Here is my story on Lyles who is looking forward to helping out at DE when needed.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/lyles-embraces-two-way-role

Good story by our guy Ricardo Cooney

Quick little profile & developmental update on a guy i like to refer to as Psycho Killer:



Glue Guy: Frey keeping it cranked
Ricardo Cooney | SpartanMag.com



EAST LANSING - While Michigan State entered the 2016 season with question marks concerning the effectiveness of a defensive line whose depth was gutted by graduations and departures, the one area where MSU was expected to excel was at linebacker.

With a lineup that features a strong rotation of five to six players at the position, especially when you factor in the return of senior Ed Davis, who will enter Saturday night’s game at Notre Dame No. 2 on the Spartan depth chart at Sam linebacker after being granted a sixth season of eligibility by the NCAA earlier this week, MSU’s defense is expected to go as far as its linebacking corps will take it this season.

“Linebacker-wise we have a lot of guys with a lot of talent,’’ said junior Chris Frey, who is listed as the starting Sam linebacker for the second consecutive game. “So everybody’s going to play. Everybody’s going to have the opportunity to come in and play well, and make plays.’’

Frey led Michigan State in tackles (nine) in the season opener two weeks ago against Furman, in the first starting assignment of his career. He started in place of Jon Reschke, who was out with an undisclosed injury. Reschke is listed as the No. 2 ‘star’ linebacker for this week’s game against Notre Dame, although Sam linebacker is his usual position.

Reschke started at Sam linebacker last year, filling in for Davis, who started at the position in 2014 before being lost for the season with a torn ACL.

With Frey, Michigan State now has three players who have played winning football at Sam linebacker. It remains to be seen which player emerges as the long-term starter at the position. SPARTAN Magazine is still projecting Reschke to be the guy.

But for now, Frey is a capable starter at the worst, and a plus reserve at the best.

And while the Spartans have featured a number of great trios at linebacker during head coach Mark Dantonio’s tenure, the trio of Frey, Riley Bullough at the Mike linebacker and sophomore Andrew Dowell at the ‘star,’ could be the Spartans fastest threesome in that second tier unit’s history under Dantonio. That group will get faster if and when Reschke or Davis fill in at the Sam. But Frey runs well, too. He dropped about 10 pounds heading into the season and played faster last week than he did last year as a back-up linebacker.



Frey (23) led Michigan State with nine tackles against Furman.

With no linebacker weighing more than 230 pounds, it’s the lightest linebacking trio of the Dantonio era - which might help them to become the most mobile LB unit Dantonio has had.

“Everybody knows we’re always looking to play fast but with that comes the knowledge of what needs to be done in the different situations,’’ Frey said. “So part of my job is to know that and help communicate that to the rest of the team.’’

While Frey has always been a high-energy option at linebacker, he has developed into a dependable one too. A transition Bullough says Frey has made this season.

“With our defense, we’ve got to be gap sound and sometimes, I think, in his earlier days, he’d play a a little bit crazy and not always be in his right gap,’’ Bullough said. “Which is typical for a younger guy. But now he’s definitely changed that and become an all-around player and a great guy for our defense.’’

Frey will continue to get the chance to continue to prove himself against an Irish offense that has settled on junior quarterback DeShone Kizer as its every-down starter after he split snaps with senior Malik Zaire in the team’s first two games against Texas and Nevada.

Kizer, a polished dual threat option under center, enters Saturday with 30 completions on 42 attempts for 371 yards and seven touchdowns against just one interception. Additionally, he has bolstered the Irish’s offense with 112 rushing yards and two TD runs, making himself the team’s third-leading runner.

Which means Frey and the rest of MSU’s linebackers are facing a huge test on Saturday.

Since his arrival as an early enrollee, along with tight end Matt Sokol, back in 2014, Frey has battled to prove he was more then just a special teams demon and a special situations linebacker.

He tried to add weight in August of 2015 after Davis went down, in order to compete with Reschke for the opening at Sam linebacker. Frey held the No. 1 spot at that position for a couple of weeks in training camp, but Reschke eventually won the job, and Frey spent the rest of the year playing a bit heavier than was optimal.

This year, he cut weight in order to become more serviceable and versatile. He still has the ability to play Sam linebacker, but is also available at ‘star’ linebacker, and as a special situational linebacker - something that MSU might begin unveiling more as the season progresses, especially against uptempo teams.

With Reschke out and Davis still yet to be awarded a sixth year of eligibility, Frey was rewarded in MSU’s opener with his first career start.

“It was my first start and a I played a lot of plays, so I was really excited about that but I’m looking past that and looking forward to a huge game against a very good team,’’ Frey said. “The coaches are always going to put us in the best positions to make plays and I think I’ve proved to them that I can make plays and that I can be in the right place at the right time to be on the field more.’’

Now, with his name sitting atop the depth chart for his first start against a Top 25 opponent on the road, Frey hopes to further prove to his coaches and his teammates that he too is an every-down performer.

Even more than that, he wants help further develop the strong reputation MSU has established on defense over the past six seasons.

“Us linebackers, we have a real chemistry right now. We feed off of each other and we all bring energy to the field. But it’s not just us linebackers,’’ said Frey, who entered this season with 23 tackles, including five for loss, and a fumble recovery. “Chemistry is one of the main keys when it comes to being out on the field and I think as a unit we bring that to the rest if the team.’’

It’s a chemistry that Bullough credits Frey with help building even though it early in the season.

“Chris has done a great job,’’ Bullough said. “The biggest thing is that he’s been fundamentally sound. He’s always in his gap now and he’s making the rights reads and doing the right things when he needs to so them. And that’s important for the linebackers and our defense as a whole.’’



Chris Frey celebrates a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter of last years' victory over Indiana.

The 3-2-1 on MSU for Notre Dame Week
Jim Comparoni | Editor



EAST LANSING | Three things we learned from Tuesday’s Michigan State press conference, two questions heading into Saturday’s game at Notre Dame, and one prediction:

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:
1. Notre Dame threw deep 20 times against Michigan State the last time these two programs met, in 2013. At least that’s what Mark Dantonio told us during Tuesday’s press conference.

Many of us remember the Irish seemingly abandoning the run, and some parts of their ball-control passing and intermediate passing, in order to jack up an array of 50-50 throws.

Dantonio knew the figure off the top of his head on Tuesday because Michigan State has obviously studied film of that game from three seasons ago in preparation for this year’s meeting, on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium (7:30 p.m., NBC).

The Irish had excellent receivers in 2013, but the deep passes had an air of desperation about them. Three weeks earlier, Western Michigan had employed a similar strategy against Michigan State, with limited success, although WMU kept the game close (26-13).

As the 2013 season unfolded, and Michigan State went the rest of the year without losing, opponents had a terrible time trying to run the ball against that Spartan team. WMU lost confidence in trying to run the ball on opening night, and Notre Dame seemed to as well. But the strategy worked for the Irish, as Michigan State was flagged for downfield penalties on five of those deep-ball pass attempts.

Notre Dame was just 13-of-34 through the air for the day, for 142 yards. But the five penalties, which included four pass interference flags and one downfield holding penalty, contributed to Notre Dame’s three scoring drives in a disputed 17-13 victory over Michigan State.

Michigan State out-gained Notre Dame 254-220 in a defensive battle that day, but the Spartans were penalized 10 times for 115 yards.

Of the 20 deep shots, Notre Dame completed two of them, including a 37-yarder to a youngWill Fuller, who went on to become a first round NFL Draft pick in 2016. The other one was a 24-yarder to then-freshman Corey Robinson.

After that game, Dantonio and then-coordinator Pat Narduzzi said film study revealed that they wouldn’t ask their Spartan defensive backs to defend those deep balls any differently. Michigan State’s DBs continued to be hands-on and combative for the rest of the year, led the nation in pass efficiency defense, won the Rose Bowl, finished ranked No. 3 in the country, with the “No Fly Zone” being a major part of it.

Dantonio studied film from the 2013 game in preparation for this week, probably expects another barrage of deep balls from the Irish, and still feels his DBs did little wrong in that game in 2013.

“From my perspective, we made plays,” Dantonio said.

Darqueze Dennard, who won the Jim Thorpe Award that year and became a first-round NFL Draft pick, was called for holding, and one of the pass interference penalties.

Trae Waynes, who became a first-round pick after the 2014 season, was flagged for two pass interference penalties.

Michigan State coaches argued the calls.

“Flags came out a little bit, but from my perspective, we made plays on the ball,” Dantonio said. “Sometimes those are bang-bang type situations where you're trying to -- everybody's trying to do the right thing. Regardless of what happens, you need to move on and play the next play. I think that's the most important thing. I think we did do a good job of that. We held them to 17 points. That was a positive. So we need to continue to play like we do. We need to be who we are, too. We can't let somebody take us out of who we are.”

Notre Dame has reloaded at wide receiver, following Fuller’s departure. The Irish will attack with 6-foot-4 sophomore Equanimeous St. Brown, a rising star who has 11 catches on the year, two TDs and a long of 49. The Irish like to find him on shallow crossing routes in third down situations, and throw fades to him in the red zone.

Notre Dame also has 5-foot-8 jitterbug CJ Sanders at the wide out position. He has eight catches on the year, including a 25-yarder last week and a pair of TDs.



St. Brown has mismatch ability at WR for Notre Dame.

Quick freshman Kevin Stepherson (6-0, 181, Jacksonville, Fla.) turned in a 4-yard TD catch on an angle route while taking a big hit last week against Nevada. He played in both games despite being one of the six Irish players who were arrested in two separate incidents on Aug. 20. Stepherson was eventually charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Torri Hunter Jr. had four catches for 37 yards in the opening-night loss to Texas, but was knocked out of that game via a blow to the head and a concussion. Hunter, the son of the former Detroit Tiger outfielder of the same name, missed last week’s game against Nevada. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior is back on the depth chart this week, although ND head coachBrian Kelly said Hunter would continue to be evaluated this week in practice.

Hunter had 28 catches a year ago.

Comp’s Takeaway: Dantonio stopped short on Tuesday of criticizing the Big Ten officiating crew who oversaw that game in 2013, but his comments seemed calculated and purposeful. He might have anticipated that there would be questions about the pass interference penalties that were called on a 2013 secondary that proved to be the best in college football. Coaches are known to work the officials from the sidelines prior to kickoff of games. I think Dantonio did a little bit of ref-working for this game through the press conference on Tuesday.

Michigan State isn’t going to change the way it plays. If the Spartans continue to employ press coverage on the corners and get nosy with safeties helping vs. the run, Notre Dame will likely continue to go deep - perhaps more so than any team Michigan State will see all year. MSU will play as it usually does, with a hands-on approach. And Dantonio is on record as saying, indirectly, that they shouldn’t get flagged for it, if the plays look a lot like they did in 2013.

2. Jon Reschke seems to be back in the playing group. He was listed as a co-starter at Sam linebacker prior to the Furman game, but SpartanMaggers knew, via the Bunker message board, the he wasn’t likely to play. We didn’t break the rumor that he was questionable for the game due to an injury, but once it was out, we confirmed it.

This week, Reschke is listed as a second-string ‘star’ linebacker, with recently-activated Ed Davis the No. 2 man at Sam linebacker, behind Chris Frey.

Frey started the Furman game at Sam linebacker, in Reschke’s place.




Jon Reschke should be a proper mood, Saturday.

MSU coaches and captains said, or indicated indirectly, that Reschke would be back for this game. We’ll take them at their word.

When asked about the impact of getting Reschke and Davis back on the field or this game, senior tri-captain Riley Bullough said:

“It means a lot. Those guys are tremendous players and fun guys to have with you on the field. They bring a lot of energy and a lot of excitement to our defense. So to have them back in practice this week and then for the game, I think, is huge for our defense and our team as a whole.”

Comp’s Takeaway: Reschke has the unique ability to play Sam linebacker as well as 'star' linebacker. He is firm enough to take on tight end blocking at the point of attack as a Sam, and coaches say he is agile and quick enough to play the slot area as a 'star.' Notre Dame might be eager to test the latter.

I can’t say that I’ve actually witnessed Reschke play in the slot area, but coaches say he can do it.

I don’t doubt we’ll see Reschke at ‘star’ linebacker, as is listed in the depth chart. But I suspect he will start at Sam linebacker, in place of Frey.

Frey also has the ability to play the ‘star.’ I think Frey and Reschke might each get a chance to play some downs at the ‘star’ position, against certain personnel groups in certain down-and-distance situations, if and when MSU has time to substitute on the fly against an Irish team that will employ an uptempo offense.

I expect Reschke and Davis to split time at Sam linebacker. In the long term, Davis is probably too good of a player to see playing time on less that 50 percent of the snaps. That’s why Reschke’s ability to play some snaps at ‘star’ linebacker is valuable, because it opens the door for Davis to get on the field a bit more.

Sophomore Andrew Dowell played every down at ‘star’ linebacker against Furman. He played with energy, and made the play of the night with a momentum-changing interception in the fourth quarter. But he also had some deployment errors, and pursuit errors.

Dowell is going to be an outstanding player. But he could benefit nicely from getting a chance to sit out a series or two, in addition to other random plays. Get him to the sideline for some coaching from his cornermen, get Reschke or Frey out on the field in his place, and the Spartans won’t lose a thing while Dowell gets a chance to gain a breather, watch and learn. Playing a little less and watching a pair of venerable juniors play his position for a few downs, could yield a sharper, more efficient Dowell - which could enable him to unleash that speed just a little more.

3. Riley Bullough doesn’t hate the Notre Dame fight song.

Of the four Michigan State representative who were available for interviews on Tuesday - Dantonio, Bullough, Tyler O’Connor and Demetrious Cox - three of them grew up Notre Dame fans, to an extent. The Irish were the team of choice for O’Connor and Dantonio when they were youngsters, growing up in Ohio. Notre Dame was Bullough’s second favorite team, as his mother was an ND graduate, as were several family members on her side of the family.

Bullough said his family often went to Michigan State games one week, and then Notre Dame games the next. Of course when ND squared off with Michigan State, the Bulloughs - who are the unofficial First Family of Spartan football - rooted for the green and white. Riley said even his mother came around to rooting for Michigan State, which was only natural considering that three of her sons (Max, Riley and sophomore Byron) have played for the Spartans, dating back to 2010.

Dantonio was 10-years-old when Notre Dame and Michigan State played to a 10-10 tie in the “Game of the Century” in 1966. Dantonio said he probably watched the game, but doesn’t remember it specifically.

“No, I wasn't a Spartan then,” Dantonio said. “I was just a happy kid and didn't have all these pressures on me.”


