quotes from Dantonio on their progress, and a breakdown of their best and worst moments from the Michigan game:
Developmental Update: Willis & Miller
Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher
EAST LANSING - Mark Dantonio would rather not make drastic changes to his starting lineup midway through a season - especially if the best alternatives are true freshmen.
But he has done it in the past. Last year, Dantonio started rookie Montae Nicholson in place of R.J. Williamson for three games at mid-season after Williamson had problems with his tackling and coverage. Williamson eventually tightened up his techniques and regained his job in time for the Spartans' run to a Cotton Bowl victory and eventual Top 5 finish.
This year, with Williamson out for the rest of the regular season with a biceps injury, Nicholson has experienced continued problems with tackling and coverage assignments. Dantonio replaced him in the starting lineup last weekend at Michigan, with true freshmen Khari Willis taking the strong safety job. Dantonio moved swing DB Demetrious Cox to cornerback and put another true freshman, Grayson Miller, at free safety.
With Willis and Miller at the safety positions, it marked the first time in the Dantonio era that two true freshmen have started in the deep middle for the Spartan defense.
"I thought they played excellent, for true freshmen playing their first game at Michigan in such a big series with so much on the line," Dantonio said. "I thought they played outstanding."
Willis began to emerge as a nickel back and reserve safety against Central Michigan on Sept. 26.
Miller and Willis were not perfect at Michigan, but they were solid enough to apparently have the inside track toward another starting job this weekend when the Spartans play host to Indiana (4-2), at 3:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium. Miller and Willis were listed as the starting safety tandem in the official depth chart released Tuesday.
Miller had six tackles at Michigan, including one tackle for loss. He showed excellent speed and tackling ability in chasing down athletic players in tough situations.
"I think Grayson is an outstanding athlete, great ball skills," Dantonio said. "He's big. When he came here at camp, he had one scholarship offer, Western Kentucky. And we looked at him at camp and after he long jumped 10-6 and verticaled 37 inches and ran two 4-4s; and then went outside and caught the ball and did the drills, and he was 6'2 and a half, 205, we thought, maybe we just ought to offer him a scholarship."
No one figured he would be starting as a true freshman. But an injury to Williamson, combined with Nicholson's struggles, the need to move Cox to cornerback due to injuries, and the suspension of Mark Meyers, resulted in Miller being the next-man-up sooner than expected.
Key Tackles Late
Miller's best moment as a tackler came when he ran down speedy Michigan WR Jehu Chesson on a fly sweep for a gain of one in the fourth quarter. This came on the first play after a 16-yard punt return put the Wolverines at the MSU 28. Michigan went for a big strike on the sweep to Chesson, a play during which he scored on a 60-plus yard run one week earlier at Maryland. But Miller read it, converged with speed, and made an aggressive form tackle.
Two plays later, Willis assisted Shilique Calhoun in tackling Jabril Peppers on a third-and-nine bubble screen. Willis was solid and correct with outside-in leverage in helping get Peppers on the ground and forcing a three-and-out field goal attempt after the long punt return. That field goal gave Michigan a 23-14 lead, but the three-and-out stoppage - keyed by Willis and Miller - kept the Spartans in the game.
Despite missing almost all of his senior season at Georgetown (Ky.) Scott High in 2014 with a knee injury, Miller has made an impressive return to the field at the college level.
"He is everything that we thought he was going to be," Dantonio said. "He's an outstanding tackler and he's only going to get better. He's a very quick learner. Both those guys (Miller and Willis) are very quick learners. And they are not intimidated by the situation and they are hungry.
"So they are active players at a young age, but I think both those guys could be very, very good players for us."
Keys In Containing Butt
Willis and Miller had good and shaky moments in coverage on Saturday.
On a third-and-nine sack in the second quarter by Calhoun, Miller and Willis were in the area to cover Michigan's favorite chain-moving target, tight end Jake Butt, on a choice route near the sticks. Miller and Willis discouraged the pass attempt while linebacker Darien Harris also dropped a bit deeper than usual in MSU's base zone, having no respect for Michigan QB Jake Rudock as a scrambler.
Rudock had to hold the ball too long and Calhoun got to him on a coverage sack.
Miller had several key moments against Michigan, including having a hand in the game-winning touchdown on Michigan's botched punt.
Miller came up big versus Butt later in the game. On first-and-goal at the 18 with 3:00 left in the third quarter, Miller stuck with Butt on a corner route off a play-action fake. Miller honored the run, but didn't bite on it too hard. He stayed with Butt while Calhoun converged again. Rudock eventually attempted a hurried pass to Butt, but it fell incomplete with Miller on the spot.
