp film, and that reminds me of Matt Sokol. He was a high school quarterback and MSU projected him as a tight end. It took some imagination to see him that way, but Sokol showed up at the summer camps and looked like a terrific tight end prospect considering he didn’t have much experience at the position.

Sokol finished the 2016 season on a good note and now it’s going to be gotime for him in 2017.

And there were some good tight ends in the state of Michigan this year, including the kid from Greenville that is going to Central Michigan, Keegan Cossou (6-5, 230); and Bryce Wolma (6-4, 230) of Saline who is committed to Arizona, and now PJ Fleck is taking the tight end from Allendale, Nate Umlor (6-6, 245) with him to Minnesota. And the Carter Dunaway kid is pretty good too, was originally committed to Michigan and then Michigan told him they were going to look at other guys, so Dunaway is probably headed to Harvard or Yale. There was good in-state talent at tight end this year, but MSU got commitments outof-state from its A-list during the summer, which opened up the state for Arizona and Minnesota to get a couple.

Matt: Yeah, you have to look at the tight ends Michigan State is going to get in Dotson and Camper and believe that MSU placed high evaluation value on them and they are guys that you have to believe could get some early playing time.

to go against some challenging competition. So he’ll have had a chance to get as prepared as he possibly can, but it’s still a process that will take additional time once he gets here, a process that usually takes more than a year but MSU might not have that year of luxury with him.

Camper might be a little more ready as far as the blocking aspect, and that’s why it’s great that he is in early. It’s usually more difficult to pick up the blocking aspect than the receiving aspect.

Josiah Price was ready to catch the ball when he arrived at MSU, but needed the redshirt year to get ready to block at this level.

One nice thing about these two guys JC: Heading into January, MSU had is that they are not exactly alike. They three four-star recruits in Dotson, WR each have their own strengths.

Hunter Rison and Illinois offensive JC: And with Camper, it’s also lineman Kevin Jarvis (6-5, 315).

Jarvis went out and had a prep Allimperative that he get here for winter conditioning and spring practice American type of season. His stats guy because he played mostly defensive live credits him with 50 pancake blocks, at IMG, right? That’s kind of a difficult and he played for a team that won the thing for him and Michigan State. He 8A state championship. And he played will get some important, important both ways, starring at left guard and work in spring practice as he makes the defensive tackle, and what I like about transition not only from high school to him is that when he plays you can tell college, but also from d-line to tight he isn’t making any friends out there.

He wants to turn every power struggle end.

But MSU likes what they saw out of into a decisive, punishing dominator him as a tight end when he was a 10th- block for himself, and he gets that done grader in Virginia. And he repped as a quite a bit.

When I look at his film, he’s a big tight end in the Rivals.com camps. brute, but he can pull and do some Matt: Yeah, Jack Camper showed things on the run. When he pulls, he well at some of the summer camps on film, which I’m sure the MSU coaches will square you up at a pretty good rate of speed, find his landmark and lock were happy about. into you with force, which led to a lot JC: And I know that some of them of those pancakes. He has the feet that watch that camp film. I don’t know if enable him to keep charging without

COMP’S CONVERSATIONS With Hunter gaining some size, I think that will help him as far as being able to compete for an early role, in terms of dealing with life on the practice field and being able to block at the Big Ten level and absorb impact and dish out some. I think he will be able to catch the ball over the middle on third down, and be a reliable guy, a competitor, a hard worker, a leader. He works at it and wants to lead.

He had a good senior year. He didn’t play on the best team and didn’t get a lot of help but he still has that slippery smoothness about him. If he was at a different school, he would have been able to make more plays on a bigger stage, but MSU knows what they got in him.

flying off his target when he’s homing in.

In pass pro, I saw him move his feet quickly to pick up some blitzing linebackers. He has some raw power that shows up on defense, rag-dolling guys.

And when he gets into you as a blocker, they go flying. He has some of that natural Hulk strength. Every o-lineman is a project to some degree, but he has the clay you’re looking for.

Matt: Yeah, he was a big-time pickup back during the off-season when Michigan State was riding high from the consecutive New Years Day appearances and the Big Ten Championships, and doing real well recruiting in Illinois and Jarvis was a continuation of that. MSU got a lead on him, finished it, and Jarvis hasn’t seemed to waver Hunter Rison one bit, and he went out and had a monster senior season.

JC: I’ve heard from MSU coaches that they feel they are set at offensive guard recruiting for this class. I can see why with Jarvis and Jordan Reid. Reid is the best offensive lineman in the state of Michigan. You get the No. 1 o-lineman in Michigan, and No. 1 in Illinois, that’s a good starting point for interior talent.

As for the No. 1 player in the state of Michigan overall, most agree that it is Donovan Peoples-Jones, the Detroit Cass Tech wide receiver who signed with Michigan. But Michigan State WR commitment Cody White (6-3, 190, Walled Lake Western) was named Mr. Football by State Champs Sport Network. What are your thoughts on Cody White.

Matt: I’ve always liked Cody White a lot, even before Michigan State offered him. He’s got the size you like to see, and he has good speed, and good hands and great route running and with his family background, with his father being a former NFL player and NFL executive and currently a quality control coach at Michigan State, there’s a lot to like about him. You watch his high school film and he is standing out at several positions, on offense and defense, wide receiver, DB, quarterback.

I think with his size, to go with that athletic ability and his smarts, he has the ability to be a guy like Tony Lippett, when you think of Lippett’s frame and what he did in high school as a quarterback. I think Cody White has a chance to be a lot like Tony Lippett, but he is probably more polished because he has played the position more in high school and been brought along so well by his father and his coaches. Tony had great coaches too, but spent more time at quarterback.

Being big and tall and being able to

Jack Camper

stretch the field, that’s something they have gone after in this class, and continued to recruit 6-foot-5 Jalen Harris out of Cleveland into January although it seems like it’s going to be hard to beat Ohio State for him.

That’s one thing about Michigan State, they’ve never been hurting for wide receiver talent. I think Cody White and Hunter Rison give them a great tandem, great potential, smart, athletic kids that will work well together, and they have different strengths.

They will complement each other well.

Rison looks to me like a guy that can dominate in the slot, over the middle, after the catch whereas White might be able to do a little more damage down the sideline as a deep threat. They are both sophisticated players.

JC: With Hunter Rison, we saw him at the camps when he was a sophomore

when he was young and slippery and hard to cover, and he is still hard to cover but he has gotten a lot more thick, big arms, big chest, been hitting the weight room. I don’t think he has lost any speed.

If he had remained uncommitted all this time, how much buzz do you think there would be about him if he were still taking visits to Alabama and other places?

Matt: That’s the way it always is with these guys when they commit early, it seems like they don’t get as much attention as maybe they deserve, and maybe that’s good for some of them. Sometimes the late signee guys get a ton of attention, and sometimes it turns out that they deserve it, like Nick Perry the d-lineman from Detroit who went to USC and the NFL and Mark Ingram from Flint, and sometimes maybe not, like Ron Johnson out of Muskegon a few years ago.