TWO QUESTIONS:
1. How much will Ed Davis play?

He was honorable mention All-Big Ten in 2014 when he led the Spartan defense in production points. But we haven’t seen him play since Michigan State beat Baylor in the 2014 Cotton Bowl Classic.

Dantonio didn’t give a clue as to how much Davis will play, or how he has looked in practice.

“I think the question is; Is Ed at 90 percent, 95 percent? Is he at a 100 percent or 3 percent?" Dantonio said. "Whatever he is, where is he relative to the other guys that are playing?”

In other words, even if he is completely healthy, has he shaken off enough rust and proved himself worthy of taking snaps away from guys like Reschke, Frey and, indirectly, Dowell?



We haven't seen Ed Davis on the field since the 2014 Cotton Bowl Classic.

“We've got deep linebacker situation,” Dantonio said. “We've got good players. Do I expect him to play? I expect him to play. How much he plays will be determined by how much he comes yet this week.

“I know we're only four days away or so, but we need to see him today (in practice) for Tuesday’s practice because last Tuesday's practice is a week removed.”

Tuesday practice is usually the most physical practice of the week, and therefore the most telling for a guy making a comeback like Davis. Last Tuesday, Davis wasn’t yet reinstated for a sixth year of eligibility. He received reinstatement last Friday.

“So, too early to tell, I guess, is the thing I would say,” Dantonio said about Davis’ role for Saturday.

Comp’s Take: I would expect to see Davis, at least, in third down situations as a pass rusher. MSU missed him in passing situations last year. Is he ready to make an impact? I haven’t heard. But I wouldn’t be surprised.

2. Has Michigan State ironed out its errors and negativity from the Furman game?

Players indicated that they did some extra running last week, during a hot weather week, partly as punishment for the penalty problem the Spartans had against Furman. Dantonio said retaining a level of high-end conditioning was also on the agenda last week. So the running served that purpose as well.

Dantonio said an unnamed fifth-year senior told him that one of the practices last week was the toughest practice of that player’s five-year career at Michigan State.

Bye weeks are usually a time to rest weary legs. But with MSU’s bye week coming so early in the season, MSU won’t have that luxury of resting legs any time during the regular season, and instead regarded the week off as a challenge in conditioning maintenance. MSU needed to do it that way in order to prepare for Notre Dame. It remains to be seen whether it will cost them fuel mileage for the long haul of the season. But they had little choice.

As for corrections, it’s impossible to forecast whether Michigan State will eradicate the unforced errors from the Furman game. Michigan State probably needed to get back on the field last Saturday to test themselves in that area. Instead, the Spartans will have waited 15 days to test themselves in the game management department by the time kickoff arrives on Saturday.

“I think we have to learn a lot about our football team,” Dantonio said. “I don't think there is any question about that. We've only played one game. We've been working for six weeks, and only played one game.

“You don't know a lot about it. You know there is going to be growth. You have some people that are going to fail, some people are going to be successful in this game. I mean, that's the nature of it. That's what football is.

“But you've got to be able to get back up in either case and play the next play, and then you also have to move forward and learn to adapt and handle those situations.”

Notre Dame has already encountered those tasks. They came back from a double-digit deficit at Texas to force overtime. The Irish didn’t win that game, but they showed they could withstand a blow, and punch back, in a 50-47 double-overtime loss.

Michigan State hasn’t faced that type of challenge.

Notre Dame came back on a short week of prep after travel and played a respectable game in a 39-10 victory over Nevada last weekend.

Notre Dame is entering midseason form. Michigan State is still getting out of the crib.

“So that's a part of the game experience, and we're going to get that,” Dantonio said. “That's why every year when people say so-and-so is preseason number this, number that, at the end of the season, it sort of all washes out.

“I think we have a good football team. I think we've got players. We're looking forward to this opportunity.

“Again, we've waited. I don't think there is anybody in our program that wanted to sit last weekend. So I anticipate our guys being ready to go, enthusiastic, and it will be fun to go down there. There will be 10, 15,000 Spartan fans there as well. Always has been, that makes it exciting as well.”

Can they play sharp football? Did the bye week help tighten some screws?

No idea. That’s why this was Question No. 2.


ONE PREDICTION:
1. Malik McDowell is going to enjoy a decided advantage over Notre Dame center, No. 53, Sam Mustipher.

In closely watching ND’s games against Texas and Nevada, I felt the center position is the main weakness on the Irish offense. Mustipher (6-2 and a half, 310, Jr., Olney, Md.) gives good effort, and has the potential to improve. But he has missed blocks at times. And now he is going to face arguably the best nose tackle in the country.

McDowell has the flexibility to move to the three technique of defensive end, which he played for one series last week and occasionally on passing downs. But I suspect Michigan State will keep him right there at his primary position of nose tackle for the match-up with No. 53 in this game. And McDowell has the ability to win, or dominate, that matchup and put a dent in the backfield.

It’s not a bold prediction to forecast a big game for McDowell. But in this case, it should be noted that a Michigan State strength matches up directly with a Notre Dame weakness.

Dantonio rejects the idea that MSU will have a decided advantage anywhere:

“All of our players, every single one of our players, will have their hands full when we go down there, that's the nature of this and they'll have to play to a high level,” Dantonio said. “I think that our defensive line is going to have to come to play. Going to have to pressure the quarterback. Going to have to stop the run, do those type of things. Obviously, Malik will be a catalyst involved in helping to do that.

“When you look at it, he's going into his third year. So he's still a relatively young player. I don't think we ever stop growing. We're always ready to take that next step, and that's what you have to do as a competitor, be prepared to do that. But he's got an enormous amount of ability, and I expect him to play very well down there and play with a lot of effort."

DANTONIO UNPLUGGED:

* Dantonio reiterated that the coaches are more challenged than ever to whittle their roster down to a traveling team of 70 for the trip.

“We’ve got depth on this football team. So it's very difficult to even pick who the travelers are, really. We've got some good players we'll have to leave back here. But that's what happens when you've been successful for a while. That's a natural occurrence.”

* Is this a friendly rivalry?

“I’ll let you know after this weekend, I guess. But I think there are things that happened in this rivalry that led to the emergence of Michigan State being a major football player in the country. And that's because people got together, whether it was John Hannah and people at Notre Dame, and they made it happen. So from that point of view, I think there will always be a respect from the people of Michigan State in place because of that aspect.”

* Is the o-line ready to expand beyond the six-man playing group from game one?

“That remains to be seen whether we've got to go deeper or not. We want to play as many guys as we can that are game-ready. So we'll see.

“As far as our offensive line, I thought they played well this last game, and we'll need to play well again. We'll need to protect the quarterback and run the football. That starts up front. It always does.”

* On special teams, yielding Dantonio’s most candid remarks of the day:

“As I remember, we kicked the ball out of bounds in the first kickoff, which wasn't good. We punted extremely well. Got two inside the 10, a 58-yarder.

“Kickoff return, we missed two seams which could have went to the house. Punt return, we missed one seam that could have went to the house. Missed a field goal. Does that about cover it? I thought we played hard.”

RJ Shelton and Brandon Sowards each had a pair of punt returns for the Spartans. Shelton left the game with an undisclosed injury, but said last week he will be back for the ND game.

No word on which player missed the seam that Dantonio was talking about.

Shelton had one kickoff return for 18 yards and redshirt-freshman Darrell Stewart looked explosive on a pair of kickoff returns, one of which went for 27 yards.

Again, no word on which player or players missed the two seams Dantonio was talking about.

But it sounds like the blocking for the return units graded out well, which is a good sign for improvement for the return game in 2016, something that is much-needed after the Spartans ranked at the bottom of the Big Ten in kick and punt returns last year.

AND FINALLY …

How many current Spartans saw the field for Michigan State in the 2013 game in South Bend?

Only Davis and cornerback Darian Hicks saw time in regular roles, as part of the nickel defense and Shelton saw some time as a fly sweep threat.

Others who saw the field: Demetrious Cox, Jamal Lyles, Riley Bullough, Kodi Kieler, Matt Macksood and Brandon Clemons as a defensive tackle. Clemons is now the starting right guard.

Macksood, by the way, blocked a Notre Dame punt in the first quarter in 2013.

Here is the notebook I put together from today's player interviews.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/seniors-prepare-for-man-s-game-at-notre-dame

With Davis Back: What's New & What's Next
Jim Comparoni | Editor



EAST LANSING | With Ed Davis being granted a sixth year of eligibility today, the next questions are when will he begin seeing playing time, and what impact will he have on the Spartans?


WHAT'S NEW:
Michigan State released news of Davis’ eligibility via a press release on Friday afternoon. Other than a statement from Mark Dantonio, no coaches have commented on Davis’ return.

Michigan State plays at Notre Dame on Sept. 17, giving the Spartans time to begin working Davis into the playing group on an official basis at today’s practice.

Davis resumed practicing with the Spartans during the third week of August, after finishing a summer semester class. He missed last fall with a torn ACL. He redshirted in 2011. He needed to finish the summer class and graduate before petitioning for a sixth year of eligibility.

Davis (6-2, 237, Detroit Southeastern) was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection as a junior in 2014 when he led the team in production points and was third on the team in tackles for loss and sacks (seven).

Davis has been practicing at 'money' linebacker since Aug. 22, anticipating his full reinstatement.

WHAT’S NEXT:

Michigan State's linebacking corps has been in a bit of flux in recent weeks, but now regains a big boost in talent, depth and flexibility.

Chris Frey made the first start of his college career at 'money' linebacker during last Friday’s 28-13 victory over Furman. Frey played in place of Jon Reschke, who was out with an undisclosed ailment.

Reschke is expected to be available to play at Notre Dame next week. Reschke and Frey have the ability to move to ‘star’ (slot-area) linebacker. But Davis is entrenched as a 'money' linebacker (also known as Sam linebacker in MSU’s system).

“Ed is a ‘money’,” co-defensive coordinator Mike Tressel said during August camp. “We’re not going to mess with him. We’re not going to move him, and Andrew Dowell is a ‘star.’ Those two guys play those two positions, only.

“Those other guys, like Jon Reschke and Chris Frey, can rotate around a little bit. They’ve been cross-trained to do both. And Reschke can play Mike too. He played that position all up until last year.”

Senior Riley Bullough is entrenched as a second-year starter at Mike linebacker.

When Davis went down with the knee injury in August of 2015, Reschke moved from Mike linebacker to ‘money,’ linebacker and competed with Frey for the starting job. Reschke won the job.

Reschke (6-2, 227, Jr., Sterling Heights/Birmingham Brother Rice) excelled as Davis’ replacement last year. Reschke earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors while ranking fifth on the team in production points.

Reschke has earned praise from coaches in practice for taking his physicality to another level with what Tressel called “knock-back tackles.”

Davis made a splash with the 2013 Rose Bowl team as a pass rusher on the nickel defense. He improved to become a well-rounded, impact player as a starter in 2014.

Without Davis in 2015, Michigan State’s pass rush in blitz situations wasn’t as productive as it had been in 2013 and ’14. With Davis back in the group, Michigan State should receive a shot of play-making ability, especially in the pass rush department. The question is how long will it take for Davis to begin to look like the Davis of 2014, or better?

Dantonio said in August Davis was in fine shape from a conditioning standpoint, as well as knee health.


WHAT TO LOOK FOR:
Look for Reschke to return to his starting spot at ‘money’ linebacker for the Notre Dame game.

Davis has been going through the process of regaining trust in his knee and shaking off some rust.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Davis returns to the playing group for the Notre Dame game, but we’ll learn more from Dantonio on this matter at his next interview opportunity, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

With Reschke and Davis available at ‘money’ linebacker, Frey might see some of his playing time shifted to being a back-up ‘star’ linebacker, behind Dowell.

Coaches are looking forward to having a full allotment of linebackers for the first time since the end of the 2014 season.

“I think this group has the most depth of any linebacking group we’ve had since we’ve been here,” Tressel said. “When you say, ‘How many guys can actually be out there that you would be comfortable with as starters?', it’s the highest number we’ve had. Are the top three the best three we’ve ever had? We’ll see.”

In Reschke and Davis, Michigan State has a pair of players who were honorable mention All-Big Ten at the same position, in different seasons. They’ve never been part of the playing group at the same time. Now, both players are available, and will presumably pack all-conference potential.



Reschke is expected to bring even more force in 2016, potentially at two positions.

If Davis comes back strong, will he challenge Reschke for the starting ‘money’ linebacker job in the weeks ahead? Or will they split time close to 50-50 at ‘money’ linebacker while Reschke gets additional time elsewhere, possibly at 'star'?

“When we’ve talked about depth before, what it’s meant was: These three guys are the guys until or unless someone gets tired,” Tressel said. “And then we had our nickel package with Chris Frey going in.

“But this year we truly feel like we can give people roles where it’s not, ‘That guy needs a series out because he’s exhausted.’ It’s, ‘This is my role. I go in against this personnel group, or that personnel group.’

“It allows you to have more specific film study and really lock into your role and have greater knowledge of those situations.

“And when you get to playing Indiana, you’ve got to have six linebackers.”

So what happens with Ed Davis back?

“Then you can take it even farther and get to have a situation where you have pre-planned rotations where you say, ‘If they’re in pro personnel or two tight end personnel, these are the guys in the game,’” Tressel said hypothetically, in late August, about ways to work Davis into the group. “Or if they are in three receivers, four receivers, these are the guys in the game. And these guys are the nickel package. And then you can get to the point that you have four or five guys that truly are starters, and this is your role, and this is the other guy’s role.”

MSU could potentially have different “starters” and “finishers” each week, depending on the offensive personnel groups that are checked into the game.

The era of uptempo offenses, such as Indiana's, has put a new premium on depth and substitution strength. Michigan State has the pieces at linebacker to rotate liberally and stay fresher than ever against uptempo teams.

In the meantime, Dowell needs to come along in the mental aspects of the game. Dowell has explosive potential, but there are times when the position could use a little tag-team help from a reserve like Frey, or possibly a moonlighting Reschke. With Reschke and Davis back in the lineup, Dowell will have more reserve help than he had last week.

THE BREAKDOWN ON DOWELL
Dowell had eight tackles against Furman, ranking second on the team. However, there were several times when he leveraged plays improperly, due in part to his inexperience, as well as Furman’s surprising new wrinkles, formations and plays - most of which the Spartans hadn’t prepared for in practice.

At 6-1, 218, Dowell plays with excellent speed and quickness. He might be the fastest starting linebacker Michigan State has had under Dantonio.

“I think had the play of the game on his pick,” Dantonio said. “He flipped it (momentum) the other way immediately. Great pick, big play in the game. Great effort.”