One of Willis' best moments in pass coverage came on a third-down incompletion in the red zone in the first half. Willis got over to the sideline as MSU broke away from its usual press quarters (cover-four zone) and instead ran cover-two zone.
Cover-two gives the safeties half of the field to cover, rather than a quarter.
A week earlier, Cox failed to get over to the sideline in cover-two against Rutgers, resulting in a bust and a completion of more than 20 yards. Cox was playing safety at the time.
This time, Willis played like a veteran in getting the signal and carrying it out. With Willis playing a deep half, cornerback Arjen Colquhoun rolled up to play the flat. Colquhoun and linebacker Jon Reschke were in the area along the short sideline when Rudock attempted a pass to Butt on third-and-five. Reschke broke it up.
Willis was not in the area where the ball arrived, but his coverage of the high receiver over the top in defensing Michigan's high-low smash concept influenced Rudock to try to force a pass underneath. But Willis' teammates were also on task.
Butt, Michigan's second-leading receiver on the season with 23 catches, had just one reception for 4 yards on the day.
Pass Defense Lessons
Miller nearly had an interception with 5:48 left in the game when he knifed in front of Michigan WR Amara Darboh on a slot out route. Miller gained depth at the beginning of the route, then read the play and broke on Darboh quickly - quick enough to undercut the route and get both hands on the ball.
Miller didn't get credit for a pass break-up as Calhoun was flagged for being off-side on the play. But Miller's range and ability to break on the ball were nicely apparent on that play.
One play earlier, Chesson torched Willis on a deep go route. Michigan matched up its fastest receiver, Chesson, on the safety by putting him in the slot and occupying the play-side corner (Cox) with a short decoy route to Darboh.
With Willis isolated on Chesson, the play-side linebacker Reschke failed to get a bump/reroute on the speedy WR as he came off the line of scrimmage. Reschke was briefly distracted by tight end motion to his side and a play-action fake.
Willis doesn't have the speed to stay with Chesson, especially when Chesson is able to get on his quickly and unobstructed. He'll need more help, and a quicker hip turn and top-end acceleration to stay with a guy like Chesson in that situation in the future.
In the second quarter, after a Peppers 57-yard kickoff return, Willis gave up a 23-yard pass to Chesson on a key play leading to a Wolverine field goal.
On this play, Willis bit on a play-action fake while there appeared to be no receivers in his area.
However, Chesson had lined up as a tight end on the other side of the formation. Chesson ran a bender route behind Willis as Willis bit up on the play-fake. Chesson made the catch in Willis' vertical quarter.
Using Chesson as a tight end was a new look for Michigan. His speed getting into a route from the tight end position caught Willis off guard, when combining it with the play-fake.
Miller came over to tackle Chesson in Willis' assigned area.
Willis, who had three tackles against Michigan, is sure to get tested in the weeks ahead, especially in the hip-turn and speed department.
Miller gave up a moon-shot 32-yard reception to Darboh on a third-and-nine pass in the third quarter. Darboh came back for the pass, which was slightly underthrown. Miller will learn to play a ball that stays in the air that long better in the future.
"Both of them have a couple things they have to clean up," Dantonio said. "But they were active, they were productive, and they're very good players and I thought they were beyond their years in terms of how they handled things, in terms of adjustments and just the intensity of the football game. So I thought they did very, very well."
Nicholson played nickel back against the Wolverines on Saturday, without incident. He played that role most of last season.
Nicholson was coming off another shaky performance at Rutgers. He showed improved tackling in the first half of the game at Rutgers, but he was the responsible party on two of Leonte Carroo's three TD receptions against the Spartans.
Nicholson also missed a tackle on a third-and-long QB scramble late in the game.
Against Michigan, Nicholson failed on a tackle opportunity during Peppers' 57-yard kickoff return in the second quarter.
Willis also missed a tackle on Peppers on a shovel sweep in the third quarter. Peppers beat linebackerRiley Bullough and Willis to the edge in turning the corner for a 28-yard run.
Willis has looked like a more natural, reliable tackler in the past two weeks than Nicholson. But Willis will need to remain solvent, and continue to make progress, in order to hold Nicholson off for the job.
Tyson Smith, Next Man Up
Cox is expected to remain at cornerback at least a while longer as Darian Hicks continues to recover from an apparent head injury suffered at Rutgers. Hicks started against the Scarlet Knights but had to come out of the lineup, midway through the game.
Cox and Colquhoun started at cornerback against Michigan.
Tyson Smith is likely to be the third true freshman to rotate into the secondary, this weekend.
