Login to view embedded media
Spoke with Offensive Coordinator Jay Johnson for about 15 minutes yesterday, just getting to know each other.

The Michigan State staff have been evaluating him for about a month and been in contact with his coaches prior to September 1st.

Very talented looking prospect who shows dual threat abilities and very good accuracy
Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media

As reported earlier, I am hearing Geno VanDeMark and Audric Estime are locked in for the 15th.

Kevin Wigenton will also be there.

I am hearing their is also a strong chance another top New Jersey target is going to try and make it.

Mikai Gbayor a linebacker is planning to visit Michigan State, hopefully that weekend. After the Michigan State visit he is also trying to get to Kentucky and Ole Miss to see his top teams.

Michigan State seems to have a decent lead for Gbayor right now, the other trips are to make sure he is 100%, when he makes a decision and he doesn't have any no visit regrets

Has Gbayor made it onto campus? It was this weekend correct?

Several interesting notes here from Eastpointe (Mich.) 2022 four-star Tay'Shawn Trent, including the two schools standing out, that he's talking with Landers and Gates about visiting East Lansing again and that he has decided to play soccer this fall with the MHSAA pushing football to the spring:

The more I think about this, the more I like the idea of an Urban Meyer approach with Lombardi & Co.

Preface: Some think Lombardi isn't good, and never will be. I'm not in that camp - I think he can be good and I don't think you need Payton Manning if you have a good offensive line and a running game behind a quarterback.

That said, given Lombardi's strength and build, I really like the idea of running that kid a lot, and having other quarterbacks ready to spell him. He seems like he'd be more durable than your average quarterback, and able to play a more expanded Tebow kind of role (I think he's probably a better passer). The upsides of running him more are fairly obvious, including having 10 blockers on the running play, and making defenses think about his running threat on every play, which would have to take pressure off other areas of the offense. I feel like he can absorb the abuse better than a Stanton or Lewerke.

I don't know how Meyer always had multiple quarterbacks ready to go (I suppose it helps to always have a good Oline and running game to prop them up), but he's had plenty of great college quarterbacks who were not traditional (or eventual) NFL prospects, like Lombardi.

Anyway, these thoughts are the product of having too much time to think the QB situation, with no spring or fall camp results to digest.

Thought this was interesting and pretty predictable.

Login to view embedded media

UFC Heavyweight Championship on the line tonight. Surprised our usual MMA crowd hasn't been talking about it. Perhaps that's a bad sign for UFC (lack of) buzz.

Trilogies are usually a big deal in combat sports, although nothing is ever quite like the first one.

In this case, Cormier-Miocic I wasn't super-anticipated. That was the one Cormier won by surprise upset knockout, I think.

In the rematch, Miocic set things straight with a KO.

Here in the third fight, two great champions but not a lot of hype. I haven't seen or heard much talk on ESPN or on the occasional few minutes of Jim Rome that I listen to after Staudt's show ends (maybe because Rome was on vacation, limited hype for this fight via the avenues I usually peruse).

Announcing Sunday via twitter, you can expect it to be good news.
Here's a brief write-up of what him and his HS coach said this morning over the phone:

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/decision-looming-for-msu-target

Login to view embedded media

Says a decision has been made and Michigan St is a finalist. Strong relationship w\ Coach Hankton, who is from Louisiana, and sees a chance to make an early impact

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/louisiana-db-jah-von-grigsby-has-commitment-on-his-mind

Check out the home page, I added a new futurecast module for the trending MSU prospects. Let me know what you think.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/

Go Green

Trending towards the good guys per another platform.

Hearing anything new? @Justin Thind @Corey_Robinson @OhioSpartan @jim comparoni

Mel Tucker had a 35-minute Zoom meeting with media today. It ended a few minutes ago.

Some of the takeaways:

* Tucker said he is supporting Jacub Panasiuk in his decision to opt out of the season.

When asked if there are others considering an opt-out, Tucker said "I'm in discussion with a couple of other players as well right now that may want to opt out and that's their individual decision and whatever they decide to do, we're going to support them."

* Tucker had a very much a no-excuses outlook on the obstacles Michigan State has faced, including having had his team in quarantine for the past 14 days while almost all of the other teams in the Big Ten have been conducting enhanced practices.

"Overall, we have a football team that is excited to start camp and prepare for our first game."

* Tucker said some of his coaches feel his players are further along in the installation process, in terms of understanding the concepts, due to all of the extra Zoom meeting time, than they would have been under the usual restrictions on meeting time.

* As for trying to determine a starting quarterback, he said: "At this point, what's going to be important is what we do with the reps moving forward and I believe we have enough time to get our players, our quarterbacks and everyone else the reps they need to put their best foot forward to compete for jobs and be prepared for the season, and that's what we can control."

* Quote: "We have a hungry football team. Our players know that they have to compete and they are going to get what they deserve, what they earn, and it's a daily process.

"We have enough players here to have the type of team I want to have, which is a tough, hard-working, relentless, unified, unselfish football team. We have the guys here that are capable of doing that and we're building that. We're building that from the meeting room to the practice field."

Login to view embedded media Seems like everyone's worries from earlier today should be taken care of by this statement. Big Ten announces that the reason they're sending MSU to AA is so they can reset the sequence.

In other words, OSU & UM won't both be home games one year and then both be away games the next year for MSU.

I'm curious to see if they still follow through with this "reset" if this season gets canceled. I would guess so, based on their language not having any mention of this being contingent on actually playing the current schedule.

EDIT: Here is the statement from Bill Beekman regarding scheduling, the UM game, and COVID.
Login to view embedded media

Should be interesting.

This isn't the signing day (bad) surprise that took place when Mark Ingram Jr. "turned Tide."

You will survive, right?

Anything new on them visiting?

nfm

Putting health questions aside for the moment, in terms of just talking football, we are now entering issues of inequality when it comes to Michigan State’s preparation for a proposed 2020 football season.

MSU’s football building is completely shut down, and it’s been that way for a solid week.

Meanwhile, Northwestern has footballs on a practice field and is working out today, and has been doing so since last Friday, and will continue to do so through Aug. 7. Northwestern also completed EIGHT spring practices prior to the shutdown on March 12.

Michigan State has a new coach, new coordinators, a new system and still has not had an actual football on a field for a workout or a practice since Mel Tucker was hired. Northwestern is more than three weeks ahead of Michigan State in terms of on-field workouts with footballs, and now the Spartans can’t even get into the weight room.

I realize that health concerns come first. I realize that there’s a strong chance that the Michigan State-Northwestern game doesn’t get played, and there’s a strong chance that there is no season.

I realize that the Big Ten has not released the revised schedule, and I realize that there is talk of beginning the season in late September, which could allow Michigan State some “make-up” time.

But still, in a sport that puts huge emphasis on every minute of every practice and every workout session, Michigan State has fallen thousands of man hours behind Northwestern, and every other team in the Big Ten for that matter, outside of Rutgers.

If Michigan State were to open the season against Northwestern in early-, mid-, or late-September, the Spartans would be at a stark disadvantage in comparison to Northwestern, based on missed practice time, even if the Spartans didn’t have a new coaching staff. Add the fact that Michigan State has yet to install any of its offensive of defensive schemes in a real, three-dimensional environment, it’s time for Spartan fans to start realizing that hoping for a season to be played is one thing, but hoping to be able to compete in 2020 at a level that became the expectation for Mark Dantonio is another.