I went with a different angle again this week, not expecting to have much film on Youngstown State.

I wanted to focus mostly on Michigan State, a look back at last week and what needed to be corrected.

So I went deep with that angle, with a lot of quotes and insight from offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Kapilovic.

I added a Hot 11 to the Pre-Snap Read this week.

And THEN I found Youngstown's game video from last week. So then I went kind of deep on YSU, too.

So it's a little too long, but there's some decent stuff in here:

Here is my story on Cal Halady. And I got to admit that its good seeing young guys emerging as reliable playmakers. Guys like Angelo Grose and Cal Haladay are the future of the program, and they are going to be in the fold for a while. Haladay lives football. He is old school and he is enjoying himself out there.

It was good to talk to Connor Heyward about his position switch and how he feels about where he is at.

It feels to me that he feels like he is a place where he can be key contributor with the skillset he has.

I like the fact that he continuously stressed that he needs to be better as a blocker. I also like his frankness about how tough at has been to learn
as much as he has in the short amount of time he has had to learn it.

Heyward indicated he's watching about two hours extra film each day beyond what he normally would and additional time meeting with an offensive analyst to expedite his transition.

Coverage of Alan Haller's address, and some reaction:

Let's kick it off.

This is not the usual Pre-Snap Read style, but it's what I threw together during my travels today to Evanston:



East Lansing, Mich. - I was in a traffic back-up on Grand River Avenue yesterday. First time time in 18 months. It felt good.

Tuesday, when I drove to campus for the press conference, I saw a group of three students standing and pointing and looking around in wonderment. Each of them held a piece of paper. It’s still easy to spot a lost freshmen. And some of them still use paper maps of the campus.

I was at El Azteco a couple of nights ago. It was brimming with college students, and very few males for some reason. Temperatures were warm. Lots of smiles. It felt like we were near a college campus again.


There was a deejay spinning music in the cemented courtyard area below. I couldn’t see them down there, from where I was sitting. But he drew a crowd. I heard someone yell “Go Green!” A bunch of people upstairs in the restaurant heard the voice and answered back, “Go White!”

It’s good to be home.

I never left.

But the atmosphere did.

Now it’s back.

Even for a road game.

Let’s kick it off:


******

First things first: The quarterback, the coach, and final analysis first.


THE QUARTERBACK

Twenty-four hours before kickoff, I don’t know who is going to get the start at QB for Michigan State. I don’t think we will know until pregame practice at Ryan Field prior to Friday night’s Michigan State game at Northwestern at 9:15 p.m.

Payton Thorne came out of the spring as the No. 1 QB. He held that post for most of August camp. Anthony Russo closed the gap during the second half of August camp. Whether or not Russo surpassed Thorne, I do not know.

As for leaks and word from insiders, I can say that I’ve heard from two accurate insiders this week. One said Thorne. The next day, the other said Russo. So there might even be some disinformation thrown around out there.

I think either QB is capable of playing winning football. I felt like Thorne was steadily improving, from 2019, through last November and into the spring. Whether or not that improvement has plateaued momentarily, I do not know.

Russo has needed to become a better quarterback, a cleaner decision-maker, in order to push Thorne in this competition. If and when he gets his chance, it will be interesting to see if he shows improvement over his Temple days. I suspect he would/will.


2. The Coach: Mel Tucker is beginning his second season at Michigan State. Last year was a spoiled specimen. He doesn’t make excuses, so he’s not calling last year a mulligan. But it was a mulligan, in most ways - even in light of Tucker’s eyebrow-raising ability to get the team up physically and mentally for upset victories over Michigan and then-No. 8 Northwestern.

I can see and sense real progress around the team and program on a macro level. Tucker has something. He’s an energetic, engaging personality, bolstered by terrific x’s and o’s knowledge and respect. And he’ll be strong in the recruiting living rooms when he finally gets a chance to go there in an Michigan State shirt this fall and winter.

The next thing we need to see is whether his teams can consistently play the type of physical, mistake-free football that is necessary to harness a level of consistency in this conference. (Mistake-free might be too strong of a phrase. It might be impossible to play completely mistake-free, but you know what I mean).

I’ve been impressed with Tucker’s ability to organize a program, organize a staff, organize a practice and preside over it with urgency, diligence and discipline.

I suspect that these principles will carry over to the field on gamedays, and eventually we will see a clean, sharp brand of football. But I don’t know for sure. That’s the main thing that needs to be delivered because from my seat, he is on his way toward delivering everywhere else.

If we don’t see Michigan State play a clean, sharp, physical brand of football on Friday against Northwestern, that doesn’t mean it’s never going to be harnessed. But if we do see it on Friday, win or lose, and we begin seeing it on a week-in, week-out basis, like we did in the early years of the Dantonio era, that’s when we’ll know that something strong is being established.

******

I want to reiterate something that Paul Konyndyk and I talked about during the V-Cast earlier this week. We have been reporting a lot of the positive comments and quotes from preseason camp, including some of our observations, dating back to things we’ve seen and heard on the recruiting trail.

Michigan State has indeed improved the talent level of the roster.

But if Michigan State fails to win six games this year, that means there will be at least seven unhappy Saturdays. If that happens, I’m hoping that readers don’t feel that we have tried to convince them that the team is or was going to be an outstanding one. I’m hesitant to predict anything better than a 6-6 season, mainly because there are so many unproven - but talented - commodities.

We have relayed a lot of positive news from August camp. I don’t want that to be construed as being more than it is. When Michigan State loses some games, I hope I don’t read posts from disgruntled Maggers claiming they were hoodwinked and sold a bill of good. Hopefully we have communicated our reports and observations in an even-handed fashion.

******

FINAL ANALYSIS FIRST

Pre-game analysis of a college football season opener is always full of guesswork.

We haven’t seen either of these teams play. We haven’t seen either program field a team in nine or 10 months. But somehow Vegas has come up with a line favoring Northwestern by four or five points. They have to set it somewhere.

Here’s the deal: These seem like two evenly-matched teams. An evenly-matched game in the Big Ten, this early in the year, is most likely going to be decided by mistakes. You saw it in the Nebraska-Illinois game. That game was decided purely by Nebraska mistakes.

As for Michigan State vs Northwestern, last year’s game was decided by mistakes. Surprisingly, Northwestern was the team that committed the majority of them.

Northwestern has enjoyed some divisional championship seasons under Pat Fitzgerald. When they have risen to that level, they’ve done it with smart, physical, opportunistic football and limited mistakes. They had that formula last year in every game other than their loss at Michigan State.

This week’s game will be decided by mistakes. Mel Tucker has a shorter track record as a head coach. He’s had a pair of sub-.500 seasons in rebuilding mode. He may prove to be a great stickler for tight screws and perfected details. But for now, Fitzgerald is the coach with the cleaner track record in that area, despite the fact that Fitzgerald failed to deliver in that category in last year’s matchup against Tucker and the Spartans.

So go ahead and plug in the usual clichés for this game. The’re all applicable. The team that can stop the run, establish the run, prevent big plays and avoid mistakes will win. It’s not rocket science.