Junior Jermaine Edmondson filled in for Hicks at Rutgers. However, coaches passed up the option of starting Edmondson with Colquhoun at Michigan (with Cox and a freshman at safety) in favor of moving Cox to corner, Edmondson to the bench and both freshmen at safety.
Edmondson didn't see action with the Spartan defense at Michigan, but provided the key block in helping Jalen Watts-Jackson find the end zone on the game-winning touchdown via Michigan's botched punt.
With Watts-Jackson out for the year, due to a hip injury sustained on the touchdown, and Hicks questionable, Dantonio said on Tuesday that true freshmen Tyson Smith and Josh Butler are likely to be activated for duty against the Hoosiers on Saturday.
Michigan State came into the season believing it needed to have nine defensive backs available to take on the best uptempo spread attacks, such as Oregon. Michigan State planned to use the same approach to defensing Indiana, but Michigan State is without five defensive backs who played against the Ducks: Hicks, Meyers, Watts-Jackson, Williamson and Vayante Copeland.
In trying to piece together an eight-person defensive backfield playing group, the Spartans will likely go with: Colquhoun, Cox, Miller, Willis as starters; Nicholson and Edmondson as the top reserves off the bench. After those six, Michigan State listed three true freshmen in filling out the top nine in the secondary: Butler, Smith and fellow true freshman David Dowell.
Smith and Butler are set to play this weekend.
"There's no question that both those guys could have showed up on special teams already, but in my mind, they should be playing significant plays if we are taking a red-shirt off of them," Dantonio said. "And so that's why we have not played them yet because they weren't in a position to play significant plays.
"I think this week, Tyson will be for sure. I think maybe Josh, but we'll see. We do have other options there. He's a good player, though."
Wide receiver R.J. Shelton played a handful of snaps at cornerback in the Cotton Bowl against Baylor. However, he told SpartanMag.com on Tuesday that he has not yet repped at cornerback in practice this year. So he is apparently not an option MSU is considering at this point.
Developmental Update: Willis & Miller
Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher
EAST LANSING - Mark Dantonio would rather not make drastic changes to his starting lineup midway through a season - especially if the best alternatives are true freshmen.
But he has done it in the past. Last year, Dantonio started rookie Montae Nicholson in place of R.J. Williamson for three games at mid-season after Williamson had problems with his tackling and coverage. Williamson eventually tightened up his techniques and regained his job in time for the Spartans' run to a Cotton Bowl victory and eventual Top 5 finish.
This year, with Williamson out for the rest of the regular season with a biceps injury, Nicholson has experienced continued problems with tackling and coverage assignments. Dantonio replaced him in the starting lineup last weekend at Michigan, with true freshmen Khari Willis taking the strong safety job. Dantonio moved swing DB Demetrious Cox to cornerback and put another true freshman, Grayson Miller, at free safety.
With Willis and Miller at the safety positions, it marked the first time in the Dantonio era that two true freshmen have started in the deep middle for the Spartan defense.
"I thought they played excellent, for true freshmen playing their first game at Michigan in such a big series with so much on the line," Dantonio said. "I thought they played outstanding."
Willis began to emerge as a nickel back and reserve safety against Central Michigan on Sept. 26.
Miller and Willis were not perfect at Michigan, but they were solid enough to apparently have the inside track toward another starting job this weekend when the Spartans play host to Indiana (4-2), at 3:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium. Miller and Willis were listed as the starting safety tandem in the official depth chart released Tuesday.
Miller had six tackles at Michigan, including one tackle for loss. He showed excellent speed and tackling ability in chasing down athletic players in tough situations.
"I think Grayson is an outstanding athlete, great ball skills," Dantonio said. "He's big. When he came here at camp, he had one scholarship offer, Western Kentucky. And we looked at him at camp and after he long jumped 10-6 and verticaled 37 inches and ran two 4-4s; and then went outside and caught the ball and did the drills, and he was 6'2 and a half, 205, we thought, maybe we just ought to offer him a scholarship."
No one figured he would be starting as a true freshman. But an injury to Williamson, combined with Nicholson's struggles, the need to move Cox to cornerback due to injuries, and the suspension of Mark Meyers, resulted in Miller being the next-man-up sooner than expected.
Key Tackles Late
Miller's best moment as a tackler came when he ran down speedy Michigan WR Jehu Chesson on a fly sweep for a gain of one in the fourth quarter. This came on the first play after a 16-yard punt return put the Wolverines at the MSU 28. Michigan went for a big strike on the sweep to Chesson, a play during which he scored on a 60-plus yard run one week earlier at Maryland. But Miller read it, converged with speed, and made an aggressive form tackle.