JC: Matt Trannon was that way in high school. He wasn’t able to show what he could do at wide out as a senior in high school.

In watching Hunter Rison’s film, I think his best film is from last summer at the camps, at The Opening in Chicago and in Oregon, one thing that he does uncommonly well is he gets off the line of scrimmage fast. I mean sports car fast. I know that Andre Rison, his father of course, has worked with him a lot, so Andre has been teaching him things that we would probably never even detect. But I notice that great one-, two- and three-step burst off the line of scrimmage and you don’t see a lot of wide receivers approaching it like that, and you wonder if that’s an Andre thing.

You combine that speed off the line with the strength that he has developed and I think he is going to be hard to press at the line of scrimmage. Put him at flanker where you can’t get your hands on him right away and it will be even harder to play tightly with him off the line of scrimmage. He is going to have the strength to fend off your hands as you try to get your hands on him, and you have to worry about him going from zero to 60 right now. He has good speed downfield, maybe not great, great speed, but his athleticism is in the short areas.

And then when he makes his cut, he gets up speed very very fast. Like I said, he might not have that 10.5 speed, but his speed off the line, his speed out of his cuts, and he makes sharp cuts with body control, he doesn’t round his cuts, and then he has that strength to serve as an escort for him as he’s weaving around out there, and he strikes me as a mature, developed player.

Matt: He is definitely put together.

That’s a good point about receiver speed. Sometimes it’s not about your top speed, it’s about changing speeds, your quickness coming out of breaks, SPARTAN Magazine

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COMP’S CONVERSATIONS and acceleration and he has those things. Mark Dell was kind of like that, but Hunter is physically stronger.

JC: Michigan State’s last commitment before the holidays was Connor Heyward, a 6-1, 200-pound athlete from Suwanee, Ga. He tells us that Michigan State recruited him primarily as a linebacker. He’s a three-star recruit.

He has a lot of film at wide receiver but as a linebacker he reminds me a little bit of a Kaleb Thornhill type of guy. I looked up Kaleb Thornhill’s height and weight and was similar coming out of high school.

What are your thoughts about getting Heyward, the son of the late great Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, and staying busy in Georgia? I think we saw Michigan State in November and December shift gears and target Georgia, Florida and the D.C./Virginia area because MSU seemed to exhaust most of its avenues in the state of Michigan, had done all the evaluation in-state and in the Midwest and and then had to venture out farther away from home to find the players that met their evaluation specifications, and that’s where a guy like Heyward came into play, and a guy like defensive end Koby Cumberlander, an underrated threestar recruit from Rosell, Ga. who Cody White seemed to be closing in on committing to MSU at press time.

Matt: And MSU was still in on Jaquan Henderson, a Tennessee commitment from Georgia into January, and MSU came in second to Tennessee for Yusef Corker, a DB from Georgia.

You could say that Michigan State has had to resort to going farther away from home. If they had gotten some of the guys they wanted closer to home, they could have and would have stopped there with some of these slots, but we’re seeing Michigan State being able to go out and have some recruiting pull with some of these so-called three-star type of guys, albeit from some talent-rich areas.

Kevin Jarvis JC: Yeah, I think Corker and Cumberlander would be Top 10 players in the state of Michigan. MSU lost out to Michigan for d-end Corey MaloneHatcher of St. Joseph, Mich. MaloneHatcher has good talent, and MSU offered him, but I look at Cumberlander and I think he and MaloneHatcher have similar skill sets and physical traits, very similar, but Cumberlander is regarded as a much better character guy. And when I look at Cumberlander’s film I would put him close to dead-even with MaloneHatcher, plus attitudinal plusses. Yet 46

January 2017

Cumberlander is a three-star guy who isn’t in the Rivals.com Top 50 in Georgia and Malone-Hatcher is a four-star in Michigan’s Top 10. Malone-Hatcher is an inch taller and about 10 pounds heavier, so there’s a difference there.

But I think if Cumberlander played in Michigan, he would be rated right there in the Top 10, possibly as a fourstar.

Matt: With Heyward, it’s interesting because you watch his film as a wide receiver, and he does a lot of good stuff but he is not the type of wide receiver who is likely to translate to

wide receiver at the college level. So you figure he might be a ‘star’ linebacker at Michigan State, with the need to cover receivers from that position.

Hayward, there are some intangibles there in terms of his understanding of the game and how hard he plays, and the fact that his dad and brothers are all elite athletes and he has an understanding of the dedication that is needed, and that all sounds like Kaleb Thornhill, too.

JC: We’ve been doing this for a long

time and I’m starting to totally buy into the pedigree, the bloodlines. They are everything in horse racing, right?

And I’ve seen a lot of guys over the years that are pretty good high school players and have fathers who were famous athletes. And they just seem to be okay. And then they get to college, and then they’re in a situation where they are training and focusing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, rather than just being a country club athlete, and those guys have the high ceilings and can really take it up a notch. I swear that John Beilein, the basketball coach at Michigan, has made a concerted effort to target the offspring of famous former players, and it’s worked well for him.

Matt: Kaleb Thornhill was like that.

He was pretty good in high school, he wasn’t bad at camp, but he wasn’t all that special. But one he got locked in at Michigan State, he just kept improving and improving. He wasn’t his brother, but he was a quality player, better than you might have thought when he was in high school.

You look at Rison, and Heyward, and Cody White, all the sons of former NFL players, and Michigan State became a finalist for Robert Porcher IV in December and January. So it’s an interesting trend for Michigan State

COMP’S CONVERSATIONS this year.

JC: Kaleb was good. And Mad Dog Thornhill was very good. Everyone loved Mad Dog but he wasn’t quite Ironhead Heyward. Not many people have been like Ironhead Heyward. He was a really, really special dude. So you start to wonder about Connor Heyward and in a lot of ways it’s not fair to compare him to one of the most dynamic players of his generation, but when you start thinking pedigree and bloodlines, it’s hard not to think about where his ceiling of potential might land him. Right now, he might not seem like a knockout athlete or a knockout prospect, kind of a ‘tweener, just kind of a pretty good player, but I wouldn’t close the door on what he could become.

Matt: Yeah, and as far as getting back into Georgia, you have to give credit once again to Dave Warner for Jordan Reid getting down there and making time with interesting prospects who are open to leaving the region. The state of Georgia probably has two or three times the BCS prospects that the state of Michigan has in a given year. Dave works at it and uncovers guys and gets into the schools. That’s the job of an assistant coach, to get guys interested in your school, and Warner has gotten MSU in the door. He got Hayward, Corker, Cumberlander - all defensive guys - to come up for visits, and at that point a lot of times the position coaches have to help make the kill. He has set them up pretty good in a year in which finishing this recruiting year has been challenging.