But he needs to play correctly as he gains a feel for the starting job.

“Got to know where to go sometimes,” Dantonio said. “And that's coaching and that's also experience because the game changes and you have to adapt. You have to adapt to things you haven't been coached on throughout the week, because they show something different. That's a big part of it.”

If the most improvement truly comes between game one and game two (especially with a bye week thrown in), then the Spartans should see a better version of Dowell at Notre Dame, and in the weeks to come.

Furman didn’t have a great day on the ground against Michigan State, averaging 2.6 yards per carry. But Furman had occasional success on an assortment of inside running plays and then some speed option, sometimes with Dowell at the scene of the crime.

SpartanMag’s unofficial scorecard on Dowell:

- Dowell slipped and fell on an inside zone run that went for a 7-yard gain with 2:40 left in the first half.

- Dowell was a little late squeezing and closing on a shovel pass on third-and-three, late in the first half.

- On Furman’s first play after MSU went up 21-6, Furman gained 7 yards on a speed option pitch in Dowell’s direction. Dowell was influenced inside toward the box too tightly, losing leverage and getting out-flanked.

- Later, Furman scored on a 6-yard speed option TD, in the direction of Dowell and DE Gabe Sherrod, cutting the lead to 21-13.

Michigan State hadn’t anticipated speed option from Furman and hadn’t emphasized speed option defense in game preparation. Furman didn’t show its speed option package until after halftime, giving Michigan State even less time to adapt to it. Dowell and Sherrod happened to be the guys in the area when Furman sprang the speed option on Michigan State during the Paladins' lone touchdown drive.

“On the option, backs were diving into the box,” Dantonio said. “They (Furman) created a different gap a little bit, things with a young player that you've got to get straightened out from a coaching perspective, as well. Things that can be alleviated, things that can be fixed.”

+ Dowell showed good speed in an explosive tackle on RB Darius Morehead after a gain of 6 on an inside isolation play.

- Dowell allowed the No. 3 receiver to get inside of him for a gain of 11 to the 3-yard line on a third-and-six curl.

- Dowell was caught “breaking down” to “catch” a tackle rather than going full-tilt through the tackle, as Tressel wants it, allowing hidden yardage on a 3-yard run through his gap. This came after DT Kevin Williams did a good job against a double-team to free up Dowell to make the stop in the hole. It could have been stopped for little or no gain by Dowell.

+ Showed improvement on speed option to his side, pursuing the alley to hold it to a gain of 3. This was one play after Furman’s trick double-pass.

++! Dowell turned in the play of the night with the game-changing interception with 11:44 to play. Caught in a classic run-pass conflict, Dowell stayed inside for a moment to play his run gap assignment, and then when the QB showed pass, Dowell made three or four fast steps out to the slot area, covering ground with terrific quickness and knowledge in getting into position to have a chance to lay out for the one-handed interception. That was text book coverage of a difficult run-pass option play. The play on the ball was beautiful. But the knowledge, timing and quickness Dowell showed to make the play were exquisite.

“He played with a lot of effort and I think he was involved in a lot of tackles, a lot of production,” Dantonio said of Dowell. “I thought he played very, very well.

“And Chris Frey, same thing, more experienced, played very well.”

Frey performed well in his first start, and will provide zip in an expanded reserve role at two positions.

Davis will likely be a reserve of sorts, too, and potentially an immediate play-maker in pass rush situations.

Dowell, who has been praised by teammates and coaches for his work ethic and commitment, will likely show rapid improvement at ‘star' linebacker.

Now, Reschke will return to the lineup, likely as a better version of last year’s honorable mention All-Big Ten model.

They will revolve around Bullough, one of the best middle linebackers in the country.

The five-man linebacking corps appears ready to become a force. How much Davis contributes to it in South Bend will remain to be seen.

DotComp: Get Your Grump On
Jim Comparoni | Editor



EAST LANSING - Grumpy, spoiled Spartan fans didn’t like this football game.

Michigan State didn’t win by enough, wasn't smooth enough, against a mediocre FCS opponent, Furman.

Most of the grumpy, spoiled Spartan fans - which is a new species of Michigan State supporter, spawned by Dantonio-era mutations - stayed until the end of the game, made noise in the stands, and generally got their money’s worth for the ticket they purchased.

But they didn’t want their money’s worth. They didn’t want a good, competitive game. They wanted a good performance from their Spartans, which would have produced a four- or five-touchdown margin of victory. And you can’t blame them for their distaste.

Don’t you hate it when grumpy, spoiled people are right?

We’ve waited eight months for the defending Big Ten Champion Spartans to begin to show that the off-season of disrespect they have endured has been inaccurate, ignorant, and unjust.

Instead, the Spartans didn’t play up to their No. 12 ranking.

So, after eight months of nothing to do but talk about college football, we are left with 14 days to talk some more about the things that didn’t go perfectly for Michigan State on this opening night before 74,516 on a clear, perfect evening for football that carried a hint of fall.

That’s why we love college football so much. There are so few games, and so much riding on them, that we end up doing nothing but talking and obsessing about what might happen next to the point that we all end up hating each other.

And that’s usually when the Spartans go back to work and improve under the cloak of apparent mediocrity.

This program performs best when mixed with early-season anxieties and dismissive critics.

And this 28-13 victory against Furman comes chock full of little morsels of mediocrity.

But first the positives:

1. Mark Dantonio.

The shot of him in his new glasses, arms folded, shaking his head slowly, disapprovingly, after a Brandon Clemons false start in the third quarter was iconic Dantonio. It was like John Wooden holding the rolled-up program, or Frank Leahysmiling in a fedora, or Woody Hayes straining in snow flurries while wearing Burger King-style short sleeves and tie. It was grand.

Michigan State finished with 10 penalties for 120 yards. The penalties killed Spartan drives, and fueled Furman drives. The drive-killers nearly drove Dantonio to kill.

But he’s too cool for that. He didn’t yell, didn’t rant, didn’t take anyone out back behind Beaumont Tower and put a bullet in anyone’s head.

He folded his arms, and shook his head disapprovingly, like a father looking at his son’s bad report card.





The penalties were angering Spartan fans. But when those watching the BTN telecast saw that shot of Dantonio, arms folded, shaking his head in calm, measured disappointment, they knew this little issue was in good hands.

I don’t know if this team is going to end up being all that great. But Dantonio is pretty great. And if this team can be great, he’s going to wring it out of them. Isn’t that what we’ve learned about him? And isn’t that why we have all these grumpy, spoiled Spartan fans, now?

2. I liked part of Tyler O’Connor’s night. He was terrific when throwing on the move, whether on nakeds or waggles, or snaggles or fake-eds.

Actually, there’s no such thing as a snaggle or a fake-ed. But offensive playbooks are expanding so rapidly that we need to reserve words for future terminology. And Furman gave MSU a dose of new football on this night. More on that later.

As for the waggles and nakeds, O’Connor has the tools to bother defenses with his mobility, his arm, and the accuracy of that arm when moving the pocket.

He also showed great touch on out routes and fades to the corner when throwing from the hash to the wide side of the field. Opponents are going to have to defend the entire width of the field, because he can stretch you that way and drop it in the bucket, with his touch, and also his ability to throw on the run.

I like what I heard from his teammates about the leadership he showed on the sidelines when this game became a bit uncomfortable.

On the negative side, he held the ball a beat too long on a couple of occasions, especially when throwing from the pocket and making intermediate reads over the middle.

However, idiots like myself might have misread those missed reads. For instance, in SpartanMag's post-game V-Cast with our Associate Editor Paul Konyndyk, I mistakenly criticized O’Connor for holding the ball too long and staring down an outside receiver to his left when tight end Josiah Price was open for a check down over the middle.

This happened on MSU’s second drive of the game. O’Connor held the ball, scampered out of the pocket while continuing to read the left sideline. He fumbled as he reached the boundary, but the ball bounced safely, luckily out of bounds.

I gently criticized O’Connor for locking in on a receiver. That’s after seeing the play once live, and then a replay in the press box. Then, an hour after the game, Paul and I try to act like we know what we’re talking about. And I usually THINK I know what I’m talking about during those V-Casts. And most of it I think is somewhat credible. And since this is merely football, and not something important like local millage analysis, no one gets hurt if I err a little bit - except maybe the immediate families of the coaches and players. Come to think of it, those people are real human beings, so maybe I should be more careful. But we’re on deadline, you know?

So anyway, after watching a replay of that play, I noticed that running back L.J. Scottjust kind of drifted out on a pass route and coasted into space. He didn’t make a cut, didn’t turn to make himself available for a pass. He just drifted.

O’Connor seemed to be locking in on Scott, waiting for him to run the route the quarterback expected from him.

That would explain O’Connor waiting and waiting and staring down a receiver. Scott was the receiver.

I thought O'Connor was looking farther downfield. But when I watched it again, I noticed that he was looking at Scott. He was trying to hit his check-down. But his check-down didn’t sufficiently check with the guy who had the ball (O’Connor).

O’Connor had a word with Scott after the play.

After seeing a play like that, this post-game quote from O’Connor began to make more sense to me: “I think the biggest thing is getting comfortable with everybody around me,” O’Connor said. “I think there were some jitters across the offense. We have to get on the same page across all scenarios.

“We need to get a feel for how we are going to attack Notre Dame. That is 15 days away, so we have a lot of time for us to figure all of that out. I just really need to get comfortable with everyone - the offensive line and the running backs and the wide receivers.”

The offensive line? There were times when O’Connor didn’t quite trust the pass protection and didn’t hang in the pocket long enough. Just once or twice, but enough to notice.

The receivers? Remember when O’Connor threw deep to Monty Madaris on a post, durin MSU's second possession? He threw it kind of flat, and patted the ball a little too long before attempting it. He telegraphed it, which allowed the back-side safety time to come over and knock it away.

After the incompletion, Madaris pointed to the sky, indicating that he felt he could have made a play on the ball if O’Connor had sailed it higher and deeper. That’s part of the comfort level needed between quarterback, receiver and the moment on the big stage.

Madaris and O’Connor are a pair of fifth-year seniors who came to Michigan State as part of the same recruiting class, from the same state (Ohio), and played on the scout team together.

They served as second- and third-stringers behind guys who are now in the NFL.

And now O’Connor and Madaris have a chance to show that they aren’t merely functional college football players, but can star at this level for a Top 10 team.

On Friday night, Madaris certainly had that look about him. And O’Connor had some good moments, with enough high-end plays to suggest that his ceiling of potential is pretty strong for his senior season.

But even these guys, who have worked together for so long, weren't entirely on the same page, all night.

O’Connor and Scott are going to be on the field a lot together this season. They were a little too awkward with one other in this game.

Example: On the play after Andrew Dowell’s terrific interception. MSU attempted to spring Scott down the right sideline as a receiver. He became wide open, on a wheel route of sorts. But O'Connor's pass missed badly. I'm not sure if O'Connor threw it wrong, threw inaccurately, or if Scott failed to open up to the ball correctlly and run his steps right.

That play should have went for 15 or more yards and served as a big momentum boost after the interception. Instead, the pass fell incomplete, and the grumpy Spartan fans groaned about the missed opportunity.

The play call and play design were sublime. But the quarterback and receiver weren’t on the same page.

Michigan State has had some sluggish season-openers during the Dantonio era. But I’m kind of surprised that there would be these basic route-and-throw miscommunications after 15 spring practices, and an August of camp.

I assume these are among the more correctable issues that the Spartans will be tackling for the next couple of weeks.

As for other positives:

3. Spartan fans. Even the grumpy ones. They showed up, filled seats on the first day of a holiday weekend that never used to be about college football.

4. R.J. Shelton looked good as a punt returner. But he got a little dinged up and had to come out of the game. Dantonio said it was a minor injury and he’ll be fine. I took to that to mean that he will be back for the Notre Dame game.

And I like Shelton as a punt returner. But can MSU afford to put him in harm’s way on special teams? I think so. MSU needs the open-field threat in the punt return game, something the Spartans haven’t had since 2013 when Macgarrett Kings was a sophomore.

5. The fullbacks. Prescott Line was a hammerhead basher as a lead blocker. And he had a carry on second-and-one on a FB dive on the opening drive of the night. That guy looks like a veteran of the program.

Delton Williams is second-string fullback. And he’s got something to offer, too.

Most of us have been writing about him as a potential mismatch player as a fullback (an idea that really doesn’t apply to today’s football. Back in the old days of two-back offenses, a team could isolate a fast fullback on a big, unsuspecting Sam linebacker for a downfield pass play, once or twice a month).

(But big Sam linebackers don’t exist anymore. They became extinct when defenses had to start chasing these spread offenses around the field. So the idea of a mismatch fullback doesn’t quite exist anymore because all three linebackers are faster than they used to be. In fact, fullbacks don’t exist much anymore - although Michigan State still keeps one or two in captivity, kind of like zoo animals, so that local school children can come to the football building on field trips to make sketches of them.

Aside from those educational outreach programs, the fullbacks in East Lansing still find function as blockers in old style run plays invented in the 1800s at the end of the industrial revolution. Many of those plays still work today, partly because defenses no longer carry antibiotics to combat this particular strain of football. That’s partly why Stanford keeps ending up in the Rose Bowl, like an annual flu virus.

Anyway, Delton Williams accepts his new role as a fullback, and seems to like it. He’s not quite big enough to be a thumping fullback, but they say he is willing.

What I like about Williams is how fast he gets out to his targets and landmarks as a blocker. This has the potential to be truly revolutionary.

There was a play in the first half when tailback Madre London carried to the left on an outside zone play. Left guard Benny McGowan performed a front-side pull and blocked the play-side linebacker.

Williams, at fullback, had a free release out to the play-side cornerback. Williams sprinted out to the cornerback faster than any fullback I can remember. He didn’t destroy the cornerback, but he got out on him so quickly that it knocked the cornerback off-kilter and out of the picture.

London was brought down by a desperate ankle tackle from the middle linebacker. If the middle linebacker doesn’t make that shoe-string tackle, London probably would have went 49 yards for a touchdown and I’d be praising that block by Williams - not because he thumped the cornerback, but because he stalked him with uncommon speed for the blocking back position.

That play only went for a gain of two, but the speed of Williams at fullback is something that play-design Picaso Jim Bollman can make use of in his 19th-century run game art studio.

6. There were no dropped passes.

7. O’Connor dialed in on the tight ends in the red zone. Good choices.

8. Malik McDowell was occasionally dominant.

9. Byron Bullough came off the bench for a big stop on third down. A few plays earlier,Riley Bullough, Chris Frey and defensive tackles had trouble reading, diagnosing and fitting some of the surprise looks they were getting from Furman.