“It’s not like we are looking to spring anything on anyone,” Tucker said. “We are not going out there to build a rocket. We’re going out there to play ball. We’ll see who lines up out there when we line up and we’re going to play. But we’re not trying to fool anyone. It’s not going to be that type of game. It’s a Big Ten game. It’s going to be about execution and playing hard for 60 minutes.”

So which team is better-equipped to play hard for 60 minutes?

Michigan State stunned everyone last year by rushing for 207 yards against Northwestern. Michigan State had ranked outside of the Top 110 teams in the nation in rushing offense prior to that game. And then they went out and chugged forward for consistent tailback gains of 5 yards, 4 yards, 6 yards, 3 yards. Connor Heyward did most of the work, which was another surprise.

The offensive line, which was spotty and inconsistent for most of the years, got a little bit of movement on a consistent basis with its double team blocks. That was enough of a dent to set up the rest of the outfit, which was sparked initially by a 75-yard TD pass from Rocky Lombardi to Jalen Nailor. The player Nailor beat for that TD was be nched in the second half and has since transferred to Temple.

The o-line which delivered those blocks last year is back pretty much intact - a year older, stronger, with a new left tackle and what is expected to be better cohesion.

The Northwestern defensive line has new starters at defensive tackle. They have proven starters at d-end, including one (Samdup Miller) who opted out of last year. Northwestern lost a defensive end to the NFL Draft (Earnest Brown) and two key, multi-year starters at inside linebacker, including Paddy Fisher.

So the Northwestern defensive front seven is being restocked.

And Northwestern is doing it with a new defensive coordinator, Jim O’Neil, who has coordinating experience in the NFL and was a grad assistant at Northwestern for Randy Walker back when Fitzgerald was a position coach for the Wildcats.

Michigan State will be attacking that defensive front with a new backfield. Wake Forest transfer Kenneth Walker III has impressed. Elijah Collins is rejuvenated.

Connor Heyward is playing to good reviews as an H-back. He has good hands. I’ve been impressed in the thud practicing that I’ve seen, and some brief glimpses of scrimmages, of how hard Heyward is trying to establish himself as a blocker.

Many of the names have changed, but the principles remain the same.

Can Michigan State run the ball against Northwestern … for a second straight year?

******

Last season, Michigan State benefitted from the age old football adage of WHEN the game was played. As in, it’s not always important who you play, but WHEN you play that opponent.

Michigan State caught Northwestern a week after the Wildcats beat Wisconsin, 17-7, in a wonderfully physical tilt. The collisions in that game were hammer vs anvil. After Northwestern outlasted the Badgers, I suspect the Wildcats came away from that game with a few bruises and too much back-slapping. They were NOT the same team a week later when Michigan State jumped out to a 17-0 lead.

Northwestern inched back to a 20-17 lead in the fourth quarter. But then the first time Northwestern had an offensive snap with the lead, the Wildcats fumbled an end-around handoff. Michigan State recovered, gained a first down, and Matt Coghlin nailed 44-yard field goal to tie the game with 10:11 to play.

Then, Michigan State ended Northwestern’s next possession when Shakur Brown knocked WR Berkeley Holman cold while diving in front of him for an interception.

Michigan State gained one first down after Brown’s interception - on a Lombardi diving scramble on third-and-eight - to put Coghlin in range for the winning points.

(Then Northwestern fumbled on the last play of the game, resulting in an Michigan State defensive touchdown and a 29-20 final score.)

So this year, there is no back-slapping for Northwestern. Are they seeking revenge? Yes, that’s a motivator.

Safety Brandon Joseph:

“I did not forget that they were our one loss last year and I don’t think anyone on this team has,” Joseph said. “Like every Big Ten opponent, we know what they are and the capabilities they have so we are going to attack it the same way we attack everyone but I wasn’t lying, there’s still a vengeance there. We still have some making up to do for that loss last year, but we’re locked in, we’re ready to go.”

Northwestern tight end Charlie Mangieri (6-4, 250, Sr., Peoria, Ill.) has 12 career receptions.


THE MATCHUPS

* It’s hard to get a read on how these teams match up because … we haven’t seen the play.

But here are some of the storylines, seasoned with some of my expectations and educated guesses:

* I will be fascinated to see if Michigan State can run the ball in game one. Fascinated to see Walker at RB. Interested to see if the o-line has come along as well as people on the inside say has been the case.

* Jayden Reed was good last year. His body has improved. He’s a year older. I think he can go from good to very darn good. Having a capable QB with him will help. Being complemented by Jalen Nailor (who missed half of last season with an injury) will also help Reed. Having a functional running game will also help.

All of those things could and should add up to Reed becoming a highly-entertaining playmaker.

Under second-year offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, with Tucker’s blessing, Michigan State wants to be able to establish the run. That doesn’t necessarily mean the run will come first, second and third, hell or high water. That could mean play action deep pass on the first play of the game. In short, Michigan State can and will stretch the field deep more often than your usual establish-the-run type of program. The question is whether Michigan State has all the tools to do all of the things the playbook. We’ll begin to find out on Friday.

* How well Northwestern replaces retired defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz is one of the sneaky-big preseason of the season for the entire Big Ten. Northwestern has been a pesky presence in the Big Ten football picture for several years now, and Hankwitz has been a major reason why. His defenses weren’t always great, but it’s safe to say they were always better than they should have been.

Jim O’Neil is the new DC. He was DBs coach for the Raiders in the NFL for the past three yeas. He had stints as defensive coordinator for the Browns (2014-15) and 49ers (2016).

O’Neil says 75 percent of what he has installed has been new. But that includes play calls and verbiage.

“What it comes down to is when is Coach O’Neil going to call man-free, when is Coach O’Neill going to call a blitz?” Joseph said. “It’s going to be timing and how he approaches a game. Once we get into a game, we will see what kind of tendencies he has and when he likes to run certain coverages and blitzes. We might have a few more blitzes in there if you’re going to see anything different.”

Last year, I thought Northwestern went man-free (single safety deep, man-to-man underneath) too often on third down passing situations. That’s why I wrote in last year’s Pre-Snap Read that Rocky Lombardi could have success with the QB draw or QB runs on third-down passing situations, and that’s turned out to be true.

Northwestern was good last year with its two-deep zone coverages and cover-three zones, and had the ability to create simulated blitzes, where it was difficult to know how many were coming and whether a d-lineman was dropping. Indiana has been good at that too. D-coordinators who can get that done with good, not great, talent really have my respect.

O’Neill has big shoes to fill in replacing Hankwitz.


NORTHWESTERN OFFENSE vs MICHIGAN STATE DEFENSE

* I was surprised that senior Hunter Johnson beat out South Carolina transfer Ryan Hilinski for the starting QB job.

I thought Johnson was going to be an impact player two years ago, but he crapped the bed and Northwestern had a terrible season. So the Wildcats went out and got Payton Ramsey as a transfer QB from Indiana last year, and that was the move of the off-season in the Big Ten.

Now, Ramsey is gone, and Hunter Johnson is back for another crack.

He has terrific arm talent. That’s what made him a five-star recruit at Clemson. He left when it became clear he wasn’t going to beat out Trevor Lawrence.

Now, Johnson is trying to win Comeback Player of the Year (if such an award existed in college football).