JC: With Rison coming in early, he’s at a position where they don’t necessarily need help right away. Michigan State was able to redshirt Cam Chambers last year. So he’ll have a chance to move up toward the playing group, with Donnie Corley, Trishton Jackson and Felton Davis, plus Darrell Stewart. So that’s five returning wide receivers, not all of whom are proven players, but Rison will have to be real good right away to get past some of those guys. I suppose it’s possible. The coaches believe in playing the best.

Matt: It looks like Justin Layne is going to stay at corner. So then what about Corley? Is he going to be primarily a wide receiver and then just dabble at corner, or could become more of a corner and a part-time receiver? All of those things could have an impact on what’s needed from Rison in the early term.

Josiah Scott

from Detroit Cass Tech, is as good as a lot of four-star guys I’ve seen over the years. He was a good o-line prospect last year and through the summer and then he went out and improved his body. He is more athletic now. He didn’t just play d-tackle for the best team in the state, he played some dominant defensive tackle this year.

MSU coaches told Jordan Reid when they recruited him that they were interested in him as a defensive lineman as well as an offensive lineman, and that was before he took his d-tackle skills up a notch as a senior. I think he is a better d-tackle prospect than Kyonta Stallworth was, and Stallworth moved from o-line to JC: As for other members of the d-line for the 2016 season. Stallworth class at this time that are intriguing, I might not remain at d-tackle. I think think Jordan Reid, the o-lineman Reid could be a serviceable d-tackle,

but I think he could be a stand-out offensive guard, and he’s smart on and off the field and is oozing with leadership ability.

The thing that intrigues me about Josiah Scott (5-10, 165, Fairfield, Ohio) is that he seems to play a lot bigger than his size. I suspect he is closer to 175 now because he tackles with a lot of force.

When you watch his film, you can see the things that MSU coaches look for in a DB: He is very, very good at high-pointing the ball for high-rise interceptions. Uncommon in that regard. You would think that opposing coaches would stop challenging him with all those fade routes, but his highlight tape is filled with four or five INTs when they try to run a fade on him when he is pressing.

He has the hip turn you need at cor-

ner. His first step when transitioning from a backpedal to breaking on the ball, a W drill type of move, is fast and compact. No wasted motion, doesn’t “come apart.” And then he comes forward and hits with power that reminds me a little of Isaiah Lewis. Like Lewis, he pursues across the field with a body tilt, lays out for a forceful tackle.

Scott was described by some during the fall as the most underrated player in Ohio. He is ranked No. 31 in the state by Rivals.com.

There are other guys that are interesting guys to talk about. The QB Rocky Lombardi is a Bradlee Van Pelt type of athlete who is finally going to get a chance to focus on football after being a four-star athlete at a high level in Iowa.

Defensive lineman Jacub Panasiuk (6-4, 260, Roselle, Ill.) is a freakish combination of quickness and physical power.

He plays too high, needs to bring his pad level down, but he has good straight-line closing speed for a d-end and very good straight-line closing speed if he becomes a d-tackle.

Very good with lateral movement, ability to sidestep blockers. His lateral movement allows him to sell the slippery shoulder club to the outside, OR threaten that move and counter back inside. Fast, quick feet.

He has speed and quickness, power and strength, all different things. Violent power when finishing a tackle.

He’s an uncommon mix of power, quickness, athleticism, balance. That’s why I’ve been saying from the beginning that he has the rare ability to play DT or DE. And then I found out that this is exactly what the MSU coaches told him when they recruited him.

A lot of people are thinking he will move inside as he gets older and bigger. I don’t dispute that he will be strong enough to play DT. My point is that he might maintain the quickness and agility needed to be a good around DE as well, and move inside and out, even as he adds weight.

I’m not sure he’ll actually pull it off, but he’s one of the rare guys they’ve signed that comes in with that kind of potential. I think he’s one of the most underrated recruits in the Midwest.

He has to remain quick and agile as he gets older and puts on more weight.

Lawrence Thomas wasn’t quite able to remain as quick and agile as he put on natural weight with age, but LT was still a terrific college football player.

However Thomas was never a natural pass rusher. I think Panasiuk will retain more natural pass rush ability as a 23-year-old than LT had. I think that will be the case, but I don’t know for sure. It will be interesting to watch.

SPARTAN Magazine

47

MICHIGAN STATE HOCKEY

SPARTANS STRIVE FOR CONSISTENCY

Frustrating Losses Hamper Youthful Squad’s Expectations to Start Season

BY JOHN RAFFEL Michigan State hockey, after almost three months of action and 14 games, definitely seems to be a team going some place.

But where exactly the Spartans are going, no one is quite sure as MSU reached the holiday break.

Coach Tom Anastos brought his team into the season high on the skill level and cautiously optimistic. He indicated the first two or three months might be a growing time.

If that’s the case, the Spartans could be a team to watch when the season resumes in late December at the Great Lakes Invitational.

But October, November and early December presented the type of roller-coaster ride the Spartans have endured in recent years. They seem to be storming up the track one minute and falling down it the next.

A 6-2 loss to Northeastern on Dec. 18 at Munn Arena in a lackluster performance put the Spartans at 4-9-1 going into the holiday. They ended November with an impressive comeback win over Ferris State, plus a win and tie at highly ranked North Dakota.

It was the highest ride for the Spartans this season. But then it came soaring down with a pair of 4-2 losses to Minnesota (the last goal into an empty net in each game) in the Big Patrick Khodorenko Ten openers, followed by the setback have a combined seven goals. to Northeastern.

If they can play at their highest level in the final three months, that WHAT’S GOOD, WHAT’S NOT The top line of freshman left wing will be a plus for the Spartans.

Villiam Haag is on the third line, Taro Hirose (3-5-8), freshman center Patrick Khodorenko (3-7-10) and but the Spartans are waiting on him to sophomore Mason Appleton (6-8-22) deliver in a senior way. He was on a is obviously a good one. But the Spar- unit with freshman center Sam Saliba tans need one or two more lines like and freshman Logan Lambdin for it. They also need more Mason Apple- most of the first portion of the season. tons. When the season is 14 games Saliba and Lambdin are two more old, your top goal scorer has six goals rookies whom Anastos is counting on and the next highest is three, that to get much better and make a solid explains very simply why there’s only contribution.

The defense has just one senior – four wins.

The freshmen forwards show some Rhett Holland - and three freshmen promise but for Anastos’ sake and the and has been inconsistent. Junior program, they need to deliver right Carson Gatt, sophomore Zach Osborn and red-shirt freshman Jerad now.

The second line of left wing JT Rosburg are playing well but need to Stenglein, center Thomas Ebbing make their presence known more on and right wing Joe Cox consists of both sides of the ice.

“We’re trying to get as much expethree seniors whose numbers might be solid if they were freshmen. They rience for some of our young defense48

January 2017

Photo By Robert Hendricks

man as we can,” Anastos said. “I’m pleased to see progress we’re making.