Byron came in and made an aggressive, smart stick, presumably while Riley was getting some instruction form his cornermen.

10. Darian Hicks got picked on, and picked on, and picked on, and was called for a pair of pass interference penalties … but did he give up any receptions? Not that I can think of.

As for the pass interference penalties, his hip-turn, feet and burst put him in position to make those plays, but he didn’t seem to trust himself enough to turn and look in time.

The cornerbacks aren’t supposed to turn and look until and unless that have caught up, hip-to-hip, with the receiver. So he might not have been entirely wrong in failing to turn and look.

On one of those pass interference penalties, the pass was under-thrown. If the ball had been thrown accurately, he would have been in position to rake the ball out as the receiver’s hands lit up, although that’s not an ideal situation for a cornerback.

There seems to be a bit of a panic and lack of confidence with Hicks in how he plays these receivers. He needs to get over that and realize that his feet and hips are pretty good. This won’t be the last opponent that tests him and tests him and tests him.

But, correct me if I’m wrong, he passed those tests on this night. And he went against some fairly decent receivers.

The pass interference penalties were costly, but even the great Pat Narduzzi used to say that he would like the cornerbacks to get a pass interference play once in a while, because that indicates a combative level of play. Well, Hicks provided those on this night. And Hicks used to be a Narduzzi guy, back in 2013 when Hicks saw regular time in the nickel defense for Narduzzi as a true freshman.

Meanwhile, count Hicks among those who needs to show marked improvement between game one and game two. We’ve been saying that about Hicks for three or four years. Injuries have been an issue in the past. But he’s healthy now, and he’s going to get tested at Notre Dame like crazy.

11. Dowell’s interception. He had some unsure moments at other times in the game. But the interception was a special play, right when MSU needed it most.

12. Demetrious Cox. He was outstanding at safety. His pursuit angles were correct, and he carried them out with speed and force. In pass defense, he helped tighten up MSU’s red zone defense with his ability to play press coverage on slot receivers. MSU saves its across-the-board press coverage for when the field shrinks. And when it does, Cox is a trump card extraordinaire as a third corner. His pass break-up against their top receiver,Andrej Suttles, in the third quarter was badness.

Cox is becoming an eraser, against the run and the pass. He’s going to have a big season.

13. Punter Jake Hartbarger was a weapon.

14. The one or two times I focused in on right tackle Miguel Machado, he was moving and smashing like a mother jumper. I think he’s got it now. But I need to watch it again.

15. How cool is Benny McGowan? He’s a senior and he doesn’t mind being the sixth man of the offensive line. He spent the first series on the bench, played right guard (in for Clemons) on the second series, played center (in for Kodi Kieler) on the third series, and played left guard (in for Brian Allen) on the fourth series.

So, four possessions into the game, all four of those guys had played equally. McGowan’s versatility makes him an asset that should serve all four players, and all three positions, all year.

16. L.J. Scott’s decisiveness as a runner was good. His make-you-miss ability seems to have improved, possibly due to losing 10 or 12 pounds.



L.J. Scott was tough, quick, decisive.

As for the negatives:

1. O’Connor forced a pass intended for Felton Davis, into double- or triple-coverage on one occasion. But I was left wondering whether Davis might have taken his route too far downfield. Still, O’Connor had other check down options that I suspect he will wish he had gone to when he watches it on film.

2. In the final episode of BTN’s “Green and White Days,” Dantonio told the players after the final scrimmage of August camp that there were too many penalties on that day, and there were too many passes thrown down the middle of the field, dangerously.

And then in this game against Furman there were … too many penalties and one or two too many passes thrown dangerously down the middle of the field.

Obviously, that stuff needs to get cleaned up if MSU wants to make a run at a sixth 11-win season in seven years.

3. The d-line didn’t provide a pass rush. I’ll need to watch again and zero in on what was happening up front. It’s not like Furman’s QB was operating a quick-release passing game that didn’t give d-linemen a chance to get home. Their QB was throwing from the pocket and didn’t get affected nearly enough.

4. There were some gap assignment errors on some of those gainers that Furman enjoyed on inside run plays.

For instance, Furman gained 11 yards on the first play of their second possession when McDowell vacated his weak-side A-gap. He saw the blocking back and the ball carrier headed toward the B-gap. McDowell vacated his assignment and tried to jump a gap and head off the ball carrier.

The problem for McDowell and MSU is that the Furman RB detected the daylight at McDowell’s unmanned gap, cut in that direction and ran through the unmanned gap and sprinted north for a gain of 11.

That will be an easy film room correction. And the next time you hear Dantonio or Spartans talk about the occasional run game problems against Furman, they’ll say that players need to do their job and trust that their teammates will do theirs. It’s a cliché, but that phraseology is layman’s terms for the need to be gap sound.

5. The penalties and turnovers, obviously.

6. Michael Geiger missed a field goal. He ranked 14th in the Big Ten in field goal accuracy last year. He was 1-of-2 on this night. That’s not a good start.

One final takeaway:

Players spend hours and hours and hours and hours watching opponent game film in order to get prepared for what they’ll see on game day. If they really, really, really watch film and get to know the tendencies, it gives them the half-step edge they need to try to make plays, limit gains and prevent the chains from moving.

So what would happen if defensive players didn’t watch film?

The answer? You saw it on Friday night.

Michigan State’s players watched a lot of film. But the film they watched wasn’t the same outfit that they played against. Furman changed most of its offense for this game.

An offense can’t change all that much DURING a season. Teams spend all spring and August putting in an offense and working to become proficient at it. An offense can’t burn time on TOO MANY plays and packages and formations. An offense has to choose its material and attempt to master it. A team can add packages and plays to its base offense as a season progresses. But a team can't overhaul its offense at midseason the way Furman did this off-season.

For the rest of the year, Furman’s opponents will have this film of its game against MSU. Furman will no longer be able to surprise opponents.

But Furman surprised MSU. Much of what MSU saw on film and practiced against turned out to be a waste of time.

“We weren’t expecting, to be honest, any of that stuff that they threw at us,” Riley Bullough said.

Furman put in the new offense during spring practice and August camp.

“They changed their plan from last year,” Dantonio said. “They had a fullback-oriented team (last year). They ran some three wide receiver sets, but it was a different type of offense, completely from what they did this year. Pistol, dive, the run pass-options, RPO's, the option itself in the second half.”

They didn’t show the speed option stuff until after halftime, in order to limit MSU’s ability to meet and talk about it.

In the manly art of tackle football, the first 60 minutes of surprise-element offense are the best. Furman coach Bruce Fowler’s tactics were straight out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Football, if such book were ever published.

Fowler determined when and where he would implement his art of deception. Those are Tsu’s teachings to a T.

As a result, Fowler’s college of 2,000 students nearly repelled Dantonio’s college of 40,000.

And somehow we all went home unsatisfied.

We probably should have stood and applauded. That’s one difference between football and opera. At opera, we don’t care who loses or looks ugly.

The disapproving man with the folded arms and new glasses warned us something like this was possible. Dantonio told us that when a venerable coach such as Fowler (who used to be d-coordinator at Vanderbilt) has been head coach at a place for six years, there’s reason for caution. Dantonio figured Fowler would have a sharp plan.

“They hung around,” Dantonio said of Furman. “And they hung around because they played well, not because of a fluke.”

MSU has 25 more scholarship players than Furman, and much more recruiting pull. But Furman found equalizers, first with the surprise offense. Michigan State was a willing stooge, with its penalties and a pair of turnovers.

In the end, Michigan State scored twice as many points.

Could Michigan State have spent spring practice and August camp devising surprises for Furman. Yes. But there are only so many practices, only so much meeting time. A team can’t have EVERYTHING in its playbook. A team must pick and choose its battles and mind its resources.

Michigan State’s mode of operation on offense and defense has been very successful in the past nine years. There is no need for overhauls and facelifts at Michigan State. But there are annual tweaks and improvements. Michigan State won’t begin to show some of them, until 14 days from now, at Notre Dame.

“You are never going to show everything the first game I guess, but you better be ready for the second game,” Dantonio said. “We need to be able to get better. Hopefully the second game usually you are little bit more loose, a little bit more experienced but again a great challenge awaits us in South Bend but we've got time.”

The 3, 2, 1 on MSU Football
Jim Comparoni | Editor



EAST LANSING | Three things we learned during this week’s press briefing, two questions, and one prediction:

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:

1. Saturday’s game against Furman, according to Mark Dantonio, marked the first time a Dantonio-coached team had prevented an opponent from having a running play of more than 15 yards and a pass play of more than 20 yards.

This has been an item on Dantonio’s team’s goal chart, at Michigan State and the University of Cincinnati, for 13 years. But Saturday’s 28-13 victory over Furman in the season opener represented the first time his team achieved it.

“Defensively, I thought we played solid against the run,” Dantonio said. “But we have 60 yards worth of penalties, that gives them first downs on a number of occasions, keeps drives alive.”

* Furman’s longest run from scrimmage was a 14-yard burst on an H-wham trap, on the second play of the Paladins’ third possession. The trap action drew an unsuspecting Malik McDowell upfield and into the backfield, and then clubbed him upside the head with a de-cleating block by the H-back, who was cruising parallel to the line of scrimmage, waiting for the aggressive McDowell to bite upfield.

“It was an influence trap,” Dantonio said.

It influenced him, all right. McDowell was so angry about getting de-cleated that he made like Jefferson, from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” He ransacked the center on the next play, and chased down the tailback for a 6-yard loss.

Furman tried the H-back wham trap on McDowell again on a third-and-four in the third quarter, with McDowell playing d-end in the nickel defense. But it didn't have quite the same effect. Montae Nicholson and Vayante Copeland were playing closer to the box on that play as part of a sudden switch to a cover-one. They wrapped up the running back with a stiff, immediate sure tackle after a gain of 2.

That was the only play all night in which SpartanMag detected MSU playing cover-one (single safety deep, man-to-man underneath).

Furman tried to wham-trap Raequan Williams a couple of times as well, but never managed to bait him upfield like they did that one time with McDowell.

* Furman had a pair of pass plays go for 16-yard gainers, including a double-pass trick play.

Furman’s quarterback was 15 of 30 for 123 yards on the night. That’s an average of just 4.1 yards per pass attempt. That figure would lead the nation in yards allowed per pass attempt every year, if a defense could maintain it over 12 games.

Michigan State’s “No Fly Zone” pass defense of 2013 led the Big Ten in yards allowed per pass attempt at 5.2.

Michigan State tackled well in the secondary against Furman. Demetrious Cox led the Spartan defensive backs in tackles with seven.

A Williams late hit personal foul turned a fourth-and-seven situation for Furman into a first-and-10 at the Spartan 42-yard line on Furman’s opening drive of the second half.

That was Michigan State’s most costly defensive penalty of the night and played a role in the Spartans possessing the ball for only six snaps in the third quarter.

Michigan State was penalized for 120 yards on the night.

“That's a lot of yards, especially at inopportune times for us, and really told the story of the game,” Dantonio said. “The penalties and the turnovers really makes the game a little closer than maybe we wanted it.”




* Furman looked to go deep on at least three occasions. Cornerback Darian Hicks broke up one, on a deep post. He was flagged for pass interference on another.

And Cox was flagged for holding on a deep pass ploy behind max protection. Cox’s hold in the secondary led to a Chris Frey coverage sack, which was overturned by the flag.

2. Darian Hicks “graded out a winner” in Michigan State’s internal grading system.

This might come as a surprise to cynical Spartan fans, who saw Furman target the Michigan State senior cornerback six times when he was in press zone quarters coverage.

But the stat sheet shows that those passes resulted in four incompletions and two pass interference penalties.

Furman completed one pass in Hicks’ area. That came vs. cover-three zone, which required a deep drop by Hicks and a soft cushion, behind a Spartan blitz. That completion wasn’t a negative against Hicks. He was playing the assigned structure for that play.

Hicks showed a quick hip turn and pretty good burst in sticking with Furman’s All-Southland Conference WR Andrej Suttles, when in press/quarters, which becomes man-to-man on deep vertical routes and some post routes.

Hicks’ feet put him in position to defend the deep passes and red zone fades, however Hicks seemed to panic a bit and resort to hand battles a little too early, rather than feeling comfortable and confident about locating the ball.

Furman saw Hicks struggle on film at times last year, including the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa.

“Yeah, I think they did go after him a little bit,” Dantonio said. “I thought he played very well. I thought he covered. Numerous pass breakups.

“Two very questionable interference calls; I'm not saying they're right, I'm not saying they're wrong. They're close. They're bang-bang calls. And he's playing the ball as best as you can play it.

“This is a game of inches, in so many respects. I've said that over the years and you see it every single weekend. I think that was one of the times, incidents, that we're talking about.”

Hicks recognized that Furman was targeting him midway through the game, and waved his hands in excitement to embrace the challenge.

Michigan State is looking for Hicks to have a strong season, after battling through three ailments a year ago, and losing his starting job as a true sophomore in 2014.

“I thought he played well, and he's going to have that every week, with our corners, the way we play,” Dantonio said.

3. Michigan State will use the bye week to continue to evaluate its true freshmen.

Michigan State played two true freshmen on Friday - WR Donnie Corley and DT Mike Panasiuk.

Other d-linemen, including defensive ends Josh King and Auston Robertson, have been considered for rookie playing time. But Dantonio wants to wait and watch those players a bit more, and other freshmen, before burning their redshirts.

“This week is an advantage, when you look at our young players and trying to get them extra reps and seeing if we can bring them forward, bring them along,” Dantonio said. “I think we want to see where the young players are.

“We have an outstanding group of freshmen. But I don't want to just play them and put them on the field and take away the redshirt. I want to legitimatize if we do redshirt.”

Phantom injuries are a means of preserving redshirt status for freshmen who see game action in two or three games prior to the midway point of the season.

“I don't want to say he got hurt and he didn't really get hurt,” Dantonio said.

“Their time is coming,” Dantonio sadder. “We’ll play the freshmen when they're ready to play. This will be a big week for them. We'll have an opportunity to look at them more fully.

“Players need to be functional. And functionality is relative to who else is in your program, too.”

Dantonio cited Michigan State’s depth at cornerback, where the Spartans have Copeland, Hicks and Tyson Smith - each of whom played against Furman. The Spartans also have David Dowell, Kaleel Gaines and Josh Butler in the three-deep at cornerback. This means true freshman Austin Andrews isn’t likely to burn a redshirt, although he might have had a chance to play early at a program with a weaker foundation.