“I feel like he has come a long way,” said Northwestern offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian, who arrived at Northwestern last year and wasn’t part of Johnson’s 2019 debacle. “His grasp of the offense and the level at which he is executing is very high right now. He has demonstrated a high level of competency and ability. I’ve seen him do a good job of not forcing balls into coverage and things like that.”

Johnson, of Brownsburg, Ind., did not attempt a pass last year. He was 50 of 108 in 2019 with four INTs and one TD. He was absolutely, surprisingly, horrid.

“I just think he is more confident,” Fitzgerald said of Johnson. “He has a better understanding of what we’re trying to do offensively and he has executed at a very high level.”

“Mentally, I’ve grown a lot,” Johnson said this week. “I’ve seen a lot of ball over the last couple of year an learned a lot from Coach Jake this past year and Payton was a great example for me to learn from last season. (I’m) definitely confident. It’s not my first go-‘round this time.”

But can his confidence get shaken back to 2019? Michigan State will try to do just that.

Johnson feels prepared.

“I think we’re extremely ready,” he said. “I think we’re ready to go out and cut it loose on the field and cut it loose in a game.”

All we have to go on is words.

Shrug.



THE NORTHWESTERN BACKFIELD

At running back, Northwestern lost its No. 1 guy, Cam Porter, to injury earlier in camp. Out for the season.

Evan Hull (5-11, 210, Maple Grove, Minn.) is expected to be the new feature back. He’s a Blake Ezor type of one-cut fast guy, but beefier from the waist down.

Hull averaged 8.4 yards on just 25 carries last year.

He had four TDs against UMass as a freshman in 2019.

Back-up Andrew Clair (5-11, 202, Sr., St. Louis) is a transfer from Bowling Green. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry in four games last year for the Falcons.

In 2018 as a sophomore, he was third-team All-MAC with 702 yards rushing.

He was also third-team All-MAC as a freshman in 2017, rushing for 725 yards. He broke the school record by averaging 6.8 yards per carry.

He played in only four games in 2019.

The No. 3 RB is expected to be 230-pound true freshman Anthony Tyus III of Portage Northern.

Michigan State offered Tyus during the winter of his junior year when Mark Dantonio was head coach. The current Michigan State staff didn’t seem to recruit him very hard. Tyus was a four-star Rivals.com recruit, making him one of the highest-rated recruits on the Wildcat team. Coaches like his power AND ability to make people miss. He will be motivated.


NORTHWESTERN RECEIVERS

The Wildcats gained a grad transfer from Kansas in Stephon Robinson (5-10, 180, Los Angeles).

All I have on him are stats and quotes.

He played in only three games last year due to injury.

In 2019, he had 45 catches for 727 yards with eight touchdowns. he averaged 16.2 yards per catch, which is pretty good.

In 2018, he was honorable mention All-Big 12 with 28 catches.

His 75 career receptions are 14 more than the rest of the Wildcat receivers combined.

“He is a technician with his routes,” QB Johnson said of Robinson. “He does a great job setting guys up and getting open.”

Bryce Kirtz and Berkeley Holman are expected to be the other top WRs.

Holman (5-11, 197, Irvine, Calif.) is the guy who was knocked cold while Shakur Brown secured a game-changing interception last year.

Holman had two catches last season, both against Michigan State. He had nine catches in 2019.

The WR group doesn’t seem great on paper, but Fitzgerald said this about them:

“I like that group a lot. That group is athletic and competitive. We’ve done a great job recruiting to that position. We will be a little bit younger but at the same time every bit if not more explosive than we’ve been in the past.”



THE LATEST ON MICHIGAN STATE

* Quarterback: Russo has been rallying. Thorne has been a promising prospect in the first half of his career, now can he keep it going?

* Running Back: Better than last year. It’s time for Walker to shine. And Eli Collins won’t be far behind. Competiton is great at that position, which is going to make it hard for someone, maybe Jordon Simmons, to stay in the loop.

* Offensive Line: No news is probably good news.

* Left guard J.D. Duplain is well-respected internally and capable of taking his game up a notch.

* Right tackle A.J. Arcuri has added some weight. He has looked good in the practice reps I’ve seen but I’ll be interested to see if he has lost any quickness in pass protection.

* Teammates and coaches love Matt Allen’s knowledge of the game. He struggled badly in the opener against Rutgers last year. I’ll stay open-minded about him until we see him play a little bit this season.

It’s strange that we’re still kind of learning about Arcuri and Allen when they are sixth-year seniors. But that’s the case.

* Many of us expected Kevin Jarvis to get back to All-Big Ten form when he was able to move back inside to right guard, and I haven’t seen or heard anything to dissuade that expectation. He’s back on track.

* Left tackle Jarrett Horst might not be ready for the hall of fame, but he’s been solid. Arcuri was pretty good at times last year, but Horst is expected to be an improvement. Not a bad deal.

* At wide receiver: Reed and Nailor are excellent. Montorie Foster is coming on strong. Tre Mosley had 21 catches as a true freshman two years ago, and is still quality. But if Foster emerges and takes snaps away from him, that’s just iron sharpening iron. Things looks pretty good here.

* At tight end, I was watching the Michigan State vs Northwestern 2020 game from last year, and Tyler Hunt wasn’t bad at all. Did he max out? Can he improve from last year’s form? Good question. You’ll find out when I do.

They need him to get some rest via help from reserves. Heyward has a chance to make more of an impact at TE than I might have thought. He’s working hard to get the blocking piece down. His hands are good. He has the desire.

* Can Trenton Gillison break through? He had some injury problems last year. But he’s behind schedule for his career. Michigan State could use good news surprises from him, but I haven’t heard much.

Is Purdue transfer Maliq Carr capable of making a dent a tight end? He’s an impressive specimen. Defenses will be on alert when he checks in. But his true value won’t be met until he shows he’s equally capable of run-blocking when he enters a game; that’s the pick-your-poison type of proposition an offense would like to force on an opponent. He’s probably not there yet.

Michigan State needs a pair of tight ends who can deliver blocks. Hunt has been functional. Adam Berghorst was on the field quite a bit against Northwestern last year and wasn’t bad; I haven’t heard anything about him this preseason. Parks Gissinger keeps finding his way onto the practice highlight reels. He’s not going to stretch a defense vertically, but Michigan State has use for an able-bodied blocker at tight end if he can deliver a few pitches.

* On defense, the d-tackles continue to be regarded as a strength, with Jalen Hunt, Jacob Slade and Dashawn Mallory leading the work. Mallory’s weight loss is well-documented. It will be interesting to see how much quickness he has added, and whether he last lost any interior strength.

Slade has had some dings but I haven’t heard about anything significant with him in terms of health negatives.

* Michigan State d-coordinator Scottie Hazelton said last year that Jalen Hunt was his third best defensive player, presumably behind Antjuan Simmons and Shakur Brown. Now the team needs Hunt to keep growing in that capacity and become a difference-maker. He has the capacity to do so. But we haven’t seen him on the field since last year’s Northwestern game, when he went down with a knee injury.

* At defensive end, Drew Beesley is taking the next steps as a leader. He had two sacks against Northwestern last year, including one as a defensive tackle in a passing situation. He’s been a nicely productive guy, here and there, in the past as a former walk-on. Now, can he take it up another notch and be the type of guy who can vie for second-team All-Big Ten honors? I don’t think so, but this guy has surprised me before.