It’s day-to-day. You don’t want to take a day off. I like the group we’ve been.

The chemistry of the team is coming together. The identity of the team is starting to take shape. Defensively, we want to be tough to play against.”

In the net, Ed Minney is no Jake Hildebrand or Jeff Lerg or Ryan Miller. No one expected him to be but it wouldn’t hurt if he was like one of them. The Spartans aren’t winning the 2-1 or 1-0 games as they did in the past. But usually, Minney keeps the team competitive.

But until the Spartans score more, he has to give up fewer goals, nothing complicated about that theory. He’s the best goalie at MSU right now.

But Northeastern scored six times on 21 shots, including three on the power play and one just at the end of a power play.

When the Spartans get into the thick of their Big Ten schedule, it will be the same old formula for climbing in the standings - get a sweep here or there and avoid being swept.

They’ve been outscored in 14 games 53-33. They’ve been out shot 407-317.

And while the opponents are 19-of-67 on the power play for .298 percentage, MSU is 10-of-73 for .137. Those three categories all need to change in the Spartans favor if they’re to have fun in the 2017 portion of the schedule.

ANASTOS WEIGHS IN

Anastos was obviously frustrated after the loss to Northeastern.

“I thought we started sluggish but climbed back and couldn’t make key plays when we had opportunities,” Anastos said. “We tied the game and then they score 10 seconds later and that hurt us; we didn’t overcome it.

“I liked how after being sluggish in

MICHIGAN STATE HOCKEY the first period - we were kind of fighting ourselves a little bit - we climbed into the game. We’re starting to play better and feel better, we tie it and then we had some pretty big mistakes that resulted in goals.”

The mistakes are taking their toll and it’s showing up on a disappointing overall record.

BIG TEN FUN AHEAD

The Spartans have a challenging and sort of weird Big Ten schedule in 2017, starting first weekend of January.

Michigan State, 0-2 in conference play after the two home losses to Minnesota, Dec. 9-10, starts 2017 with five consecutive road games before a home contest against Michigan on Jan. 21.

MSU plays at Wisconsin, Jan. 6-7, at Penn State, Jan. 13-14, and at Michigan Jan. 20.

In February, MSU plays six games at home, one on the road and one at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Wisconsin plays at Munn Arena, Feb. 3-4, Ohio State visits Feb. 17-18, and Penn State is at Michigan State, Feb. 24-25.

The only weekend in February that the Spartans are not home is Feb. 10-11, in a series against Michigan.

The teams play in Detroit, Feb. 10, and in Ann Arbor the next night.

After the slew of home games in February, Michigan State closes the regular season with back-to-back road series – at Ohio State, March 3-4, and at Minnesota, March 10-11.

The Big Ten Tournament is at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, March 16-18.

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Mason Appleton

FUTURE SPARTANS

The Spartans announced a new batch of recruits coming to East Lansing following the recent signing period.

Defenseman Tommy Miller (West Bloomfield, Mich./USNTDP), forward Mitch Lewandowski (Clarkston, Mich./Chicago Steel, USHL) and forward David Keefer (Brighton, Mich./ Des Moines Buccaneers, USHL) all signed national letters of intent.

Defenseman Ty Farmer (O’Fallon, Mo./Youngstown Phantoms, USHL), who signed a national letter last year, was announced as the fourth member of the 2017-18 freshman clas s.

“We’re excited about the players we were able to sign to a national letter of intent,” Anastos said. “It’s just the beginning of what will be next year’s freshman class.

“Tommy Miller, from the U.S. National Team program, is big, strong, very good skating, intelligent player.

He moves the puck well, he plays both ends of the rink. He has a skill set to contribute at both ends. He’s a good

competitor and defends well. He’s a good contributor offensively. He gets shots through to the net, he’s a good puck mover and brings lots of leadership.”

Miller was with the National Team Development Program in 2015-16, and had three goals and five assists in 22 games for the U-17 team. He had two goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 21 games with the U-18 team through mid-December of this year.

He received a ‘B’ rating from NHL Central Scouting. Miller played 30 games with Victory Honda in 2015-16 before joining the NTDP and had six assists. He played for Victory Honda in 2014-15, producing two goals and six assists in 31 games.

In his second season with the Chicago Steel, Lewandowski has four goals and four assists through 23 games. He had 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 49 games with Chicago last season. He played the 2014-15 season with Honeybaked U18 where he racked up 18 points (12 goals, six

assists) in 23 games before making a jump to the USHL where he played two games with the Des Moines Buccaneers.

“Mitchell Lewandowski is a skill forward,” Anastos said. “He has a good hockey IQ, passes the puck well and has a quick release on his shot. He was a teammate and linemate with Patrick Khodorenko in youth hockey where they won a national championship.”

Keefer is playing his third USHL season and second consecutive with the Des Moines Buccaneers, He had 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) through 24 games in 2016-17 and tied for the team scoring lead. He had 33 points, including 21 assists, which put him fourth on the team, for Des Moines in 2015-16. He also played for the Muskegon Lumberjacks in his first USHL season in 2014-15 and had 15 points in 59 games. Keefer played his Bantam hockey for Compuware and spent one season of U16 with Little Caesars.

“David Keefer is a feisty hardworking kid. He sees the ice well, is able to make plays, isn’t afraid to stick his nose in,” Anastos said. “He plays hard both ends of the rink.”

In his third season with the Youngstown Phantoms, Farmer had one goal and five assists for six points in 26 games. He was limited to 19 games for Youngstown in 2015-16 due to injury. He scored five points in 39 games with Youngstown in 2014-15, helping the team finish with the best record in the USHL. Farmer played for the St. Louis AAA Blues U16 program, adding seven points in 36 games in 2013-14.

Farmer actually signed his letter of intent with Michigan State a year ago.

“He’s a good defenseman, a puck mover, plays with a lot of intelligence, skates a lot like Torey Krug and is similar in stature,’’ Anastos said. “He got hurt last year and deferred to go back and play juniors.”

Anastos expects to announce more player signings in April.

SPARTAN Magazine

49

MICHIGAN STATE HOCKEY

STENGLEIN AIMS TO CONTRIBUTE Senior Left Wing’s Focus is On Playing Well With or Without the Puck

BY JOHN RAFFEL JT Stenglein admits he and the Michigan State hockey team haven’t had the type of first half of the 201617 season they had anticipated.

But they’re hoping to make it up in the final three months of the season.

Stenglein, a senior left wing, has two goals but no assists after seeing action in 10 Michigan State games so far this season. He’s at 13 goals and 16 assists for 29 points after 82 career contests.

The Spartans were 4-9-1 overall as they headed into the Great Lakes Invitational in late December and the resumption of the Big Ten schedule in January.