“Austin, who is going to be a very, very good player for us, he's redshirted,” Dantonio said. “Same with probably maybe D.J. Vance. Kenney Lyke, maybe not so much. But those are just examples. If you're deep in a certain position and you have people that are functional that play, such as maybe a corner, (a redshirt is more likely).

“Other opportunities would be for players if there is not as much depth at that position. But we have a good football team. We have a foundation of players that are as deep as maybe we've ever been. So putting together the 70-player travel team is going to get very, very tight in terms of who goes and who doesn't go. We've not had a lot of a transition. As of late we've had a couple of guys leaving. They're leaving as a result of the situation itself. Let's just be straight up.”

He was most likely talking about defensive tackles Enoch Smith and Cassius Peat, who announced plans to transfer during August camp. Neither was likely to crack the three-deep, get into the playing group or travel this fall.

“We want to play (freshmen) and get them reps if they're going to continue to play throughout the season,” Dantonio said. “We have a couple of guys that that may be the case.

“We didn't want to play those guys (King, Robertson and DT Naquan Jones) without fully playing them a lot of plays.

“On our defensive line, I thought (graduate senior) Kevin Williams did I a nice job. ObviouslyMalik McDowell played extraordinarily well, great effort. Big guy, rushing the passer, doing all the things that you wanted him to do. But the biggest thing was I thought he played with a lot of effort, and he was our defensive MVP, and had a lot of production, as well. So that was a positive.”

They’ll make use of the bye week, but Dantonio isn’t thrilled about having a bye this early in the season.

“I would rather have it some time in October,” Dantonio said on Sirius Satellite radio last week.

On Tuesday, he grumbled a bit more.

“I think we're the only team in America that plays as a bye the second week of the season, and then plays a Power 5 team that next week,” Dantonio said. “So there's not a lot to compare to that. But we use it as a positive. We'll get some guys healthy. Secondly, our players are really in school for the first time this week. Last week was a chopped up week. So they can get themselves grounded in that respect.

“Third, we can get out and recruit a little bit on the weekend. So that's a positive.

“Fourth thing we have to do is maintain our game conditioning. I thought we were in condition in the game. We have to maintain our game conditioning aspect. So we've got to work this week hard. And there's always risk a little bit with that. We don't go live or anything like that, but you have to work your players as if you had a game from the conditioning standpoint. We're going to work hard doing that throughout the week.

“And it also gives us an opportunity obviously to get ahead a little bit from a film and schematic standpoint on Notre Dame, things tend to change week-to-week with programs and who you play. But it does give us a chance to watch their personnel, what they've done thus far and what they've done last year.”

TWO QUESTIONS:

1. Is Michigan State going to be lacking in the pass rush department this year?

Without Shilique Calhoun, the Spartans have questions in that area for 2016.

Against Furman, the Spartans didn’t put much pressure on Paladins quarterback P.J. Blazejowski.

Michigan State sacked Blazejowski only once, although Dantonio says the stat sheet should officially show two.

Evan Jones was credited with the sack.

Demetrius Cooper was credited with a TFL in the second half, but it wasn’t recorded as a sack because the QB initially fumbled the snap. Dantonio isn’t buying that. He says the QB recovered and looked to pass downfield.

Either way, MSU had trouble getting sustained pressure on Blazejowski.

Furman employed maximum protection on a high percentage of his pocket pass attempts (meaning they kept two or three extra players in to help the five-man offensive line in pass protection).

Furman also caused MSU to play a beat slower than the Spartans might otherwise play, as the Spartans paused to try to make reads on Furman’s revamped, previously unseen offense.

Still, Dantonio would have liked to have seen more horsepower on the pass rush.

“What we have to do is transition better from run to pass, when there is run action and then it's a pass,” Dantonio said. “We've got to be able to transition more.

“We needed to come up with more sacks. We had two. But we need to sack the quarterback more often than that. Good plan by them, keeping us off base. Plus the run-pass options.”

As for Cooper, he looked pretty quick at times. He had five sacks last year as a reserve sophomore. He has the goods to exceed a half dozen this year and maybe pursue Calhoun’s mark of 10.5 from a year ago.

McDowell was credited with one QB hit. He often moved to d-end in the nickel defense. He also played one series of pure defensive end early in the second quarter. But Furman kept it on the ground for gains of 7, 8, 6 and 3 yards, up the middle, when McDowell moved to the outside.

McDowell also flushed the QB out of the pocket on a third-and-eight with 2:40 left in the game as part of the nickel defense. Linebacker Chris Frey chased down the scrambling QB after a gain of 3.




Grad transfer Gabe Sherrod showed some promise in the pass rush department. He showed speed, quickness and good hands, which should serve him well through the course of the season.

On a third-and-16 late in the first quarter, Sherrod was a little late with his take-off, but then used his hands well to defeat the left tackle, and disengage. He was converging on the QB and would have gotten there for a QB hurry if the QB hadn’t grounded it before he arrived.

Later, on a first-and-10 play with MSU leading 14-0, Sherrod replaced Cooper at field DE and looked like a field DE. He took on the double-team of an H-back and a running back, and met them with quick feet, violent hands and some shock when he engaged. He proved worthy of a double-team on that play, as he was still coming, through the max protection, when the QB got rid of it.

Sherrod showed some horsepower.

We’re not here to say MSU’s pass rush is going to be great, or poor, in 2016. But keep the argument open. Table the answer for weeks to come.

2. Will Tyler O’Connor continue to have jitters?

Senior QB Tyler O’Connor acknowledged that there were some jitters throughout the offense at the outset of Friday’s game.

He felt he settled down after some hasty decisions early in the game.

“I thought offensively Tyler O'Conner probably a little nervous initially, but after that start, I thought he played pretty well,” Dantonio said. “Three touchdown passes. I think he threw the ball effectively, threw the ball with velocity, didn't hold back, and played aggressively.”

That begs the question as to whether jitters will follow him on occasions such as his trip to South Bend to take on the Irish later this month. None of us will know until the time comes.

O’Connor said he was surprised by how calm he was when he became the starter for last year’s upset at Ohio State, in a game of much greater magnitude and potential intimidation than last week’s season opener against Furman. But the idea of being THE man at QB this time might have altered his psychological approach a bit.

Dantonio wasn’t pleased with O’Connor’s fumble at the left sideline during MSU’s second possession. O’Connor allowed the ball to pop out of his hands after he was flushed from the pocket and was waiting for RB L.J. Scott to get to the left flat. Scott never went there, and O’Connor almost compounded Scott’s error with a bigger error of his own.

“Got to hold on to the football,” Dantonio said, Tuesday. “Can't have mistakes with the football in our hands at any point in the game and that's No. 1. The ball was on the ground too often.”




ONE PREDICTION:

1. Notre Dame is going to attack Darian Hicks.

That’s not a bold prediction, of course. The real question is whether the Irish will be able to cash in better than Furman.

The last time Michigan State played Notre Dame, the Irish went deep against Michigan State in 2013 more often than any Spartan opponent of the Dantonio era, with the possible exception of Western Michigan in 2013.

The Irish seemed to concede in 2013 that they weren’t going to be able to run the ball against MSU, and were unlikely to drive it, so they hoisted the ball deep and called upon officials to throw flags - which they did. Notre Dame rode several pass interference calls to victory that day.

Michigan State’s ground defense might not be as daunting right now as the Spartans’ 2013 unit, but MSU’s pass defense isn’t nearly as strong, either - with Hicks perceived by some (including Furman) as the apparent weak link.

So Hicks will get tested through the season - especially a week from Saturday in South Bend.

**

Other stuff from Tuesday’s press conference that you probably already know:

* Mark Dantonio said defensive line coach Ron Burton is back with the coaching staff, coaching in practice after missing the Furman game due to “an emergency procedure.”

Dantonio gave no further details on the procedure, which took place Friday morning.

“He's doing well and he's back with us and everything,” Dantionio said. “Sort of an emergency surgery.”

Mark Snyder took over as defensive line coach on Friday night, in addition to his regular duty as linebackers coach. This called for Snyder to come out of the box and coach from the field level.

“He's a long time defensive line coach, as well,” Dantonio said. “I don't think there's any question that affects your staff and affects how you do things.”

* Ed Davis is still awaiting word from the NCAA on his petition for a sixth year of eligibility.

“I would expect to hear something this week,” Dantonio said. “So I would expect that there would be a positive outcome. But, hey, you never know. That's all I can basically say about that. And in the meantime he is able to practice and is going to school and those type of things.”

DANTONIO UNPLUGGED:

* “Andrew Dowell I think had the play of the game on his pick. He flipped it (momentum) the other way immediately. Great pick, big play in the game. Great effort.”

But Dowell was influenced out of position a few times by Furman’s surprise formations and plays.

“Got to know where to go sometimes,” Dantonio said. “And that's coaching and that's also experience because the game changes and you have to adapt. You have to adapt to things you haven't been coached on throughout the week, because they show something different. That's a big part of it.

“But I thought he played very, very well. He played with a lot of effort and I think he was involved in a lot of tackles, a lot of production.

“And Chris Frey, same thing, more experienced, played very well.

“Byron (Bullough) came in there. Byron two big plays, one down at the goal line and one on the third-and-one. It's good to see him as I younger player to get involved in that capacity. He played well.”

* “I thought Prescott Line played very, very well in the game. He's a football player. And (Delton) Williams was playing. We're deep in the fullback position. That will be a positive. That will be useful in the future here. And I could see using him (Williams) as the tailback.”

* “LJ Scott I thought he had a great football game.”

“I think that most pleased with how we ran the ball and continued to recollect ourselves on both sides of the ball when things didn't go quite well. We just sort of maintain a workmanlike approach to it.”

* “I thought our sideline needed to be a little bit more emotional than maybe it was.”

Offensive Notebook: Warner provides the latest
Jim Comparoni | Editor



EAST LANSING | Spartan fans are less than two days away from the opener of the 2016 football season, and the debut of a new-look offensive backfield.

When No. 12-ranked Michigan State plays host to Furman on Friday (7:04 p.m., BTN), the Spartans will trot out a new starting quarterback, two new options at fullback, and the expectation of new-and-improved talent at tailback.

Senior Tyler O’Connor has been a lightning rod for attention and anticipation, heading into the season. The tri-captain started last year’s monumental victory at Ohio State, but this is the first time he has handled first-string duties for the long term.

Many are expecting a blowout of Furman, and the likelihood of back-ups Damion Terry andBrian Lewerke getting some time at quarterback.

But coaches indicate that there are no plans to schedule early-game work for Terry or Lewerke.

“I think he (O’Connor) is our guy and we’re going to go with him,” co-offensive coordinatorDave Warner said on Wednesday at the Skandalaris Center. “Like every position, you’d like to give other guys the opportunity, but at the quarterback position, he’s going to be in there for the long haul until we feel like we can get somebody else in.”

“He's had a great camp,” head coach Mark Dantonio said of O’Connor on Tuesday. “Nobody's dislodged him. He's thrown the ball very effectively with knowing where to go with the ball and I think his arm strength is very, very good. He's got the ability to move and he understands our offense very, very well. Scale of one to 10, probably 10.

“I think everything is in order for him. My message to him is: Be yourself, understand there's going to be criticism. If you make a mistake, go at it 100 percent and bounce back from it.

“It's tough being a quarterback at any level, especially at this level in football, because you get a lot of criticism. Much of it, from people that don't understand the nuances of what he's going through.

“So he's got to roll with it a little bit, but he'll be fine. He's a competitor and he's prepared himself for this moment and he's got a great supporting cast around him.”


DON’T SLEEP ON LONDON
At tailback, coaches hoped and expected to have one of the three top backs from a year ago emerge as the feature back in time for the 2016 season. Now, it appears that those auditions will carry into the season, with none of the three having an upper hand on the others.

L.J. Scott (699 yards last year), Madre London (500) and Gerald Holmes (540) were all listed as sharing first-string status on the official depth chart that was released to media on Tuesday.

"It is unique,” Warner said. “It's probably more unique here than many places because there's so much talent. So we'll see how it works out come Friday night, but I think all those guys obviously will get their opportunities. I expect all three to play and perform very, very well, as they have done in the past.

“It’s just a natural deal for those guys to get better as their confidence grows, and I think that’s happened.”




Madre London started the first six games of 2015 for Michigan State.

Coaches still prefer to eventually settle on one feature back, with a second back getting a smaller percentage of carries.

London started last year’s opener against Western Michigan. He lost the starting job midway through the season after sustaining a knee injury against Rutgers.

London was back in the mix by the end of the year. He started the second half of the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa, but Scott finished it, with the title-clinching TD run in the final minute.

Scott has been regarded as the favorite to win the job this year. But London has held firm in the competition.

“He has gained a little bit more speed and quickness, to a certain extent,” Warner said of London, who is close to 12 pounds lighter than in 2015. “It’s not anything he planned to do. It just sort of happened. But he has always been a guy that has great change-of-direction and elusiveness and I think that may have enhanced that also.”

TRANSFER OF TALENT
SMU transfer Prescott Line (6-0, 253, Sr., Oxford) has impressed during August camp at fullback.

Line had 774 career rushing yards at SMU, but saw his role diminish as the Mustangs adopted a spread offense. He wanted to come back to his home state for a chance to play in an offense that utilized a conventional fullback.

The graduation of three-year starter Trevon Pendleton provided an opportunity for Line. Line has prospered as hammerhead blocking back in August.

“He is a guy that really will shock you in our blocking scheme, iso blocking and power blocking and so forth,” Warner said. “He provides probably more shock than we’ve had at that position in a few years. So he’s able to move people. And he’s got some decent running ability too.

“So he’s a guy that we’re excited to see out there because he could give us a little more power than we’ve had at that position.”




Prescott Line brings size, physicality and some versatility to the fullback position.

Former tailback Delton Williams (6-1, 228, Sr., Erie, Pa.) is competing for time at fullback as well.

Williams and Line were listed as co-starters on Tuesday’s depth chart.

Williams has 610 career rushing yards at Michigan State, and moved to fullback in the spring.

“His running ability, his pass catching ability provides something for us,” Warner said. “We’ve had good fullbacks, but I think Delton maybe raises the bar a little bit there. So he’ll be able to do that.

“We’re anxious to find out how he’s going to be as a blocker. He has shown to be pretty good. But we’ll find out come game time.”


WARNER UNPLUGGED ...
* Warner and other Spartans have been high on WR Monty Madaris this week. The fifth-year senior is likely to make his first career start on Friday.

“He's ready for a breakout year,” Warner said. “We've had high expectations for him all along. He had a very good spring, and he's had a good camp. His problem in the past has just been staying healthy.

"He's been here in the program for a few years now and really knows all of our receiver positions, which really makes him more valuable. All of a sudden now, if someone needs a break or gets hurt or whatever, he can move to a different position and get the next-best guy on the field for us.”