* I thought Jacub Panasiuk was going to make a breakthrough last year, but COVID-19 slowed him down. We haven’t heard much about him in August camp, but once upon a time I thought he had 10-sack potential for a season. I’m not longer holding my breath on that expectation but, again, when a new season begins, players and teams sometimes enjoy massive growth out of nowhere.

* Duke transfer Drew Jordan had a quiet August after losing a lot of weight during the off-season. However, Beesley was complementary of him earlier this week. If nothing else, he should be a quality reserve.

* Michael Fletcher has added good weight at d-end. He’s a play finisher, a good complementary player who can rise up with a noisy play here and there. He was a solid player last year. Now that he’s bigger and stronger, I wouldn’t be shocked if he shows a lot of improvement this year.

* At linebacker, Noah Harvey should be improved with another year in the system. Quavaris Crouch is quite an athlete, with good experience. Cal Haladay is a riser.

Key x-factor for the season: Can Michigan State get tough, smart, fast play from it’s linebackers this year?

Tough? Michigan State should be fine in that category at the two inside linebacker positions. Harvey started last year at Mike linebacker and figures to be a starter this year, although he repped as a second- or third-string Will linebacker during last week’s public practice. The Spartans are/were trying to mix and match their linebackers a little bit in order to manufacture some depth and flexibility. I’m not expecting Harvey to be demoted from last year’s starting role for the outset of this season. Could other players emerge and eclipse him? That’s possible. But for now, I’m expecting Harvey to call the signals in the middle.

Harvey was good enough last year when allowed to be aggressive in a one-gapping system. He struggled when Michigan State asked him to two-gap and make more reads.

I’m not saying the two-gapping scheme is wrong. Most of the top teams are able to do both. Michigan State is trying to get there. Harvey was rarely asked to do both under the Dantonio/Tressel system. It was new for him a year ago. He said in the spring that he has improved in that area. Michigan State needs improvement from him. I suspect he will be improved when Michigan State two-gaps, and the result will be that Harvey won’t look as slow as he did at times last year. He’s not slow. He’s not fast. But he runs well enough if he has a great feel for what he’s supposed to do. If he has that feel this year, it will make a difference. As of now, we have no idea if he has made that jump. There’s talk that he has, but talking season is coming to an end.

Crouch is a big, athletic, smiling force of football goodness who transferred from Tennessee. Crouch’s experience with the Vols was similar to Harvey’s at Michigan State, according to a conversation I had with Crouch’s high school coach. When he’s able to pull the pin and go, he can play like the four-star recruit who signed with the Vols out of Charlotte, N.C. When he has to read and be responsible for more than one gap, he hasn’t been as smooth.

You have to be fast, quick, strong, tough, smart, instinctive and all those wonderful things to play linebacker well for a sophisticated, Top 10 type of defense - which is what Michigan State expects to be at some point in the Tucker/Hazelton era. Michigan State might blow up a few rocket ships on its way to the moon, and continued slippage at linebacker might be a continued problem area on the launching pad in 2021.

Crouch has ability. Everyone can see that. He’s had a few weeks of practice to learn the system and adhere to the staff’s expectations. We have seen in practice a few times when coaches have needed to reprogram Crouch’s motor to finish through the whistle. Little things like that become second-nature when a coaching staff has had two, three, four years to engrain players in their way of doing things. There’s a reason Tucker calls it a process.

Crouch has the physical ability to deliver. But don’t expect Hall of Fame highlights from him on every series.

There is extreme expectation for the linebackers to make correct reads, fit the proper gaps and do it while flowing with quickness, smarts and force. It’s expected. It’s harder than it looks. It’s an area of the game and an area of the team that could have used games against Youngstown State and Western Kentucky BEFORE the Big Ten opener. But big stakes TV contracts in a big stakes sport no longer provide for that luxury. So ready or not, linebackers better be ready to fit and hit.

In the meantime, sophomore Cal Haladay is earning trust rapidly. Tucker beamed on Tuesday when describing him as a throwback type of player.

Michigan transfer Ben VanSumeren was complimented by coaches for his football I.Q. earlier in camp. As a back-up for Michigan, the Wolverines usually went with a two-gapping system when he entered the game. He has his mind properly wrapped around things. There have been questions about his speed and mobility. I’m not Gil Brandt when it comes to scouting, but I thought VanSumeren moved kind of surprisingly well when I’ve watched him in practice. I’ll reseve final judgement until I see him try to go sideline to sideline for the Spartans this year. That’s it’s called an x-factor.

* Ronald Williams continues to earn compliments at cornerback. Coming from the University of Alabama, he had turn-key intensity from the jump - to go with his strong, 6-2 frame and Saban-approved quicks.

* Kalon Gervin was a starter last year. I expect him to be improved. And he will need to be improved to stay ahead of Williams and Florida transfer Chester Kimbrough.

Either way, I’m expecting all three to get a lot of playing time. There is good talent here. They just need to get on the same page with the safeties and learn to play well together as a collective back seven. That’s tricky, and dangerous, when the first game of the season is a tricky conference game.

* At safety, Xavier Henderson is ready to lead, and steady. He is bringing along his tag team partner, Angelo Grose.

When I rewatched the Michigan State-Northwestern game this week, I was reminded of some of Grose’s excellent freshman work. He was a tackling MACHINE in the second quarter of last year’s game against the Wildcats. He was a force.

He still has the ability to be a force, now at his new free safety position. He will be a very good one there at some point. Whether or not he and the rest of the secondary can get on the same page in time for this opponent, and remain solvent for 60 minutes, will have a big impact on who wins this game.

I have no doubt that a secondary comprised of these candidates CAN become a quality group at some point this season. It’s just asking a lot to get it all tied together in just one preseason camp.

* On special teams, Matt Coghlin nailed that 55-yarder in the open practice last week. That was nice to see. Punting was inconsistent last year, and I suspect it will remain that way. The big thing that needs to get fixed is the punt coverage unit. They allowed two returns for TDs last year, including a dam-breaker against Iowa. That’s the type of loose end that needs to be fixed in order for this team to entertain thoughts of getting to .500 or better.


ADD IT ALL UP

I think Michigan State has a little better chance to get solid QB play in this game than Northwestern. Hunter Johnson has some proving to do (but his ceiling of potential is immense).

I think Michigan State has a little better chance to get its run game going than Northwestern. I think Walker and Collins are a little more proven and explosive than Northwestern’s backs. Both teams have pretty good defensive lines. I am expecting MSU’s o-line to be a little better than Northwestern’s. I could be wrong, but I’m expecting that to add up to an edge to the Spartans in the run game.

MSU’s secondary has good individuals, but we don’t know how well they will play collectively. The Michigan State pass rush will probably be fair to middling. Northwestern’s pass protection last year was not great. Michigan State made an impact with its pass rush.

Northwestern has had good pass rushers in recent seasons. The guy who transferred to Auburn, Eku Leota, was an underrated riser. It’s good for Michigan State that he’s gone. Northwestern is excited to have Samdup Miller back this year after he opted out last season. I don’t have any film on him. No. 99 Adetomiwa Adebawore (6-2, 265, Jr., Kansas City) has three career sacks, but he’s better than that.