“Obviously from a wins and losses standpoint, I’m not happy with that,” Stenglein said. “I put a few good weekends together. The North Dakota weekend was good (with a Spartan win and tie). We have to find a way to be consistent as a team. We have to find that balance.

“The good news is the Big Ten season is still young, and GLI will be a huge opportunity for us, too.”

Last season, Stenglein ranked fourth on the team with a career-best 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) and was academic All-Big Ten honoree.

Stenglein got off to a sizzling start with points in nine of the first 11 games (7-7-14). He began the year with a goal and three assists in the Ice Breaker Tournament and picked up Big Ten Third Star of the Week honors.

Stenglein, 23, had two goals and two assists in 23 games as a sophomore and was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. He had a career-best two assists in a 4-1 win over Ferris State.

When the 6-foot, 197-pound Stenglein was a freshman, he played in 15 games and had one goal, which came on the power play in a 5-4 win vs.

American International. Stenglein had a season-high four shots on goal against Boston University and scored the shootout winner in the sixth round at Minnesota to give his team the extra point in Big Ten play But as a senior, “I didn’t get off the start I wanted,” Stenglein said. “I feel like the past few weeks I started to find my game again. I just need to find that level of consistency, individually.”

Photos By Robert Hendricks

JT Stenglein

Stenglein said he’s been trying to find a way to be valuable even if he isn’t scoring.

“I’m just trying to play to a different game,” he said. “The points will come if you’re playing the right way, which is what I’ve been trying to do.”

His career at MSU has mirrored the team’s fortunes with ups and downs.

The Spartans nearly won the Big Ten regular season title when he was a sophomore but they struggled for wins when he was a freshman and junior.

“It’s definitely had its ups and downs,” he said. “I’m hoping to go out with some ups and finish out strong.

Outside the rink with my time here, it’s something I’ll never forget with all the guys here. They’re guys I’ll be friends with for a long time. That’s one of the important things about coming to a big school here. It’s the

people you meet and the experience you have. That’s something I’ll really focus on.

“From a hockey standpoint, we’d like to string together some wins and go out on top. That would be a great feeling.”

The Spartans are 0-2 in the Big Ten but hope to surprise a lot of people in the next 18 conference games.

“That would be cool to win the Big Ten regular season,” Stenglein said. “It would be just as cool to win a game at the Big Ten Tournament, which I’ve never done.’’

Before coming to Michigan State, Stenglein started his third USHL season with the Youngstown Phantoms, and was traded twice, first to Sioux City and then to the Waterloo Blackhawks. He had 24 goals and 31 assists for 55 points in 53 games overall and ranked 24th in the USHL in points

and goals, tied for 25th in assists, and tied for 19th in power-play goals.

Stenglein was a member of the U.S. Junior Select Team that earned a gold medal in Nov. 2012 at the World Junior A Challenge in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. In 56 games in 2011-12, Stenglein scored 31 goals and added 20 assists for Youngstown. His 31 goals set a Phantoms franchise record.

Stenglein’s Father, Tom, played football at Colgate and was a two-time first-team All-America selection in 1984 and 1985. His uncle, Jeff, also played football at Colgate.

The native of Greece, N.Y., has been playing hockey 22 years.

“My dad wanted me to do something different than he did, so I started skating,” Stenglein said. “I actually hated it at first. But I stuck to it, and 20 some years later, I’m still doing it, so that’s pretty cool.”

SPARTAN Magazine

51

MICHIGAN STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

FOCUS IS ON BOOSTING OFFENSE

Despite Solid Start, More Points Needed for the Big Ten Season

BY RICARDO COONEY The Michigan State women’s basketball team finished its nonconference season with a respectable 10-3 record.

But despite the fact that two of the three losses were to ranked teams, you get the impression Spartan coach Suzy Merchant felt her team could have stolen one of those games if she had begun the season with a fully healthy squad.

While Merchant, in her 10th season, expected more from her team in its preBig Ten tune-ups, she acknowledged that at least four of her players - all significant contributors at this point in the season have had to fight through the recovery and conditioning process that a studentathlete encounters when they start the season behind in physical conditioning because they missed significant time due to off-season surgeries, injuries and rehab.

Graduate transfer forward Taya Reimer, senior guard Branndais Agee, sophomore center Jenna Allen and redshirt sophomore forward Victoria Gaines have all spent much of the first 13 games not only rounding themselves into shape but regaining the form that has or will make them major contributors to MSU’s success.

Both Reimer and Gaines returned to playing basketball full-time after being away from the game for nearly a year prior to this season.

Agee had off-season foot surgery which interrupted her summer conditioning for a month, while co-captain Allen may have had the worst luck. After being away from the court for nearly three months during the off-season with shin issues, she was involved in a head-on collision with a Northwood player during an exhibition game.

The result: the loss of two teeth, oral surgery and a mild concussion.

Despite those setbacks, Merchant thinks her group is on the right track. But it’s been a slow process.

“I think we’re getting there. I wish we were healthy. That’s part of our problem, you know,’’ Merchant said. “Branndais (Agee) and Mardrekia (Cook) and Coco (Victoria Gaines), I mean, their legs and knees. (So) I wish we were 100 percent healthy in those positions, but we’re trying to play through some of that and get kids more minutes.’’ So even by the time the Spartans closed out 2016 with an 18-point loss to No. 2 Notre Dame in mid-December, Merchant found herself wanting to add a couple more things to her Christmas list - good health for her relatively young but talented team and a consistent third and even fourth option in the scoring department, because as strong as the Spartans have been on the defensive end - allowing an average of just 60.7 points 52

January 2017

per game - MSU is still looking for a smoother flow to its offense.

One that will increase the team’s 70 points per game average.

Last season, MSU averaged nearly 76 points per game and scored 80 or more in nine games, losing just once in those contests. This season, the team has won every game it has scored 80 or more points in, which is three, but has struggled offensively, despite earning wins when it has had trouble getting to or eclipsing 70 points.

And in all three of its losses - to No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 20 Syracuse and Oregon - MSU averaged just 60 points.

After MSU lost to the Irish, Merchant made a point of suggesting things may have gone differently, in terms of an upset bid, if the Spartans could have gotten more on track offensively.

“I think we needed to score the ball better. That always helps your defense. We had some inconsistencies there,’’ Merchant said.

So, while senior guard and co-captain Tori Jankoska has played at a first team All-Big Ten clip, averaging a team-leading 21.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, no one else, in what has become a solid nineperson rotation, is averaging more than nine points a game, with Reimer holding the second spot at 8.8 points a contest.

Last season, MSU finished a 25-9 NCAA Tournament season with four double-figure scorers.

And while this is not to suggest the Spartans can’t make the NCAA postseason field with their present offensive numbers, because this team, like most of Merchant’s squads, plays top-notch defense and rebounds, it would be an easier road to MSU’s eighth NCAA Tournament appearance under Merchant’s tenure if the offense could get on track.