* Madaris’ ability to play all three WR positions in the offense sets him apart from the other Spartan receivers in that regard.

"He's probably the best at it right now,” Warner said. “I will say this, all of those receivers can to some degree play more than one position, even our freshmen to a certain degree, which is impressive. That has not been the case around here. Most of the time, a guy that had to play right away usually stuck at one spot - Keshawn Martin, guys like that, they pretty much just played one position. These freshmen, they have the ability to jump around. We're trying to keep them at one spot right now to keep them coming along and learning."

* Warner on the offensive line: “I think we know who those six guys are and those six guys will all play.”

Those six are David Beedle, Brian Allen, Kodi Kieler, Brandon Clemons, Benny McGowan andMiguel Machado.

Clemons or McGowan are still competing at right guard. McGowan is comfortable with the idea of coming off the bench and potentially subbing in at any of the three interior positions.

Beedle, Clemons and Machado would be first-year starters. Clemons became a regular in the playing group in the last month of last season. Machado was in the playing group in the early part of the season.

“You’ve got some linemen stepping in there, obviously a new quarterback, so there are a lot of new guys that have waited their turn, paid the price and I think they’re anxious to get out there and show people what they’re capable of,” Warner said. “(On the offensive line) I think it’s a matter of finding out who the seventh guy is, who the eighth guy is to keep working guys in.”

* On Furman safety Trey Robinson (6-1, 212, Sr.), who was named preseason All-Southern Conference by the league’s coaches:

“He’s all over the field,” Warner said. “First and foremost, he is excellent against the run. He’s a big dude. He’ll come up and hit you. But he is very good in the pass game, for his size. He moves around well in the back end. So we’re going to have to know where he’s at.”

Robinson had 10 tackles in a 16-15 win over Central Florida last year.

Furman went 4-7 last year.

* On Furman’s style of play, defensively:

“They are very similar to us as far as a four-down scheme. They play a robber coverage similar to us. That’s what we’re expecting. We’ve been able to carry through with what we do against our own guys and formulate our game that way. So that’s been a benefit. But the first game, you never know for sure until you get out there and see exactly what they’re doing.”

Edit

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New captain O'Connor has learned from MSU's cradle of quarterbacks
Jim Comparoni | Editor



EAST LANSING | Tyler O’Connor, on Thursday, became the first Spartan quarterback to be named captain since Andrew Maxwell in 2012.

Connor Cook, who set every major passing record in school history as a three-year starter from 2013-15, was scrutinized last year for not being named captain, a negative distinction that some believe hurt his draft stock. O'Connor was asked if he is relieved that he will be free of that scrutiny.

“I kind of assumed I would get a question similar to that but I’m my own person," O'Connor said. "I’m out there to be a quarterback my special way and to lead my own way. How he chose to lead, I learned a lot from Connor. I learned a lot by how he led teams and how guys respond to him. I’ll take that and run with it for this year."

After being named officially the starting quarterback on Monday for next week’s season opener against Furman, O’Connor received messages of congratulations and encouragement from Maxwell, Cook, Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer and others.

“When I first got here, Kirk Cousins had just graduated and he was a three-time captain, and that (being a three-time captain) was my first goal,” O’Connor said. “Obviously that didn’t happen but I still took it upon myself to try to be a significant leader in this program, and finally getting a chance to play has a lot to do with it (being named captain), but joining the cradle of captains that they have here is phenomenal. They’re great on the field, they’re great off the field and they are faces that you put with each senior class, so it’s an honor.”

O’Connor served as Cook’s back-up in 2014 and ’15. He stepped in when Cook went down with a shoulder injury and helped lead, along with reserve QB Damion Terry, last year’s upset at Ohio State, fueling a run to the Big Ten Championship and a berth in the 2015 College Football Playoff.

O’Connor has tried to take steps toward becoming a leader, even while serving as a back-up for his first four years on campus.

“To me, it’s very important that a quarterback is a leader,” O’Connor said. “That’s something that I really have taken to heart, literally since January first, since the day after the Cotton Bowl. Now being the oldest guy in the room, and having the potential to be a starter, it was very important to me to be respected as a leader, on the field and off the field. It’s hard to lead from the back.”

Teammates recognized his strong personality, even before he won the starting job.

“Tyler O’Connor could be a wide receiver right now and because of his personality and leadership ability, he would still be a captain,” said senior safety Demetrious Cox, who was also named tri-captain on Thursday.

“I feel like he (O’Connor) was a shoo-in to be a captain,” said senior linebacker Riley Bullough, who was also named tri-captain. “I feel like a lot of people thought that, so it’s well-deserved. Tremendous leader, tremendous quarterback and awesome person.”

O’Connor played in six games last year, completed 13 of 24 passes for 133 yards.




Tyler O'Connor helped lead last year's upset at Ohio State with sound decision-making and occasional running ability.

The three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection was 7 of 12 for 89 yards and one touchdown in the victory over Ohio State in cold, rainy, windy conditions. He carried the ball eight times for 25 yards.

Coaches and teammates say he has settled in to becoming a dangerous, well-rounded quarterback.

“You just see his confidence grow, day-by-day, since the spring,” Bullough said of O’Connor. “Since he really kind of took over, he has done a great job. I’m sure a lot of people are eager to see how he is going to play for us next week against Furman and I think he’s going to shock some people and do a really great job. He’s an exciting player to watch.”

O’Connor competed with Cook and Maxwell for the starting job, early in the 2013 season. O’Connor was a freshman at the time. He went 9-of-14 for 90 yards in three games that year but fell short of the more experienced Cook and Maxwell.

Maxwell lost the starting job by October, but did so with grace. O’Connor noticed.

“I’ve learned a lot from both situations,” O’Connor said. “Maxwell had his time and everything like that, but he was all about the team. That was the greatest thing about him - whatever the team needed, whatever the team wanted, he was all about it.

“If that situation were to come about for me, I’d do the same exact thing because to me it’s always been about the team. This team and the program is 10 times bigger than any of us will ever be.”

In looking back at the victory at Ohio State, O’Connor said he was surprised how slow the game seemed for him. He made decisions with ease.

“I have very high confidence in myself, and our coaches do a great job of getting us in any random situation that we might get in,” O’Connor said. “I truthfully would put my knowledge of the game of football against any other quarterback in the country at this point. I haven’t played as much as anybody but I feel like I’ve been taught and I know as much x’s and o’s - defenses, blitzes, situational - as anybody else in the country. I’m not naive to think that there isn’t plenty more to learn, because you’re learning each and every day as a quarterback. Even Peyton Manning says he is learning each and every day. So I continue to learn every day, whether it’s going over the same concepts that we’ve had for four years.”

For his career, he is 34 of 54 (.630) for 374 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions in 14 games.

“I know this offense and I’ve been enough situations that the game should really be slow for me now,” O’Connor said. “And I have been able to get to that level, identifying blitzes and coverages before the snap, and understanding what the defense is giving me at pre-snap and not figuring it out necessarily as the play goes.

“The Ohio State game was very important to me and to Damion to have the respect and the confidence in our teammates, and that’s what pushed us that night. You can always look back at that night and realize that we went against something like seven draft picks that night, a fantastic defense statistically and athletically. But we had a mindset that night that we were going to do whatever we could to win, whether it was a pretty win or an ugly win, and do what we could as an offense to help us win.

“It gave us a great confidence boost, going against such a great team in such a tough atmosphere. It allows us to think back that anything is possible, regardless of the situation no matter who we’re playing.

“We’re such a team here that no matter who is under center and who is at wide out, we’re going to make things happen and have each other’s backs. We’re such a unit here, we’re such a family, that’s it’s never a one-person show and it’s always the next man up. Coach D creates such depth and puts young guys in such tough situations that makes those situations easier.”

More coverage to come.

This is the first piece:

Cox, Bullough, O'Connor named captains
Jim Comparoni | Editor


Demetrious Cox, Riley Bullough and Tyler O'Connor came in as recruits in 2012 and will now be captains of the 2016 Michigan State Spartans.

EAST LANSING | Michigan State’s three new captains include a player who has waited four years for a chance to be a starter, a player who seems to be steadily transforming into a superstar, and a legacy name who has prepared his entire life for this moment.

Quarterback Tyler O’Connor, safety Demetrious Cox and middle linebacker Riley Bullough were named captains after practice on Thursday as the camp portion of the preseason concluded.

The three players came in together as part of the 2012 recruiting class, and will lead this year as fifth-year seniors.

O’Connor (6-3, 228, Lima, Ohio) was named the starting quarterback, officially, by head coach Mark Dantonio on Monday. Being named captain three days later closes out a memorable week for him, but more memories are set to come.

“I had hoped that it was coming all along and I had felt the respect from the teammates and everything but it’s awesome to actually hear Coach D say it and to know that you have the respect and the votes from your teammates and that they chose me to be one of their leaders,” O’Connor said.

Cox (6-1, 197, Jeannette, Pa.) was the highest-ranked player and biggest-name member of the 2012 recruiting class. After redshirting in 2012, he made as slow, steady climb into the playing group, and then the starting lineup in 2015, resulting in being named third-team All-Big Ten a year ago. Now, Cox is poised for further breakout performances in 2016.

“The past couple of years, I feel like being vocal and picking people up around me has been my goal and I think that’s where this has come from,” Cox said.

Bullough (6-2, 227, Traverse City) was second-team All-Big Ten in 2015 and was regarded by most observers as a lock for captaincy since Jan. 1. He becomes the third member of his family to be named captain at Michigan State. His father, Shane, was captain in 1986 and his brother, Max, was captain in 2013.

“I was extremely excited (to be named captain),” Bullough said. “We have a ton of great leaders on this team and a ton of great people and to be voted one of the three that represents us means a lot.”

The Spartans were released following practice for a three days off. They will begin game-week preparation on Sunday for the season opener against Furman a week from Friday.

“Oh man, I can’t wait,” Bullough said. “I can’t wait. When you’re in camp, you’re kind of in a bubble and you don’t leave. But now that we’re out, we’re on campus, we’re in the stadium a little bit, so all of us are extremely excited.”

Stay tuned to SpartanMag.com for video and more content on today's captain selections.

A summary from Dantonio's press briefing, from earlier today (in case you didn't watch the video):


Camp Update: What's New & What's Next
Jim Comparoni | Editor


Tyler O'Connor put the final clamps on the starting QB job during Saturday's scrimmage.

EAST LANSING | Michigan State’s preseason training camp enters week three with precious few competitions taking place for first-string jobs.

The real competitions, Mark Dantonio said on Monday, are in the supporting roles. This includes true freshman wide receivers jockeying for position in the rotation, new defensive linemen earning roles, a sixth-year linebacker awaiting a new opportunity, and competition behind the newly-minted starting QB, Tyler O’Connor.

“Where the competition ends up is who’s our twos?” Dantonio said. “We have so many threes and twos that are very, very similar and that’s where we have our depth. That’s where you see the depth of the football team, in the next level of players.”

That competition should soon include Ed Davis, a former honorable mention All-Big Ten linebacker who is petitioning for a sixth year of eligibility. Davis finished a class during summer semester which makes him capable of petitioning for the sixth year. He missed last year with a knee injury.

“Ed’s grade was posted today so now we just have to run it through the process of the NCAA,” Dantonio said.

Dantonio said last week he hoped the NCAA would reach a decision fairly quickly.

If Davis is granted a sixth year of eligibility. he will compete with Jon Reschke and Chris Frey for a role at Sam linebacker. Davis could conceivably become a big factor on third downs as an edge pass rusher, which was his first full-time role with the team during the Rose Bowl season of 2013.

In 2014, Davis led Michigan State in production points and ranked third in tackles for loss (12) and sacks (seven).

“We have to remember that Ed did not participate in spring drills so he has to get comfortable with his knee again and acclimate himself back to football at this level. He hasn’t played in awhile so it’s going to take a couple of weeks to get him squared away. He’s healthy to play.”

Dantonio said Nebraska graduate transfer Kevin Williams is now included as a semi-starter at defensive tackle.

“I think Kevin Williams has made a move a little bit,” Dantonio said. “It depends on where we want to play Malik (McDowell), so I would say he (Williams) is somewhat of a co-starter. Evan Jones is sort of a co-starter (at boundary defensive end). So those five guys. (Gabe) Sherrod has made some headway as well.”

Sherrod is a graduate transfer defense end from Delaware State.

Jones is a fifth-year senior who has yet to start a game as a Spartan. His starting status seems to be the most tenuous of anyone in the current first 11 on defense.

McDowell, an All-America candidate at defensive tackle, will swing out to defensive end at times this season. When he plays d-end, he replaces Jones. When McDowell moves to d-end, Kevin Williams is the first choice to move into the front four.

Meanwhile, Sherrod is pushing Jones for the starting boundary DE job.

Other than Williams’ push into the “starting five” up front, there hasn’t been much movement in the starting 22 on either side of the ball.

“Offensive line gets moved in and out a little bit with the seven guys,” Dantonio said.

He said the situation at RB, QB, TE has remained unchanged.

“The linebacker situation is pretty status quo and the secondary is pretty status quo, so we’re pretty set,” Dantonio said.

Why O'Connor? Who's Next?
O’Connor has held the No. 1 spot at quarterback since the outset of spring practice. Dantonio held off on officially naming O’Connor the starting QB until Monday.

“I think Tyler O’Connor is our quarterback right now,” Dantonio conceded.

Dantonio has tried to protect O’Connor from some of the off-season pressures that come with being the starting QB. But that protection ended today.

“He’s the number one guy,” Dantonio said. “He’s had a good enough camp to say that right now. I can say right now he will start week one.

“Will the other guys play? Possibly. But he’s our number one guy. I thought he played well (in the scrimmage).”

Junior Damion Terry and redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke are battling for second-string status.

“I think Damion right now, but it remains to be seen,” Dantonio said. “We want to try to figure that one out as we go.”


Which Freshmen Will Play?
As for true freshmen who are competing for playing time in 2016, Dantonio said wide receiver Donnie Corley is still setting the pace.

“Donnie Corley is going to play,” Dantonio said. “The wide receiver position is still a little bit up in the air but we have guys like Cam Chambers, Trishton Jackson and Justin Layne sort of competing to see if they are in the top six. But they’re right there. They’ve had good camps.”

Those three freshmen join senior RJ Shelton, senior Monty Madaris and sophomoreFelton Davis in the top six.

“(Offensive lineman) Thiyo Lukusa may make a push to play here, late (in camp),” Dantonio said. “Later than sooner, but he has ability.”