My notes on him last year prior to the Michigan State-Northwestern game:

* 5.5 three-star recruit, ranked No. 25 in Missouri.

* Spring commitment over offers from Iowa, Navy, Army, Air Force, Ivys, mid-majors.

* True sophomore and a rising figure in the Big Ten.

+ Quick get-off and closing speed. He can dip the shoulder a little bit on the pass rush too.

* Quick lateral movement to play the zone read when optioned.

+ Worked together with 99 Brown on a stunt for a sack vs Maryland.

* Leads the team with seven hurries. Also has two sacks.

No. 99, Adebawore, has the potential to change a game with sack/fumble, similar to the way Nebraska lost control of last week’s game against Illinois with a sack/scoop/score. This is where the additon of Jarrett Horst needs to ring true. Need to put a silencer on 99. Can Horst do it? I think Horst is pretty good. 99 is pretty good. 99 will get free once or twice. I don’t think you can stop him all day. But Michigan State can’t let him be a difference-maker.

I like MSU’s chances of getting its pass game going a little more than Northwestern’s chances. Maybe Hunter Johnson will make a believer out of me, but right now if you choose either of MSU’s QB candidates you’ll find a guy who is more proven at this level than Johnson. And if Russo gets the call, he’s way more proven than Johnson.

Russo threw a lot of interceptions at Rutgers, but he also threw for 6,000 yards. If he has improved his decision-making, as was the goal from the beginning, this weekend could end up being all about Russo.

I think Russo has more quality, proven receivers to work with than Johnson.

If the Michigan State QB has time to throw, is complemented by a quality running game, if his receivers are gaining separation and finishing plays, and if the defense and special teams set the table well for the offense, then I think either quarterback is equipped to keep things stapled together at the most important position on the field.

Either Michigan State quarterback can do enough, as long as you don’t ask them to do it all.

In time, perhaps Thorne can develop into a game-rescue type of talent. Maybe Russo has that ability in him right now, if he gets more help from teammates than he had at Temple, and if some fine-tuning from Michigan State coaches have helped him take the next step as a quarterback in terms of decision-making.

We can be fairly certain that QB play this year will be improved over last year. That’s what you want at all positions in year two of a rebuilding program, and there is reason to believe that the Spartans will have that kind of improvement at almost every position.

Now can it get stapled together in time for a season-opener on the road against a revenge-seeking program that is known for limiting mistakes?

I think Michigan State is likely to be better than Northwestern by mid-October. I’m just not sure they’re ready to limit mistakes as effectively as is normally the case with Northwestern.

There are so many question marks. So much on the line. So early. So great. Who wins? I would lean toward the home team with the more proven track record of tidy football.

(Note: I wanted to start with a shout-out to @Carl_N. He and I bounced a few ideas on this topic off of each other a few months back, and he played a large role in the inspiration for this analysis. He has posted on this topic in the past as well. In brief, thanks, Carl!)

There are a lot of things that make for a great college basketball game: the players, the coaches, the fans, the mascots, the venues...each one bring something different and exciting to the table. But, there is one part of the game that seems to bring out the ire of fans on all sides: the officials.

Obviously, officials are a necessary part of the game. But, every fan can likely think of a game where the officials seemed to “take over” and effectively became the story. Every fan can likely think of one call that they believe single-handedly cost their team a game (most Michigan State fans would likely point to the non-call on Draymond Green in the 2010 Final Four).

At the end of the day, officials are human beings trying to do a job to the best of their ability. If they do their job perfectly, they likely won’t get noticed at all. It is only when they are at the center of a controversy that we learn their names. Every generation of Spartans fans likely knows the names of a few officials that they feel might be either biased against their team or simply bad at their craft.

In past years, names like Ed Hightower and Ted Valentine used to raise my blood pressure slightly. These days, the name Bo Boroski is one that most Spartans know. But, were/are these officials actually biased against Michigan State? If they were, is there a way that we could tell?

As for the first question, it simply is not reasonable to suggest that any official out there simply has it out for MSU, Tom Izzo, or any other coach or program. These men and women are professionals and it is a bit paranoid to believe that they are “out to get us.”

That said, no person is truly unbiased. As hard as any single person (including officials) try to be fair in all situations, it is literally impossible to separate a lifetime of experiences that weighs on one’s soul when one is trying to decide in a split second if the play was a charge or a blocking foul.

Maybe the kid taking the charge reminds the official of the son of one of his friends. Maybe the player called for the block was mouthing off in the last huddle. Maybe, the ref once had a bully in middle school that wore a University of Michigan hat. Maybe, the ref’s wife cheated on him with a Kentucky grad. OK, some of those are unlikely, but who knows? Unconscious bias will creep into the brains of all of us imperfect human beings. Officials are no different, no matter how they try.

But if at least some level of bias (unconscious or not) exists in the officiating of college basketball, how could it be detected? This is a problem that I have thought about for a while, and I think that I found a way to potentially measure it.

How to grade an official​

I decided to approach this analysis just like I do any other sports-related analysis that I conduct (and write about here): I treated it like a scientific experiment. One thing about science is that individual observations are basically useless. So, looking at individual plays, fouls, or games would be meaningless. What I needed was as large of a set of consistent data as possible.

Instead of focusing on something like the total number of fouls called or free throw rates, I settled on two related metrics: performance against the spread (ATS) and wins or losses relative to expectation (R2E). Performance ATS is more straightforward. The folks in Vegas and the betting community are really good, on average, at getting the line to a place where the favored team will win almost exactly 50 percent of the time.

Good teams tend to beat the spread a little more often than not (because they are good) but deviations of more than a few percentage points are extremely rare. In the database that I assembled for this project, which extends back to the 2005-2006 season, Michigan State is 267-245-9 (51.2 percent) against the final Vegas line.

Performance relative to expectation is a little more complicated. The idea here is to measure actual wins and losses, but in a weighted fashion. I have written extensively about the way to correlate the Vegas line to the odds that a favored team will win or lose. I once again leaned on this data here.

To give an example, let’s say that Michigan State plays a total of 20 games. In the non-conference season, MSU is favored by 13 points in the first 10 games. Then, Big Ten play begins, and the Spartans are only favored by 2.5 points in each of the next 10 games.

According to the historical correlations and in this example, the Spartans would have a 90 percent chance of winning each of their first 10 games, but only a 60 percent chance of each of the second group of games. So, the most likely outcome would be for MSU to win nine of the first 10 games (90 percent) and go 6-4 (60 percent) in the second batch of games.

If I use the actual spread data for all of the Michigan State games in the database back to 2006, I can calculate the expected number of wins and that can be compared to MSU’s actual performance in these contests. Over that span, I calculate that MSU was expected to have a record of 364.5 wins and 156.5 losses (70.0 percent). In reality, MSU went 371-150 (71.2 percent) or just slightly better than expected. MSU won about six-and-a-half more games (out of 521) than the spread predicted.

Just as Michigan State’s overall performance can be measured ATS and against expectation, MSU’s performance involving any individual referee or combination of referees can also be measured ATS and against expectation.