Especially since teams are starting to gameplan to take Jankoska out of the offense.

“Teams have not been letting me touch the ball really, unless I’m coming off of a screen or something like that, so it’s been kind of hard for me to try and get a shot off in half-court sets,’’ Jankoska said.

“That’s where I’ve been trying to get some more defensive rebounds and push the ball in transition and trying to set more people up on our team, maybe drawing two people towards me so that we can get some other people some open shots.

“It’s not the same as last year because we had so many people that could score, and you couldn’t really key in on one. That’s why it was a little bit easier last year, but we’re coming along and we’ll get some more scoring from different people.’’

That means getting Agee, who is providing just 6.8 points a game, back to the form that saw her average 11.7 points last

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Taya Reimer

season, and getting Reimer back to the form where she averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds during her last full season at Notre Dame in 2014, before an Achilles injured derailed her progress. Reimer played in only five games last season.

Merchant thinks she’s found the right formula.

“We have a few things we need to work on in the paint. We need to have bigs that want to get the ball down there and we need to get them the ball more. We didn’t do a great job at that (in the Notre Dame game),’’ Merchant said. “We just need to get more consistency in terms of playing downhill. Meaning getting the ball in the block or turning the corner and penetrating. We really don’t have that kind of consistency within our offense right now.’’

And Reimer understands as an upperclassman she has a responsibility to provide more production to the offense.

“At this point, I’m just trying to get the confidence in myself at a different level,’’ Reimer said. “But my comfort level with everything we’re doing as a program is 10 out of 10. It’s been hard because I’ve wanted to come in and be at a certain level, but I think having a whole year where I wasn’t playing and being injured means I’m still trying to kind of work through that. Like the mid-range game has always been part of my game, and that’s something I’m having to get back to as my shot. But I’m getting more comfortable with that, with just handling the ball more in transition and even in the half court.’’

Agee also feels her comfort level returning but admits it’s been a slow process.

It took me a couple of games at the beginning of the season for me and my lower body to finally feel good,’’ Agee said.

“I wasn’t feeling very strong and confident

in my lower body. I wasn’t moving like myself. My movement wasn’t 100 percent but I’ve been in the weight room and staying in the gym a lot to help me improve my lower body. So, I think I’m getting there.’’

Another part of getting that offensive consistency and increase in production will depend on the learning curves of freshmen, like point guard Taryn McCutcheon and forwards Nia Hollie and Mardrekia Cook. Additionally, the continued improvement of junior guard/ forward Lexi Gussert off the bench is going to be crucial down the stretch because she can be plugged in at three positions.

That consistency may also be found in the 6-foot-1 frame of Gaines, a redshirt freshman and stretch-4 forward who can create matchup problems because of her length and skill set.

Gaines, who showed the ability to take her defender off the bounce, also hit two 3-pointers, creating her own offense against the Irish in a 12-point performance off the bench in 32 minutes of play, could become a solid fourth option for MSU’s offense.

“I think Coco (Gaines) has been getting better and better. We redshirted her last year because she had two ACLs (tears) in high school just to rehab her and get her stronger.’’ Merchant said. “So, we went through a season of practice with her, which I thought was really encouraging.

She got stronger, got her legs stronger.

“We’ve been getting her in the gym more. I think Coco is our best pick and pop, post up, four man that we have in terms of what she can do. She’s got length, she’s mobile, she can post up, she can face up, and shoot it and drive it.

“She’s really multidimensional and her ability to shoot the shot outside is something that I don’t think we have consistently in that four spot. I just need to get her to put two halves together.’’

So, for the unranked Spartans, who were picked to finish tied for third in just one of the Big Ten’s preseason polls, to put pressure on conference favorites Maryland and Ohio State and challenge thirdplace pick Indiana, Merchant has a formula.

“I just need Tori (Jankoska) to keep doing what she’s doing. I think she’s trying to put this team on her back and be consistent,’’ Merchant said. “She has really good numbers. She’s rebounding the ball really well. I just need her to keep doing what she’s doing.

“I think she needs to do a better job of getting the ball inside at times. I think we sometimes miss our post players. Coming back from Christmas break, we’ll do a better job of making sure our bigs get the ball inside.”

MICHIGAN STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

LIKE A COACH ON THE COURT

Standout Senior Jankoska Targets Victories, Triple-Double

BY RICARDO COONEY Think about those times you’ve been at an MSU women’s basketball game or watched one on TV and saw Coach Suzy Merchant just off the sideline talking to senior guard Tori Jankoska during a break or even when the ball is being brought up court by one of Jankoska’s teammates.

While that may seem abnormal to the casual observer, it’s something that has occurred more and more over the past couple of seasons. That’s because Merchant is in conference with her coach on the floor, which is what Jankoska has become during her junior and now her senior season.

Although it’s not strange for any coach to pick the brain of one of their players during the course of a game to get an idea of what’s working and what could work to the team’s advantage, the 5-foot-8 combo guard’s knowledge of the game and MSU’s offense only makes her even more valuable than the points, assists and rebounds she accumulates each game as she plays her final season in Spartan uniform.

“Tori (Jankoska) is an extension of the coaching staff, for sure on the court,’’ said MSU associate head coach Amaka Agugua said. “She sees the game in slow motion and I think that’s what a lot of the great players do. She sees plays develop before they actually happen and you don’t really need to say too much to her.

“You can say, ‘hey, punch the gap,’ and she knows exactly what gap to punch. So, she’s that voice on the court when we’re jacking 3s or when we’re discombobulated or disoriented, she brings the team together. She’s always talking in huddles and I think it shows. That’s one part of her game that’s grown tremendously this year.’’

Jankoska doesn’t feel her knowledge and court savvy should be something that is overly celebrated because it’s something that should come naturally with experience.

“I feel like everybody knows the plays but I’ve been here for four years so I should be able to see what’s going on on the court and figure out what’s worked in the past. You kind of know and you learn what works and what doesn’t and you call sets based off that,’’ Jankoska said. “So, if they’re playing me tight and mirroring my side, you’ve got to find open people.’’

Jankoska’s continuous growth is also one of the reasons, both she and MSU’s coaches fully expect her to accomplish

want to be more assertive and more aggressive, especially offensively.’’.

UP AND COMING

Photo By Robert Hendricks

Tori Jankoska

what has become a rare feat in women’s basketball, the elusive triple-double.

“One part of her game that’s grown this year is assists,’’ Agugua said. “She’s always been able to pass the ball but she’s also a scorer. So, every game we’re harping, ‘triple-double, triple double,’ because just to see her be able to get in there with the bigs and sacrifice her body and rebound and set her teammates up with a pass just shows her growth.’’

Although her pursuit of the elusive triple-double is not why she plays the way she does, Jankoska seems to understand that if she’s pushing to reach that milestone in every game, the Spartans will benefit even more from her play and lead to victories.