And true freshman Mike Panasiuk continues to impress at defensive tackle.

“He is right there on the fringe of the two-deep,” Dantonio said of Panasiuk. “Is he a two or is he a two-and-a-half? But I think he’ll play. He’s had a good summer camp.”


What's Next?
The Spartans will go through a limited scrimmage on Wednesday. Dantonio will announce captains on Thursday and then release the team to their homes for the weekend, prior to next week’s game-week preparation for the Sept. 2 season opener against Furman.

“We’ll scrimmage on Wednesday and that will be an important scrimmage for a number of people in trying to see what they can do,” Dantonio said. “It’ll be very spirited on Thursday when we let ‘em go. But we’ll get them going this week. The scrimmage will be good. There’s a lot to be seen there. You have young plays that have learned the system a little bit better so you’re looking for them to make a move on the depth chart and find out what they can do. But it’s competitive out there, so there’s a lot of things going on.”

Dantonio didn’t provide any further details about last weekend’s scrimmage, or team weaknesses.

When asked about the offensive line, Dantonio said: “I think our offensive line is intact and we’ll be ready to go. A lot of double-talk. How much stuff can I say without saying anything?”

As for second- and third-stringers locked in competitions, Dantonio spoke mostly of cornerbacks.

“You look at Kaleel (Gaines) and Josh Butler and David Dowell,” Dantonio said. “Those three guys, you could just lump them together. I mean they’re good players.

“Tyson Smith, is he a two or is he a one? So you’ve got six guys with Darian Hicks andVayante (Copeland) there (at cornerback) that are playing good football. So that’s a positive for us. That allows us to do some unique things maybe later on in the process.”


Dantonio Unplugged
* On the Big Ten Network’s first episode of “Green and White Days.”

“Yeah, I saw a little bit of it," Dantonio said.

What did he think?

“I like the guy in charge,” he said with a laugh. “I thought it was very well-done. That’s why we did it. I think they do a great job with it, directing it and shooting it. It’s quality work.

“It gives a glimpse of what’s going on here without giving away what’s going on here, and I think that was the intent.”

* On former Spartan great Julian Peterson, a 1999 All-American and five-time NFL Pro Bowl selection, recently completing his Michigan State degree.

“I recruited Julian way back and I still keep in touch with his family and everything. It was great to see him (this weekend). He has really completed everything he wanted to do and this was an opportunity for him to finish something. He is a guy that made it and made it big and I’m very proud of him.”

* On last weekend’s scrimmage:

“Another good scrimmage, a very active scrimmage, so that was positive for us. So now we are sort of turning out sights toward our first game and get ourselves ready to go, give our guys a little break on the weekend and then we’ll go from there.

“I don’t get into that countdown mode until we get through this week. We’re four days away from ending camp. We’re still in camp mode, so we’ll keep pushing it. It’s an opportunity to stretch out camp a little bit.”

Edit

This is a good article by Rico Cooney on Matt Sokol. There has been growing buzz within the program about his mismatch potential at tight end. To get on the field as a mismatch threat, however, he's got to be a competent blocker, which I think he'll be. Good stuff from Rico C.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/camp-update-sokol-has-mismatch-potential-as-no-3-tight-end

Here is a quick notebook from Dantonio's practice briefing. We have interviews in a half hours, so we'll have a lot more throughout the day.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/davis-one-step-closer-to-sixth-year

Camp Update: Malik is 'Ready to rock'
Ricardo Cooney | SpartanMag.com



EAST LANSING - You could hear the pride in Ron Burton's voice as he talked about the furthering development of junior defensive lineman Malik McDowell, this week as Michigan State training camp hit full bore.

McDowell will open the season on Sept. 2 on many major watch lists for postseason awards. He is a popular pick for preseason All-America status.

But he has chosen to ignore those accolades as he uses MSU’s loss to Alabama in the last season’s College Football Playoff as motivation to get even better.

“I’ve never lost a game like that, so I just work,’’ McDowell said. “So, I let y’all give it all that stuff cause I could care less. I just know I’ve got to keep working to meet my goals (for this team). My expectations have always been to give the best I’ve got and give my full effort. As long as I’ve felt like I gave my full effort, I’m happy at the end of the day.

“All-American? I guess that is a good thing around here. I guess that would be cool. But at the end of the day, I’m just trying to ball and play football.”

While the 6-foot-6, 276-pound McDowell has proven to be a physical force that regularly draws double teams from the Spartans' opponents, it is his maturation as a complete defender along the defensive line that Burton is most proud of during two seasons of tutelage.

“That’s just part of the maturation between your freshman, sophomore and junior year,’’ Burton said. “Most kids have a tendency to start to want more after they’ve gone through the system. They have the ability and now, they want to know what can make this even easier, ‘How can I understand the fundamentals of it?’

“You’re already special as an athlete but understanding the fundamentals side of it (is what) takes you to a new level.

“Also, the other big part of it is helping someone else, being there to coach other guys. And that’s a big part of him now too.’’

The soft-spoken McDowell, who admits that he doesn't watch much football or television for that matter, addressed his development during MSU’s Media Day earlier this week. He recalled the rude introduction to Division I football he received at the hands of former Spartan All-American Jack Allen, who manhandled the talented but raw rookie during an early session of practice.

“That humbled me and had me thinking is football really right for me,’’ he admitted. “My whole freshman year had me thinking like that. You go from being that good throughout high school and now you come up here . . . but I learned that you just have to be able to push on through it, keep on learning and to keep pushing yourself. I guess I figured it out sooner then later.’’

Part of figuring it all out came from off-the-field talks with former Spartan defensive ends, Marcus Rush, now with the San Francisco 49ers, and Lawrence Thomas, a present member of the New York Jets.

“L.T. and Marcus Rush told me, if you don’t study your own film, you’re (in trouble). They said to watch film of yourself, here you messed up and where you can do better,’’ McDowell said. “So once I started paying attention to that film and figuring out stuff for actually what it is, the game slowed down for me and I was able to play more comfortably.”

That led to increased interest in watching film of opponents for scouting purposes.

“Like I can tell when linemen are going to be pulling, now,” McDowell said. “There’s a lot of stuff out there that you can tell, you’ve just got to pay attention to the little stuff. My freshman year, the game was moving too fast. Now I can just sit down and look for that stuff and be ready to go.

“So right now, I’m just working on my get-off, making sure I get off the ball consistently on every play.’’

He has since parlayed those early lessons into a collegiate career that has made him arguably the best defensive lineman in the Big Ten for 2016.

But there was a process.

“Everyone’s a freshman, everyone has the ability, and as we told Malik when he came here, the best players play,’’ Burton said. “And from the raw ability his freshman year to him starting the bowl game in his freshman year to (the ability of starting) 14, 15 games, the maturity of understanding and becoming more coachable in what he’s doing, now he’s in a position where he totally understand the defense and the package of protections teams are using against him.

“So now, what we are doing now and what he has improved upon is understanding the game and how people are trying to attack him, as he makes his moves, as he plays his strengths and weaknesses. So that’s been the key factor with him, understanding the game a lot better. And that’s where we’re at now: the mental side of the game, the different alignments, the protections and how they attack you. That means more film and more film to come.

“So it’s not only about playing the game but understanding the backfield sets the defense is going against, understanding the splits between the guard and center and then, the tackle and what are they trying to do in a particular situation based on the personnel or the backfield sets, down and distance. So the pre-snap stuff is what he’s starting to understand now and that’s been our gameplan.’’





Additionally, if McDowell has his way, he wants to expand his influence on MSU’s defense by being able to lineup in different gaps along the defensive front.

While it has become commonplace for McDowell to draw double teams on the interior as the primary nose tackle, he is excited about the prospect of getting an opportunity to face one-on-one blocks when he occasionally moves out to defensive end, as is the plan for 2016 against some opponents in some situations.

“I’ve been tired of those double teams for awhile now,’’ McDowell said with a laugh. “It would be a luxury to get a one-on-one matchup because I don’t get many of them and I usually win most of them. So I like ‘em a lot.”

Moving out to defensive end won’t ensure one-on-one blocking, but Michigan State coaches are looking for ways to pit McDowell in favorable match-ups, anywhere along the defensive line. Wherever he travels, double-team attention is likely to follow.

“I still need to learn how to make the play with the double team still on me,” he said. “I know with the double team, somebody else is free. So at the end of the day, if that happens, I’m doing my job. But it would still be fun to make the plays when I’m double-teamed. I need to figure that out and how to make a play on a consistent basis. That is definitely one of the things I’ve really been working on, my angling up and punching in with the double team.’’

McDowell will enter the 2016 season with 56 career tackles, which includes 17.5 tackles for loss. In two seasons at Michigan State, he has six sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles.

Those numbers could increase significantly if McDowell continues to apply the knowledge he has gained to go along with his superior athleticism.

“If that’s what they need, I’m ready to give my full effort,’’ McDowell said when asked if was ready to meet the spotlight reserved for a All-American candidates. “I’m ready to rock.’’

Camp Update: 3-2-1

Jim Comparoni | Editor

EAST LANSING - Three things I learned on Wednesday, two questions, one prediction:

Three things I learned:

1. With the depth that Michigan State has at most positions, Mark Dantonio said the coaches have been able to put the Spartans through more team-oriented drills than is usually the case for the first week of camp.

“We have numbers out here, so we’ve been able to get a lot of team work done,” Dantonio said. “For us, it’s always been about how you’re doing things. Do they retain offenses and defenses, and how to get from drill to drill? Do they retain the ability to move in and out of different situations on the field. And we’re trying to work them all.

“We worked goal line today, we worked third down today, we worked third-and-short today, we worked base stuff today, so we’re trying to hit it all. We worked two-minute on the first day of camp. That’s unusual. But our players have a good grasp of things and we force the issue with them and that’s how we’ve been able to do it here.

2. True freshman Kenney Lyke had the most memorable play during Wednesday’s practice. Mike Panasiuk and Cam Chambers both commented on Lyke’s hard hit on a WR Darrell Stewart.

3. True freshman Naquan Jones is finally on the practice field after missing a few days while qualification questions were ironed out. Because Jones missed earlier practices, he was in a helmet and no shoulder pads on Wednesday. He will move to shells later in the week. It’s unclear whether he will be able to get on the field for this weekend’s Jersey Scrimmage.

Graduate transfer Kevin Williams practiced in shells (no leg pads) on Wednesday due to missing a practice earlier in the week. But Dantonio has liked what he has seen so far from the former Nebraska Cornhusker.

When asked about grad transfers Williams and defensive end Gabe Sherrod, formerly of Delaware State, Dantonio said Williams is “Explosive, powerful. He has good technique. I think he’s going to play for us. I was impressed with him.

“Gabe, a little too early to see. He looks athletic. We have numbers, so we have to get guys reps. Really until we get to Saturday and see how they play in game situations the best we can, I guess you wait and see.”



Naquan Jones made his first appearance on the practice field as a Spartan, Wednesday, in a helmet and shorts.

Two Questions:

1. It’s becoming clear that true freshman Mike Panasiuk, a former four-star recruit, is a strong bet to earn playing time this fall. Not only is he physically strong for a rookie, he also plays with good technique for a freshman and he plays a position of need for the Spartans.

With that being said, which of the other freshman d-linemen are going to see the field this fall? Jones, a four-star recruit, is just getting started. Four-star defensive end prospect Josh King is strong and lean, maybe a bit stiff for a rush-end role, but physically strong enough to possibly help as a boundary DE against the run. Four-star DE Auston Robertson isn’t lacking in size and has excellent agility.

Coaches are still waiting to see how things sort themselves out on the d-line. Michigan State finished the spring with Malik McDowell and Raequan Williams looking good as first-string DTs, Demetrius Cooper (five sacks last year) at field DE, and fifth-year senior Evan Jones an upstart at boundary DE. Behind those first-stringers, things get murky.

Walk-on Dillon Alexander finished the spring as a second-string boundary DE. King is expected to push for time there. Robert Bowers and Justice Alexander are a pair of unproven underclassmen at d-end. Bowers is more of a field end. Alexander has the versatility to compete at boundary DE. Mufi Hunt is a bit of a question mark whose weight has fluctuated since he arrived. He has a few days here in August to try to turn heads.

“It’s too early to tell but I think our young players on our defensive front look impressive,” Dantonio said. “Stature-wise, they are very impressive, and they work. When you work and you have those God-given abilities, usually good things follow.”



The Spartans need redshirt freshman Raequan Williams to build upon his excellent spring at defensive tackle.

2. Michigan State has a deep pool of talent at WR, including four terrific incoming freshmen. So which of those freshman WRs are going to redshirt? Donnie Corley is going to play this fall - and play a lot. We’ve known that since the spring.

In April, Dantonio indicated that true freshman Cam Chambers was also likely to get in the playing group. But that was before Trishton Jackson and Justin Layne reported this fall. Jackson is playing to reviews that rival those of Corley from the spring.

“He reminds me a lot of Keshawn Martin,” Dantonio said of Jackson. “I think it’s because he was a quarterback (like Martin). He played some wide out, but he had to know a lot of pass concepts and had to have a pretty good feel for an overall offense and I think that helps a young player when they transition to college. He is doing a nice job.”

Michigan State lost Aaron Burbridge and Macgarrett Kings to graduation. They were two of MSU’s top three pass catchers in 2015, with 125 combined receptions.

Senior R.J. Shelton is back as a versatile threat (43 catches). Corley, senior Monty Madaris, sophomore Felton Davis, redshirt-freshman Darrell Stewart and walk-onBrandon Sowards are all capable of helping. But are they more capable than Jackson, Chambers and Layne? That’s what the coaches are trying to figure out - and they’ll get a good dose of data during Saturday’s Jersey Scrimmage.

Dantonio said Corley and Chambers are displaying a lot of retention from spring practice. Chambers had a deep catch against Kaleel Gaines during drills on Wednesday, and also hauled in a back-shoulder fade in the corner of the end zone against Demetric Vance, from Tyler O’Connor.

“Those guys make plays,” Dantonio said of Corley and Chambers. “I think they have had a good camp so far. But I think all four of those freshman wide receivers are talented guys; you can see that.”

Chambers said all the right things after practice on Wednesday - that he’s focused on getting better every day and isn’t concerned about the magnitude of his role in 2016, or whether he might redshirt.



True freshman WR Trishton Jackson has been impressive through five days of practice.

One Prediction:

1. Panasiuk is going to break into the two-deep at some point this season. Raequan Williams and Malik McDowell are the unquestioned top two at the DT positions. Panasiuk has repped at nose tackle with the twos this week and has repped at three-technique when working with the all-freshman group.