As an example, consider the case of the official Kelly Pfeifer. Pfeifer has officiated a total of 22 Michigan State games since 2013. In those 22 games, MSU was expected to have a record of 16.6-5.4. In reality, the Spartans went 17-5 in those games and 11-11 against the spread.

In other words, in games where Kelly was an official, MSU won +0.4 more games than expected and was -0.3 wins ATS (this number is slightly negative since MSU overall is slightly over .500 against the spread). This is about as close as “unbiased” as possible based on this analysis. I applied this same methodology to every official who has worked a Michigan State game since 2006.

While Pfeifer seems perfectly neutral when it comes to MSU, not all officials are. As we will see, MSU tends to under-perform in the presence of some officials, and over-perform in the presence of others. But, how can we tell if this performance is “suspicious” or not?

In this case, I applied the statistical principle of the binomial test to each measurement. Briefly, the binomial test reveals the odds that a specific result would happen just by chance. Historically, these odds have to be below five percent to be considered “significant.” For the purpose of this analysis, I also note any observations with odds below 20 percent as “notable.”

OK, Let’s Look at the Data​

With that introduction, it is time to look at the results. For context, a total of 159 different referees have officiated a Michigan State game since 2006. However, over 100 of those officials have worked fewer than seven games total. While I made the relevant calculations for all 159 refs, I will mainly focus on the officials who have worked at least 20 games in the past 16 years, which is only 23 total.

Also, I will mention here that it is pretty common for fans to refer to specific “officiating crews.” While each game has three total officials, those officials do not work in consistent groups. It is rare for a pair of officials to work a large number of games together and even more rare to see an identical “crew.” This study focuses primarily on individual officials.

Figure 1 below summarizes Michigan State’s performance, both against the spread (on the y-axis) and relative to expectation (on the x-axis) when each of the most frequent 23 officials are working. The size of the data point scales with the total number of games.


Figure 1: Michigan State basketball's performance against expectation and the spread when various officials are working (2006-21).

In addition, I have color-coded the data points to reflect the statistical significance for the data points that are straying from the average. Yellow and light green data points are between a five percent and 20 percent confidence level (“notable”). If a measurement falls below five percent into the truly statistically significant zone, I will shaded those data point red (if it is negative for MSU) or dark green (if it is positive).

As Figure 1 shows, there are definitely officials who are either a net negative or a net positive with respect to actual Michigan State wins and losses and relative to the spread. However, none of these results rise to the level of statistical significance.

In total, there are five officials who historically seem to be trouble for MSU, i.e. the yellow data points. When it comes to wins and losses, Bo Boroski has been a net negative (-2.5 wins relative to expectation out of 60 games), but this is not very significant. Note that for some of the officials highlighted in this study, I have included a link to the full data table of MSU’s results on their watch. Click on the official’s name to view it.

In the past 16 years, there are three officials who have been worse for Michigan State than Boroski: Ed Hightower (-3.5 wins over 40 games, and who retired in 2014), Pat Driscoll (-3.6 wins over 35 games), and the most significant, Terry Wymer (-4.8 wins over 65 games, which also makes him the official who has worked the most MSU games over this span). The odds that MSU’s poor performance on Wymer’s watch is only due to chance is just 13 percent.

The two other officials whose presence is correlated to below average performance on the court are Jim Burr and D.J. Carstensen, but for a different reason. In these two cases, it is not the wins and loses that are notable, it is MSU’s performance against the spread, which is -3.9 wins ATS for Burr (out of 29 games, ending in 2014) and a shocking -8.2 games (out of 57) for Carstensen.

MSU is 21-33-3 against the closing spread (37 percent) in games officiated by Carstensen. The odds of that percentage being so low is only 11 percent, which is certainly notable.

That said, there is also another side to this coin. Figure 1 also shows a total of three officials who seem to have a positive impact on MSU’s results: Robert Riley, Bill Ek, and especially Terry Oglesby. Unlike the yellow data points, the light green ones tend to fall closer to a diagonal line from the bottom left to the upper right. In other words, these officials seems to have a positive effect on MSU ability to both wins and to beat the spread.

As for Riley, Michigan State is 18-11 ATS in the games in which he has officiated. As for Ek, MSU is 14-7 ATS, which is also high, but more notably, MSU is 21-0 straight up with Ek on the court. While that sounds pretty bad, MSU has been heavily favored is most of those games. The spread was double-digits in 14 of the 21 games, it was only below seven point three times, and he had never officiated a game where MSU was the underdog.

As for Oglesby, the Spartans are 26-13-1 ATS in the games that he has worked, which is just barely outside of the threshold for statistical significance. Also notable is that MSU has won in three of the five total games where the Spartans were the underdogs, including the win over Kansas in the 2015 Champions Classic, and the road win over Michigan in 2019. Perhaps the title of this piece should actually be, does Terry Oglesby love Michigan State?

In order to provide a little more context, I wanted to see if there was any noticeable change in the data if home games and road games were separated. Figure 2 below shows the wins relative to expectation data for the same group of officials. This time, however, I have plotted the data for home games only on the x-axis and road games only on the y-axis.


Figure 2: Actual wins relative to expectation, based on the closing Vegas spread, and separated based on venue (home games on the x-axis and road games on the y-axis.

With this data, we get a little more interesting information. In Figure 2, we can see that Terry Wymer has been very tough on the Spartans in road games. Michigan State is just 8-18 on his watch away from the Breslin Center, including seven upset losses in 13 games where MSU was favored. This result is statistically significant.

Interestingly, Bo Boroski has also entered the “yellow notable zone” for Michigan State road games. That said, MSU has actually won a bit over one game more than expected in the Breslin when Boroski was in the house. In contrast, Pat Driscoll seems to be tough on the Spartans at home, but is a net positive for the Spartans on the road.

Figure 2 also reveals that official Larry Scirotto has had a strongly positive impact on MSU wins at Breslin, but is neutral to slightly negative in road games.

In regard to results against the spread, Figure 3 separates the data based on home and road games as well.


Figure 3: Wins against the closing spread, relative to the MSU average, and separated based on venue (home games on the x-axis and road games on the y-axis.

Here we can see that D.J. Carstensen’s negative impact on MSU’s performance against the spread is consistent, regardless of venue, but at a fairly low level of statistical significance. The trends for Pat Driscoll and Bo Boroski are similar here as they were for Figure 3.

MSU actually does really well ATS the spread in home games where Boroski officiates and really poorly ATS when they see him on the road. Both of these deviations are statistically significant. In contrast, Driscoll grades out as tough on the home teams.

There are a group of five additional officials who seem to have a positive impact on Michigan State’s performance ATS at the Breslin Center. Ek and Riley are once again in this category, and they are joined by Lamont Simpson and Donnie Eppley. That said, Eppley’s profile (easy on the home team) resembles Boroski’s profile, just with a smaller sample size. Finally, Terry Oglesby’s impact, while generally positive, also seems to mostly occur at the Breslin Center. MSU is 15-5 ATS, which is statistically significant.