She nearly accomplished the feat in MSU’s Big Ten season-opening victory over Illinois with a 17-point, 10-rebound and seven-assist night, further indicating that the chances are good for her to further etch her name in the program’s record books.

“One of these days, it’s coming,’’ Jankoska said with a laugh.

GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT

Graduate transfer Taya Reimer spent most of pre-Big Ten schedule trying to tailor her game to that of her new teammates.

While she had a different but equally successful role during her time at Notre Dame as more of a finesse post before transferring to East Lansing, Agugua said

MSU’s coaching staff needs Reimer be more of a physical presence down low in the Big Ten, a conference more known for its physicality in the lane.

“Taya kind of shies away from contact a lot, so when she came here, she was all 15-footers and one dribble pull ups.

Which is great, a great part of her game but we need that post presence, especially after losing Jasmine Hines (to graduation),’’ Agugua said. “Taya is very strong and she can be physical, so that’s something we’ve been harping on with her.

She’s been saying, ‘new year, new me,’ so that’s something she has to bring, an inside post presence. Our team needs it, she can do it and when she plays inside and out, she’s hard to guard.’’

Reimer put it all together against Illinois with a career-high 21 points.

Her performance was a good mix of mid-range jumpers and post ups in the lane that allowed MSU’s offense added punch and unpredictability.

“I think I was showing some flashes here and there, doing well in practice and getting it to translate into a game’’ said Reimer, who made the conference’s weekly Honor Roll after her performance against Illinois. “I had a chance to kind of re-focused during the Christmas break and I think that really helped. Mid-range has always been my game, but I’ve just been trying to focus on being able to bang down low in the lane more, especially in this league because it’s so physical, you basically have to be able to do that. So, I

Victoria Gaines, a redshirt freshman forward, may become the answer MSU needs as an additional scorer.

Gaines, who has been steadily proving her versatility as a scorer and rebounder, has scored in double figures in back-toback games against Notre Dame and Illinois and earned her first Freshman of the Week honors in the Big Ten after her first career double-double, a 13 and 10 outing against the Illini.

Both totals were career highs and expectations are high for the future as she further develops her game.

“She can really get after it on the boards, offensively and defensively, so that’s something she needs to bring (every game),’’ Agugua said. “We need that. We need that 4 position. Coach (Merchant) is really big on having a stretch 4. She doesn’t really necessarily always want to play two bigs. Just to see Coco (Gaines) coming along . . . Coco is really a freshman. We redshirted her last year but she was on our scout team so she’s learned our system this year (just like the other true freshmen). So, we knew that Coco was going to have some growing pains and that she was going to need to get a little experience under her belt, but we’re just happy to see where she’s at and where she can go.’’

GIVE ME LIBERTY OR . . .

When the Spartans faced Notre Dame on Dec. 20, they did so with a representative of the WNBA in attendance.

Former Ohio State and WNBA standout Katie Smith, an assistant coach with the New York Liberty, was in the stands and confirmed that she was at the matchup doing some scouting.

And the thought was that Smith’s trip to Breslin Center was to get a closer look at Jankoska, who should be on the radar of a couple of WNBA franchises looking for combo guard of her talents.

Despite the 79-61 loss to the then No. 2-ranked Irish, Jankoska had a good showing, with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes of play.

Jankoska entered Big Ten play leading the Spartans in scoring at 21.9 points a game.

By the way, the Liberty’s head coach is former Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer.

SPARTAN Magazine

53

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Spartans Look Far and Wide For January Finish

BY MATT DORSEY

such as USC, BYU and Colorado are taking a close look. Recruiting a twostar out of California is an example of how thorough the staff is being when it comes to addressing the needs of the class, and how far they are extending their net. MSU has been frugal with scholarship offers. The fact that MSU went 3,000 miles from home to offer this player says a lot about what they think of his skills and potential, in comparison to the hundreds of three-star recruits they flew over in order to offer Flowers.

“I am visiting Michigan state in January and will see what is going on with their program!” Flowers told SPARTAN Magazine via text. “I have spoken with Coach Dantonio and Coach Barnett. I can see myself playing in Big Ten. I like the fan support they have. I am looking for a program that will prepare me for the next level and has a good business school.”

My Take: Flowers plans on taking a visit, and there’s no doubt he will be impressed with MSU, but I still think it could be tough to pull him away from the Pac-12 schools as more Pac12 teams continue to get involved.

Michigan State Head Coach Mark Dantonio and the Spartan Staff are in the midst of playing host to several key prospects for the class of 2017 on official visits during January.

With 17 commitments coming out of the holiday break in what will likely be a 24-man class, the Spartans still have plenty of scholarship room available to address some key areas.

MSU headed into January ranked No. 31 in the Rivals.com team rankings and No. 27 in average star ranking per recruit (fifth in the Big Ten).

Below is a look at several of the players who are expected to be in East Lansing as National Signing Day approaches. Below is a look at some of the recruits who be visiting MSU in January, and others still in the picture as the Spartans try to meet some needs in the final weeks of the 2017 Emmanuel Flowers recruiting cycle:

LB JEREMIAH OWUSU HAMPTON (VA.) BETHEL HIGH

Owusu is committed to Virginia, but is taking a look around with MSU remaining high on his interest list.

The Hampton area is known for being one of the most productive regions in the nation when it comes to football talent and landing a player from there could not only help the class of 2017, but pay future dividends as well.

Owusu told SpartanMag.com Editor Jim Comparoni the following about where he stood in his recruitment heading into the visit: “I just want to kind of compare my options out and make sure about things,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “I’m committed right now to the University of Virginia. If I get a different feel when I go to Michigan State then I don’t want to go somewhere like UVA Dewayne Murray and say, ‘Aw man, I could have went to Michigan State.”

My Take: Owusu has outstanding senior film and has 4-star talent.

Michigan State has a legitimate shot here even though he is committed to UVA. Breaking through in the Hampton area could be huge.

RB DEWAYNE MURRAY OF PITTSBURGH (PA.) STEEL VALLEY HIGH

CB EMMANUEL FLOWERS OF CHINO HILLS (CALIF.) AYALA HIGH

Flowers is this year’s version of that player that comes out of nowhere to earn multiple BCS offers at mid-winter. In recent weeks, both the Spartans and UCLA Bruins have extended him a scholarship offer. Other programs Jeremiah Owusu 54

January 2017

Naytron Culpepper

The Spartans would like to add another running back to the class of 2017 to address depth concerns.

Michigan State did not sign a running back in the class of 2016, and 2017 commitment Weston Bridges suffered an ACL injury at the end of his senior season. The Spartans are still high on Bridges, but some insurance in the form of another RB is needed either this year, or possibly a junior college RB next year.