Panasiuk (6-3, 309, Roselle, Ill.) might be stronger than any true freshman DT of the Dantonio era. He has the strength and physical maturation of a sophomore or junior. That helps. MSU needs that kind of body inside, to help Raequan Williams and McDowell.

Panasiuk’s apparent ability to play the one or three technique could also come in handy as a versatile sub for either position as the Spartans rotate bodies and try to manufacture depth.

“Panasiuk has done some good things so far,” Dantonio said. “He is a powerful guy. He can lock you out.”

Kevin Williams is getting in position to be the No. 3 or 4 DT, if he stays healthy. Injuries riddled his time at Nebraska.

Aside from McDowell, Williams, Williams and Panasiuk, Spartan coaches are also evaluating defensive tackle hopefuls Enoch Smith (6-2, 293, Soph.), Cassius Peat (6-3, 264, R-Fr.), Kyonta Stallworth (6-3, 280, R-Fr.), Gerald Owens (6-2, 299, Soph.) andNaquan Jones (6-4, 320, Fr.).

It’s unclear at this time who might be Panasiuk’s stiffest competition to become the No. 4 DT. Stallworth had some good moments in the spring soon after moving from o-line to d-line. Smith saw some mop-up duty last fall, but missed most of the spring with a hand injury. He needs a good August camp to stay ahead of the two talented true freshmen.

Here is Robert's photo gallery from today

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/photo-gallery-first-day-in-pads-2

Here is my story on Trishton Jackson and his potential impact. Being compared to Keshawn this early in the process is a big deal. Perhaps more impressive is how quickly he has picked things up in his short time on campus. Staying home to qualify does not appear to have hurt Jackson's upside as a potential impact freshmen. Jackson worked hard to ensure that it wouldn't .

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/camp-update-can-jackson-deliver-y-a-c-like-keshawn-martin--1

Here is Robert's photo gallery from practice today. Lots of great pictures. Wish I could have been there, but I'm camping right now.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/photo-gallery-first-day-of-practice-5

Here is Rico Cooney's Notebook from the first day of practice.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/starting-point-18

A review of what Dantonio had to say earlier today:

NOTEBOOK: Dantonio issues Back to Back mantra for 2016
Jim Comparoni | Editor



CHICAGO - When Mark Dantonio took the podium at Big Ten Media Days, Tuesday at McCormick Place, he briefly made a statement about former punter Mike Sadler, a four-time Academic All-American who was killed in a car accident, Saturday night.

“What occurred on Saturday is very tragic,” Dantonio said. “In regards to Mike, he was a giver. There was no take in Mike Sadler. He lived life. He made everyone’s life around him better and we will miss him terribly.”

With that said, Dantonio then moved to the business of the day, which is to talk about the Spartan football program and preview the 2016 season.

“Back to football,” Dantonio said, still in a somber tone. “I think we’ve built a culture at Michigan State. We are 36-5 in the last three years, 24-2 in the Big Ten Conference.”

Then he moved on, methodically, to attempt to put a monicker on the upcoming season, as he has done in the past with “Reach Higher” in 2015, “It Starts Here” in 2014 and “Chase It” in 2013.

“We have sort of set the table in terms of what we have to do every year, so right now our focus is to try and go ‘Back to Back,’” Dantonio said.

Dantonio’s mantra understandably lacked the punch in delivery that he has had in the past. But he spoke with conviction when discussing some of Michigan State’s strengths for 2016, including talent at linebacker, running back and a surprising nod to Spartan experience.

MORE THAN 10 RETURNING STARTERS?
Michigan State is generally regarded as having only 10 returning starters from last year’s Big Ten Championship/College Football Playoff team, but Dantonio put a different spin on those numbers, Tuesday.

“We've lost some good players but I think we have 31 players back with some type of starting experience,” Dantonio said.

Dantonio’s definition of “starting experience” differs from others. For instance, sixth-year senior Brandon Clemons was utilized as part of the six-man jumbo blocking unit last year. He was a starter in Dantonio’s estimation for that particular personnel group, although he has never started a game for the Spartans.

“We have like 15 on offense, and like 13 or 14 or so on defense that we would consider starters,” Dantonio said.

Clemons is listed as a co-first string right guard for the Spartans heading into August camp.

Defensive backs Khari Willis, Grayson Miller, Vayante Copeland, Darian Hicks,linebacker Ed Davis, quarterback Tyler O’Connor, left tackle Dennis Finley, wide receiver R.J. Shelton and tight end Jamal Lyles are nine players, in addition to the 10 conventional returning starters, who have started games at some point for the Spartans.

Dantonio said. “We've lost some good players but we've got a lot of good football players coming back. I think we have seven guys coming back in the secondary who started for us that are very athletic. And our guys expect to win.

“We lose good players every year, just like every other program. But it seems that when the time comes, our seniors have their best years. You look at Aaron Burbridge last year, having his best year as a senior, catching 85 passes or whatever it was. And the year before that, Tony Lippett. You look at what Connor Cook was able to do.

“We've got guys poised for that. We've established a culture. We've had great recruiting classes and built those classes on top of each other.”


‘CATAPULT’ SEASON FOR McDOWELL?
Dantonio selected three senior players to join him in Chicago for Media Days press obligations. Linebacker Riley Bullough, wide receiver RJ Shelton and tight end Josiah Price met with media Tuesday afternoon.

Michigan State’s most-decorated player in terms of preseason hype and praise, is junior defensive lineman Malik McDowell. He is ranked among the Top 40 players in the country by SI.com and is a popular choice for All-America candidacy in the national preview publications.

“Malik is a playmaker, no question about that,” Dantonio said, Tuesday. “He's big, athletic, physical. He comes to play every game.

“And with all that being said he's only going to be a true junior.”

McDowell (6-6, 274, Detroit/Southfield High) ranked second not he team in TFLs last year with 13, and had 4.5 sacks at the nose tackle position. He was named second-team All-Big Ten by coaches and media.

“He had a big sophomore season last year, and played some as a freshman,” Dantonio said. “I think that this is the year that sort of catapults him.”

McDowell told SpartanMag.com correspondent Rico Beard that he is 15 pounds lighter than his 2015 playing weight. McDowell’s slimmer posture, and presumed improved quickness, should make him more versatile in adapting to the coaches’ plans to move him out to defense end at times in 2016.

“He's got to have a great year and I think he's poised to do that,” Dantonio said. “I think we also have some other great defensive players on our football team that we can build around. Ed Davis working for his sixth year. Riley Bullough. Guys all over the place.”


‘DEPTH CHARTS ARE DEPTH CHARTS’
Junior linebacker Chris Frey is among those that Dantonio regards as a starter, despite the fact that Frey has never started.

Frey is listed as a second-string Sam linebacker. He can also play ‘star’ linebacker.

“Depth charts are depth charts,” Dantonio said. “It's a starting point. We're very deep at the linebacker position.”

Bullough and junior Jon Reschke are listed as starting Mike and Sam linebackers. Sophomore Andrew Dowell is No. 1 at ‘star’ linebacker heading into August camp, according to Monday’s depth chart.

Frey (6-2, 222, Jr., Upper Arlington, Ohio) had 23 tackles and five TFLs last year. He saw extensive action as a second-stringer and was on the nickel defense first unit.

“He plays multiple positions,” Dantonio said. “As far as I'm concerned, Chris Frey is a starter as well. Ed Davis can be thrown into that. We have what I consider five starters. Shane Jones is another guy I think can go in there and start. Byron Bullough is another guy that had an outstanding spring.”


ED DAVIS UPDATE
Ed Davis (6-3, 225, Detrot) is making progress toward a possible sixth year of eligibility, Dantonio said on Tuesday.

“He has to graduate to do that,” Dantonio said. “He's currently in a class to do that and doing well.”

Davis started 12 games at Sam linebacker for Michigan State in 2014. He missed last season with a knee injury which he sustained during training camp.

After graduating later this summer, Davis will officially petition for a sixth year of eligibility, making up for the year he lost in 2015.

Davis was voted honorable mention All-Big Ten by coaches and media after ranking fourth on the team with 58 tackles. He and seven sacks and 12 TFLs, ranking third on the team in both categories.

“He's a phenomenal football player,” Dantonio said.


SPOILED YOUNG PLAYERS?
Eighty-nine of the 100 returning players listed on Michigan State’s roster have known nothing but 11-win seasons as Spartans.

Only 10 fifth-year seniors were around for the 7-6 season of 2012.

Dantonio says there are positives associated with those numbers, but also some hurdles.

“There's an expectation to win and the confidence is there to win,” Dantonio said. “When we come down the line at the end of a football game and there was an opportunity to win, our players know how to win. So when the game has been close we found a way. Won a lot of close football games.

“With that being said, we've got some guys that should be on first (base) but have been born on third. In other words, they've they've experienced all the good but they haven't seen too much of the difficult. So we've got to get those guys primed, our younger players. All they've seen is the last three years of what we've been able to accomplish. Our fifth-year seniors they've seen some other things.”

Those fifth-year seniors include linebacker Riley Bullough, offensive lineman Kodi Kieler, offensive lineman Benny McGowan, safety Demetrious Cox, defensive end Evan Jones - each of whom are projected starters. They redshirted in 2012 while the Spartans dropped back from a pair of 11-win seasons in 2009 and 2010, and struggled to a 7-6 season, which included a comeback win over TCU in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

“I think you have to be able to handle the bad times as well as the good,” Dantonio said. “You've got to be able to gear yourself up and understand that these things aren't a given; that you've got to play and you've got to work hard to be able to gain credibility and to win, win football games. So that's our expectation and that's what we'll do.”


‘GET OVER IT’
In winning 12 games, a Big Ten Championship Game title, and a top-four finish in the regular season, the Spartans arguably enjoyed their most accomplished season since 1966. But it ended with a 38-0 loss to eventual National Champion Alabama in the College Football Playoff Cotton Bowl.

Dantonio was asked on Tuesday what his message has been to his team in the aftermath of that experience.

“That game sort of got out of hand,” Dantonio said. “My wife tells me, ‘Get over it.’ She says, ‘Get over it, you lost.’ But I thought it was a competitive game in the first half.

“But what I said to our football team is, ‘Hey, we've gone this far, but there's still a ways we have to go. Don't hang your head. Let's get on with business. Life's full of ups and downs. There's going to be down times.’ To me it's how you handle the down times that define you.”

The loss broke a string of four straight bowl wins for the Spartans, including the 2011 Capital One Bowl, the 2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, the 2014 Rose Bowl, and the 2015 Cotton Bowl.

“It's easy to walk around when you've won,” Dantonio said. “(It’s) more difficult when you've had a loss and you have to regain your composure and you have to move forward with the process.

“So Michigan State's always been about the process. This is just a stepping stone. That was a step back down the staircase. Time to take another step up.”


THE PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE
Dantonio continued his spring stance of refraining from pinpointing O’Connor as the clear-cut starting QB in waiting.

“Tyler obviously is in the lead right now, but I'm not going to have the pressure put on one position to say this is the make or break guy,” Dantonio said. “I think that's the thing to do right now - not dependent on one guy. Not to say, ‘Hey, he's our guy.’ That will be defined through August camp and early in the season.”

O’Connor and junior Damion Terry are officially listed as either/or starters at QB in this week’s official depth chart.

O’Connor started ahead of Terry during Michigan State’s upset at Ohio State last year. He also out-played Terry in the Green-White Game in April. But the head coach indicated that both players would see extended playing time in September, as was the case in 2013 when Connor Cook and Andrew Maxwell dueled for the job while O’Connor received a handful of snaps as well.

“We’re going to keep the pressure on our quarterback position and on our quarterback coach, Brad Salem,” Dantonio said. “We're going to give people opportunities.

“We lost a lot of experience, obviously, but I think quarterback is a very talented position (for us). We've got four guys that I think are Big Ten-type quarterbacks that are big, athletic guys that can move, run, and also can throw the football. Tyler O'Connor is a fifth-year senior. He's been in the system four years, been behind a great quarterback. He's been waiting his opportunity. Performed very well down in Columbus last year.

“And Damion Terry, 6'4", 235, very athletic. Brian Lewerke, very talented, he was a redshirt freshman this year. And Messiah deWeaver is a true freshman that was here this semester. All four of those guys have great ability.”


NEGATIVE RECRUITING?
Dantonio and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer were asked about claims that Penn State head coach James Franklin had accused Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State of negative recruiting.

In a Q&A with the Reading Eagle newspaper, Franklin is quoted as saying, in regard to recent allegations at former Penn State coach Joe Paterno knew about Jerry Sandusky’s abuse of children as early as the 1970s, that competing schools were making the subject an issue with his players.

“Other schools are contacting them and telling them the NCAA is going to get involved again and impose more sanctions,” Franklin said in the Q&A. “As Penn Staters, we're so proud and we know what we're all about and who we are. The people we're competing with - Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame - this is just not something they have to deal with. Although we want to move on, those other schools are not letting us move on.”

When Dantonio was asked about Michigan State being accused of “negative recruiting” against Penn State on Tuesday, Dantonio said:

“From my standpoint, I have not said anything negative about Penn State, and hopefully our coaches have not as well. I was surprised to read that. I don't know what happens out there on the road completely. But it's not our MO. And that's not how we do business.”

Meyer said he was unaware of the comments.

"That's the first I've heard of it,” Meyer said. “I’ll address that with Coach Franklin, if that is an issue. That has not been presented to me until this moment."

Meyer said, "we do just fine in recruiting to not worry about that stuff. If that's true, I will address it."

A few weeks ago, I said I had some additional thoughts in relation to the unexpected news that Damon Knox would not be returning for a sixth year of eligibility.

My thoughts on that matter were developed more fully in this story below, as it relates to the recruiting needs that MSU attacked in the past two recruiting classes.

Knox is only a small part of this story, which takes a deeper plunge into MSU's d-line picture.

This story also has exclusive, revealing quotes on Lashawn Paulino, and other surprises:

https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/news/what-s-new-what-s-next-d-line-recruiting-and-development

I caught up with Donovan Winter and his coach last night and put together a commitment feature. His high school coach thinks very highly of Donovan. Ironically, I think I remember writing something in the print issue of the Magazine about the hand combat technique stuff that Mr. Winter taught to the team during the summer before John L.'s final year. Anyway, its crazy how things come full circle. I don't know what he's going to do on the football field, but Winter is a great kid and he's going to represent the program well. I enjoyed talking to him, and that's not always the case when you interview 17-18 year-old kids.

Bishop Moore has a 2018 offensive guard that Michigan State will be keeping an eye on. The talented son of Lavernius Coles also plays at Bishop Moore.

https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/news/from-dog-tags-to-spartan-dawg