Other Odds and Ends​

The data above focuses just on single officials who have worked more than at least 20 Michigan State games. That said, there are a few other notable results from the analysis that I will briefly comment on here in lightning round form:

• When it comes to pairs of officials, the Wymer/Valentine combination was not great for MSU. The Spartans were 5-8 (-3.2 R2E) and 3-10 ATS all time.
• The Boroski/Scirotto combination is notably bad for MSU on the road. The Spartans are 1-4 straight up (SU) and 0-5 ATS.
• Wymer teamed up with Lamont Simpson has not been good for MSU straight up. The Spartans are 2-5 (-2.9 R2E) with this pair.
• Officials with fewer games and a notably negative impact on MSU wins, relative to expectation (R2E) are: Donnee Gray (7-10 SU, -3.3 R2E, from 2006-2009), Reggie Greenwood (2-5 SU, -2.3 R2E, from 2006-2009), and Antonio Petty (3-3 SU, -1.9 R2E, from 2008-2012). MSU also did poorly ATS with these three officials.
• Officials with fewer games and a notably positive impact on MSU wins, relative to expectation: Keith Kimble (12-2 straight up, +2.6 R2E, active), Chris Beaver (14-0, +1.7 R2E, active), and Earl Walton (11-0, +2.1 R2E, active).
• Finally, there are two addition officials who post notably positive results ATS for MSU: Tom Eades (12-4 ATS) and Mark Whitehead (10-3 ATS).

In summary, there are clearly some officials whose presence correlates to both above and below average performance by the Spartans. Does this mean that unconscious bias is the cause? Not necessarily. While it is certainly possible, most of the results shown above are not statistically significant. Even when it is, correlation does not imply causation.

That said, the results are what they are. The fact remains that, historically, Michigan State’s performance has been either better or worse than average when some officials are working. Whether these trends continue into the future remains to be seen.

That is all for today. As always, enjoy, and Go Green.

Anyone have any projections for our possible lineups this year?

This began as a news story, but I couldn't keep my opinon out of it. So it ended up like this:

Is the team skating around 3 pm daily does anyone know? Usually they’d have a pro camp around this time but I’m not sure they do that anymore given the lack of msu pros at this point. I ask because I’m entertaining the thought of heading over Monday for the football practice at 6:30 but if hockey is doing captain practices at 3 we could double dip

Excellent story by Paul K on the front of SpartanMag.com

Also, in case you didn't see it yesterday, the video of his press briefing from Thursday is part of this content item.

I think many of you will become a believer in him and get a feel for how he was able to build championships at Cass Tech. He wants to direct and touch some lives at Michigan State.

Here is my Jayden Reed article from yesterday's interviews. We've been hearing a lot about the physicality of Michigan State's receivers. That's something that wasn't very good last year. So I'm eager to see if things are better. They have to be. Some might say WR's were overly physical at times, as evidenced by all the holding calls. I'd disagree. Those holds on blocks were the byproduct of not anticipating where defenders were going to be. Receivers have said that the blocking component this year is more muscle memory than it was a year ago, when they were thinking instead of playing on instinct. We'll see.

Here is my story on Thomas Wilcher from the interview we had today. He has good vision from what he can accomplish at Michigan State in his current role, and the video is definitely worth watching, because it provides good insight into what makes Thomas Wilcher tick.

A deep dive into player development for one of the most important areas of the team this year and every year:

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* The highlights from Saturday's scrimmage, released by the university, are brief, but in some cases noteworthy. The highlights don’t run long enough to see what kind of play was run, how long or short the gain was, and who was beaten or victorious at the line of scrimmage, but we’re able to see the final instance of the tackle.

It isn't a perfect look at what went on, but it's better than nothing.

Here is what I noticed (in order of the clips):

* Keon Coleman with a deep reception vs Antoine Booth.

* Tank Brown with a touch sack of Anthony Russo against AJ Arcuri. (Harold Joiner was also on the field for that play). Drew Beasley was the other defensive end on that play, but was successfully blocked by Jarrett Horst.

Brown looks thick, athletic and streamlined. Might just be the camera but I swear he has taken a half inch off his waste line since last week.

Brown is listed as a linebacker. We saw him work as a defensive end earlier this week in practice, both as a stand-up DE and with his hand in the dirt.

I'm starting to figure Brown in as a potential playing group guy, if not a definite playing group guy. I wouldn't have assumed that would be the case a week or two ago. I didn't know what to think of him, as a former four-star recruit who didn't get on the field at Minnesota last year.

* Noah Kim, on a half-roll, passing to tight end Trenton Gillison with defensive end Michael Fletcher pursuing him. Gillison, with the catch and turn upfield, looking like a tight end should.

Gillison is listed at 6-4, 245, the same as last year, but he looks a little stronger and leaner.

* Michael Dowell had an interception. We didn’t see who threw the pick. The pass was intended for Tre Mosley.

Dowell, Angelo Grose and Kalon Gervin were also on the field, almost certainly as part of the first-string defensive backfield.

* Terry Lockett is shown at the tail end of making some sort of play, being tackled as he crosses a yard-line, possibly the goal line.

* Harold Joiner is shown getting a carry, executing a cutback and getting prepared to take on an unidentified safety. We don’t see the result of the play or the tackle, but it appears to be the first-string defense with Xavier Henderson at safety. Noah Harvey and Quavaris Crouch are the linebackers on the play, and Ronald Williams is at cornerback.

Williams and Crouch are big-framed, athletic guys. They look the part, and that's why Tucker brought them in as transfers from SEC schools.

When I watched a CB contact drill last week, Williams looked more comfortable than anyone coiling, extending and hitting. He's a specimen.

In my opinion, it's a good sign that Williams and Crouch are getting reps with the ones. They have the frame and the horsepower. They just need to get acclimated to the system and this scrimmage might have been a nice step in that direction.

* Crouch is making a tackle on an unidentified running back, with Michael Dowell assisting. Tight ends Tyler Hunt and Gillison are in on the play. Angelo Grose and Noah Harvey are also part of the defensive unit on that play.

* Jordon Simmons is seen with the ball, being tackled in the flat by Kalon Gervin. Judging by the action in the backfield in the background, this looks like it was a pass play to Simmons.

Offensive guard Blake Bueter, who has missed some time with an ailment, was in on the play.

Gervin’s tackle was a good, clean leg wrap, executed at a good clip of speed. Gervin said improved tackling is one of his goals for August camp and the season, and he provided a good, crisp, open-field tackle on that one.

Xavier Simpson and Chase Kline were also on the field for that play.

* Crouch with a heavy tackle on Elijah Collins. Crouch arrives with a forearm up high. Collins' upper body blast back from Crouch's force.

Nickel back Darius Snow, CB Chester Kimbrough, LB Noah Harvey, safety Tate Hallock, DT Derrick Harmon and CB Emmanuel Flowers were also on the field for the defense for that play.

* Redshirt freshman WR Christian Fitzpatrick is shown having gotten deep for a reception, with Hallock and Kimbrough. It appears that that play went for a touchdown, based on the congratulations he was getting on the sideline after the play from Luke Campbell, Eli Collins and Jalen Nailor.