Murray helped lead the Steel Valley Ironmen to the Class 2A Championship by rushing for 2,094 yards and averaging 12.8 yards per carry. Murray was named the Class 2A Player of the Year for his play. He ended his career with 6,503 rushing yards which is sixth in WPIAL history. The Spartans have yet to extend Murray and offer, but that could change once he arrives on campus. Schools that have offered Murray include West Virginia, Cincinnati, Old Dominion, Army and a host of MAC programs.

My Take: A few teams that have offered Murray are no longer actively involved with him due to getting another commitment at his position.

A Spartan offer will be tough to beat, if MSU chooses to offer.

FOOTBALL RECRUITING NAYTRON CULPEPPER OF MIAMI (FLA.) CAROL CITY HIGH SCHOOL

Culpepper is a player the staff has been in regular contact with for several months. He visited Michigan State last spring when he and some other Florida recruits made a Midwest trip. Maryland and South Carolina are viewed as the leaders in his recruitment, but he has also officially visited those schools.

January official visits to Michigan State Koby Cumberlander and Indiana are planned.

Culpepper just finished up his senior season by helping Carol City defeat Lake Gibson High School by a score of 14-6 to win the Florida Class 4A Championship. He is just starting to turn his focus to where he will spend the next four years playing football and furthering his education.

With many of the Midwest’s top prospect off the board, talented southern prospects like Culpepper are now plan A recruits.

My Take: South Carolina and Oliver Martin Maryland have been loading up with commitments and are getting close to being full. That could benefit the Spartans chances with Culpepper.

DE KOBY CUMBERLANDER OF ROSWELL (GA.) HIGH SCHOOL

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Cumberlander was offered by Michigan State in late December. The Spartans join teams such as Iowa State, Kansas State and Central Florida that have extended a scholarship to him. This past fall Cumberlander had 88 tackles and 16 sacks for Roswell High School. Cumberlander has had a strong senior year and his stock is on the rise.

Roswell High School is a powerhouse program that produces multiple D-1 recruits every year. Roswell will send four or five players to BCS schools this year alone. After receiving his scholarship offer from Michigan State, Cumberlander tweeted out that MSU is his “dream school.” Michigan State needs to sign a few more DL to the class of 2017. I look for them to lock up a visit from Cumberlander very soon.

My Take: Cumberlander does not have offers from in-state BCS schools such as Georgia or Georgia Tech. For that reason I believe that it will not take Cumberland long to make his college choice after he visit Michigan State. He is the nephew of former Spartan basketball great Kevin Willis. Cumberlander said Willis shed a tear of joy when he heard that MSU had offered.

Robert Porcher

interesting recruiting cases in recent Michigan State history. He signed with Michigan State as a three-star recruit in 2015, after he had committed to UCLA. He redshirted in 2015 and was in line to compete for a spot in the rotation in 2016, but had bouts with home sickness and other obstacles. He didn’t participate in the 2016 Green-White Game. He announced in August, at the start of training camp, that he was leaving Michigan State and would transfer to a junior college.

Michigan State wished him well and amicably parted ways.

Then Michigan State made contact with him late in the fall as Peat’s recruitment opened up. As was the case in 2015, he is once again a UCLA commitment, but the Spartans were able to get him on campus for a November official visit. Peat said he was astounded by how well he was received by his former teammates and coaches.

Peat played only one game at Pima CC this fall, although Pima coaches DL CASSIUS PEAT were expecting him to play more. It’s OF PIMA COMMUNITY unclear why Peat was inactive this COLLEGE IN ARIZONA Peat represents one of the most fall. His coaches said he was healthy

tans a chance at a significant recruiting victory for a skilled athletes who could prove to be one of the more underrated players in the nation.

WR OLIVER MARTIN OF IOWA CITY (IA.) WEST HIGH

Martin is a three-star recruit, ranked the No. 1 player in Iowa and the No. 63 wide receiver in the nation

by Rivals.com. He visited Iowa and John Lovett Notre Dame in December and scheduled a mid-January visit to Michigan State.

Martin visited MSU last spring as he and the Spartans were high on each other’s radar in the early going, then things calmed down, and now they have heated back up again. He scheduled the visit one week after he played in the Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

My Take: MSU seems interested in adding one more WR to this class Victor Dimukeje which already includes two standouts in Hunter Rison and Cody White. but elected not to play.

Martin would give MSU two straight Sources indicate that Peat wants to terrific classes of wide receivers. return to Michigan State as part of the 2017 recruiting class. Peat still has OTHERS TO WATCH excellent ability and potential, but ▷ Victor Dimukeje (6-2, 245), a Michigan State is sifting through his three-star defensive end recruit from situation to try to get a read on his Baltimore is ranked No. 18 in Marylevel of commitment at this point. land. He scheduled a January visit to My Take: Peat was listed at 6-3, 264 MSU. He has also visited Duke and Va on the MSU roster prior to his trans- Tech. Pitt is also in the picture. fer, and was in the process of transiMSU is targeting several defensive tioning from defensive end to defen- ends, and Dimukeje comes from the sive tackle. MSU needs some help at recruiting area of d-line coach Ron defensive tackle and Peat would give Burton.

MSU an older athlete whom coaches ▷ Robert Porcher IV (6-3, 250) is a have evaluated and worked with in four-star d-end from Orlando, Fla. the past. MSU coaches obviously see His interest in MSU rose rapidly in tremendous potential in him or would December after he de-committed not be revisiting him as a potential from Nebraska. Porcher wants to be member of the 2017 recruiting class. closer to family for college, which

RB JOHN LOVETT OF MARLTON (NJ) CHEROKEE HIGH

Lovett has emerged as an intriguing prospect on MSU’s wish list. He is ranked the No. 21 player in New Jersey by Rivals.com as a three-star recruit. But at 6-1, 190, he has power, breakaway speed, agility within an upright running style and pretty much everything the Spartans look for in a running back. He has the look of a classic underrated three-star MSU recruit, but the Spartans have to land him first.

He is scheduled to visit MSU the weekend of Jan. 13, followed by a visit to Baylor and then Tennessee. He has already visited Iowa and Rutgers.

My Take: MSU hasn’t had much success in New Jersey since Pat Narduzzi left, but Lovett gives the Spar-

could give an edge to Georgia Tech.

But his father, former Detroit Lions great Robert Porcher, is a successful restauranteur in Detroit. Porcher told SpartanMag.com that he visits Detroit three times a year. MSU has become an intriguing option. He is also looking at Virginia Tech, but the Spartans seemed to carry momentum into the New Year. He will visit Georgia Tech and Va Tech after his visit to MSU. ▷ Ameer Speed (6-3, 196) is a three-star prospect from Jacksonville (Fla.) Sandalwood High with fourstar film and interest. He’s big, physical and has 10.6 speed and knows how to use it. Sources close to his recruitment have told SPARTAN Magazine that Michigan State is running strong for Speed after his October visit to MSU. He also visited Virginia Tech.

MSU and Georgia are regarded as the teams to beat.

SPARTAN Magazine

55

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