I grew up playing golf tournaments, but I rarely watch anything other than majors, US Amateur, and Ryder cup. There is no freaking way I expected Piot to win this tournament. He doesn't blister it off the tee, and he misses a lot of shots right. But the more that I watched him play, the more I was impressed with grit that he has to him. He also has the ability to string together several very good holes. His win today was amazing. Oakmont is one of the five toughest courses in the country IMO, and to do it at Oakmont is that much more amazing. Winning the US Amateur is life changing. I really don't know if Piot has a game that translates to the PGA. He does have uncanny poise, however, and he is the US Amateur Champion.

Okay, some of you may be wondering what the heck went on Tuesday evening with former Board of Trustees member Brian Mosallam making accusations about former Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis tampering with MSU’s search for a new athletic director.

Some of you may have heard the comments, which took place during this week’s edition of the “Inside the Locker Room” podcast, hosted by former Michigan State offensive linemen Brian Mosallam and Jason Strayhorn. The latest edition aired on Tuesday, just after 8 p.m.

Strayhorn is color commentator for Spartan football games on the Michigan State Spartans Sports Network.

Strayhorn is also a member of the Michigan State Board of Education.

Mosallam was a member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees from 2012 through 2020.

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Before we get into Mosallam’s comments we may ask: Why is any of this newsworthy? Mosallam is no longer a Board member and Hollis is not employed by Michigan State.

Well, firstly, Michigan State has an ugly history of damaging political battles when it comes to filling head coach and athletic director vacancies. Any winds of a political tug-of-war in this search for an athletic director - with memories of Perles/DiBiaggio, Merrily Dean Baker, Merritt Norvell, Peter McPherson and other troubles and compromises dating back to Clifton Wharton and the search that almost landed Barry Switzer in the early 1970s - are enough to make old time Spartan fans vomit.

Secondly, Mosallam is a former Board of Trustees member. When former elected officials comment about things they used to help govern, sometimes it’s newsworthy. You can be the judge on that. My personal opinion in this case: Yes it’s newsworthy when a recent Board member puts a recent A.D. on blast.

On Tuesday, Mosallam accused Hollis of “polluting the waters” in the university’s search for a new athletic director. Mosallam alleged that Hollis has called Michigan State donors and discredited Alan Haller’s candidacy for the job.

These are heavy accusations.

As a news person, we have to consider the source - Mosallam. Does he have an axe to grind against Hollis? If so, as news people we are supposed to be cautious about writing a news story from one person’s perspective, especially if that person has a vendetta of sorts against the person he is accusing of wrongdoing.

Does Mosallam have a vendetta against Hollis? I’ll leave that question unanswered here.

Who are Mosallam’s sources? We don’t know. Does he name them? No. (That doesn’t mean his accusations are untrue. These are just things to consider when putting together a story).

Does Mosallam have a history of verbally flying off the handle a little bit in public? Does that have an impact on his credibility or at least provide cause for pause?

(I’m not answering all of these questions here. These are just things a news person has to take into consideration).

Secondly, does Hollis have any response to this?

I sent a text to Hollis to ask him if he has any reaction to Mosallam’s accusations. I haven’t heard back from Hollis. To be fair, I texted an old 517 phone number of his. Maybe that’s no longer his number. Even if it is a current working number for Hollis, I wouldn’t expect to hear back from him.

Basically, Mosallam is acting as a whistle blower, albeit against someone who does not hold a university office.

In the old days, if Mosallam came to a newsroom with this information, a newspaper or TV station would pause and try to get comments from the accused, and hold the story until both sides were represented. And then a decision would be made as to whether the whole thing was newsworthy.

But in today’s world, newsmakers don’t have to go to a mainstream media source to get a story out. They can go straight to the airwaves via podcasts or social media, and that’s what Mosallam did.

So here we are trying to make sense of it all before we have all the facts. We may never get all the facts, but we have a well-known figure in state-wide politics making heavy accusations against a nationally-known former sports administrator.

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People are asking me what I think about all of this. It’s hard for me to have an opinion because I don’t know all of the facts. Period.

I know of some former MSU football players who take Mosallam at his word and are angry about this. These people are very much pro-Haller in the athletic director search and have become suspicious of Hollis.

I also know of at least two major donors who say that haven’t heard anything from Hollis that disparages Haller. One of those donors said Hollis is angry about Mosallam’s comments and says they are untrue.

As for background information: Hollis worked closely with Haller when Hollis was athletic director at Michigan State. Hollis sought Haller and Tom Izzo for assistance during MSU’s search for a football coach in December of 2006. Those three were the kingpins in that coaching search. Haller was a member of the Michigan State University police department at the time and is a former Michigan State football player and NFL player.

Hollis soon brought Haller into the athletic department in an official capacity. Haller steadily earned a greater role and trust. Haller was instrumental in MSU's most recent coaching search, resulting in the hiring of Mel Tucker. In the past year, Haller has become a close confidante and aide for Tucker. Haller has been instrumental in the planning of MSU's next round of sweeping facility upgrades.

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I’m not going to get into rumors about rivalries between MSU’s two biggest athletic donors and a domino effect it might have on any of this. Mosallam made brief mention of the principals in a business/donor rivalry during his rant on Sunday, but I’m not going to attempt to color in any specifics here.

As for Mosallam’s direct quotes, in case you haven’t seen or heard the podcast, here are the main portions of those comments:

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“This a very high-profile hire. Fair or not fair, historically MSU has had a reputation so-called of meddling in processes.”

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“Alan Haller has what it takes, just (my opinion) as an outsider, personal opinion, Alan Haller has what it takes. He’s got the experience. He has worked on special projects. He was heavily involved in the hiring of Mark Dantonio and Mel Tucker, and he has worked on facility design. He has a lot of the credentials that you want. He knows Michigan State. He is from Michigan State. Is that good or bad? That’s to be determined. I think it’s a good thing, I think it’s a great thing when you understand our culture and understand our people. That’s the candidate that we know, so we are able to talk more about him.”

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“There are a lot of rumors and banter going back and forth and I’m just going to be pretty honest with you here: Mark Hollis has been polluting the waters. Word is, he has called several donors who have called me who have had comments about Alan in terms of experience and stuff. I don’t know what the point is of that and that’s why I felt it’s important to bring it up.”

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“The reason I’m speaking out today is because this polluting the waters for potential internal candidates is unacceptable. We’re all Spartans. Let’s all get out of the way, let the process evolve, let everybody compete and let the best man or woman win. And whoever gets that job, every one of us has to get behind - I don’t care if you agree, disagree or whatever it is, you get behind that candidate because you don’t burn the forest trying to burn a tree.

“What we want at that university is everyone going in the same direction. With everything that we have been through at that university and all the trials and tribulations, this is one process that we need to let play out. This will be a national search. Whoever it is, we are going to get behind.

“I think those are things that need to be said.

“I’m sick of hearing about it. I’m sick of getting calls from donors, from former players. I’m sick and tired of all the comments, all of this, all of that because at the end of the day we need to support our university and get out of the way.”

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“We’re Spartans, we’re Spartan Dawgs and when you attack a Spartan Dawg, you attack one, you attack us all. It’s that simple. That’s why I felt compelled to say something today, like this bullshit, these bullshit games that we’re playing, they have to stop right now, and let everybody get out of the way and give everybody a chance to compete. Everybody get out of the way, including me. Everybody. That’s just my feelings and my take.”