Two plays later, Willis assisted Shilique Calhoun in tackling Jabril Peppers on a third-and-nine bubble screen. Willis was solid and correct with outside-in leverage in helping get Peppers on the ground and forcing a three-and-out field goal attempt after the long punt return. That field goal gave Michigan a 23-14 lead, but the three-and-out stoppage - keyed by Willis and Miller - kept the Spartans in the game.
Despite missing almost all of his senior season at Georgetown (Ky.) Scott High in 2014 with a knee injury, Miller has made an impressive return to the field at the college level.
"He is everything that we thought he was going to be," Dantonio said. "He's an outstanding tackler and he's only going to get better. He's a very quick learner. Both those guys (Miller and Willis) are very quick learners. And they are not intimidated by the situation and they are hungry.
"So they are active players at a young age, but I think both those guys could be very, very good players for us."
Keys In Containing Butt
Willis and Miller had good and shaky moments in coverage on Saturday.
On a third-and-nine sack in the second quarter by Calhoun, Miller and Willis were in the area to cover Michigan's favorite chain-moving target, tight end Jake Butt, on a choice route near the sticks. Miller and Willis discouraged the pass attempt while linebacker Darien Harris also dropped a bit deeper than usual in MSU's base zone, having no respect for Michigan QB Jake Rudock as a scrambler.
Rudock had to hold the ball too long and Calhoun got to him on a coverage sack.
Miller had several key moments against Michigan, including having a hand in the game-winning touchdown on Michigan's botched punt.
Miller came up big versus Butt later in the game. On first-and-goal at the 18 with 3:00 left in the third quarter, Miller stuck with Butt on a corner route off a play-action fake. Miller honored the run, but didn't bite on it too hard. He stayed with Butt while Calhoun converged again. Rudock eventually attempted a hurried pass to Butt, but it fell incomplete with Miller on the spot.
One of Willis' best moments in pass coverage came on a third-down incompletion in the red zone in the first half. Willis got over to the sideline as MSU broke away from its usual press quarters (cover-four zone) and instead ran cover-two zone.
Cover-two gives the safeties half of the field to cover, rather than a quarter.
A week earlier, Cox failed to get over to the sideline in cover-two against Rutgers, resulting in a bust and a completion of more than 20 yards. Cox was playing safety at the time.
This time, Willis played like a veteran in getting the signal and carrying it out. With Willis playing a deep half, cornerback Arjen Colquhoun rolled up to play the flat. Colquhoun and linebacker Jon Reschke were in the area along the short sideline when Rudock attempted a pass to Butt on third-and-five. Reschke broke it up.
Willis was not in the area where the ball arrived, but his coverage of the high receiver over the top in defensing Michigan's high-low smash concept influenced Rudock to try to force a pass underneath. But Willis' teammates were also on task.
Butt, Michigan's second-leading receiver on the season with 23 catches, had just one reception for 4 yards on the day.
Pass Defense Lessons
Miller nearly had an interception with 5:48 left in the game when he knifed in front of Michigan WR Amara Darboh on a slot out route. Miller gained depth at the beginning of the route, then read the play and broke on Darboh quickly - quick enough to undercut the route and get both hands on the ball.
Miller didn't get credit for a pass break-up as Calhoun was flagged for being off-side on the play. But Miller's range and ability to break on the ball were nicely apparent on that play.
One play earlier, Chesson torched Willis on a deep go route. Michigan matched up its fastest receiver, Chesson, on the safety by putting him in the slot and occupying the play-side corner (Cox) with a short decoy route to Darboh.
With Willis isolated on Chesson, the play-side linebacker Reschke failed to get a bump/reroute on the speedy WR as he came off the line of scrimmage. Reschke was briefly distracted by tight end motion to his side and a play-action fake.
Willis doesn't have the speed to stay with Chesson, especially when Chesson is able to get on his quickly and unobstructed. He'll need more help, and a quicker hip turn and top-end acceleration to stay with a guy like Chesson in that situation in the future.
In the second quarter, after a Peppers 57-yard kickoff return, Willis gave up a 23-yard pass to Chesson on a key play leading to a Wolverine field goal.
On this play, Willis bit on a play-action fake while there appeared to be no receivers in his area.
However, Chesson had lined up as a tight end on the other side of the formation. Chesson ran a bender route behind Willis as Willis bit up on the play-fake. Chesson made the catch in Willis' vertical quarter.
Using Chesson as a tight end was a new look for Michigan. His speed getting into a route from the tight end position caught Willis off guard, when combining it with the play-fake.
Miller came over to tackle Chesson in Willis' assigned area.
Willis, who had three tackles against Michigan, is sure to get tested in the weeks ahead, especially in the hip-turn and speed department.
Miller gave up a moon-shot 32-yard reception to Darboh on a third-and-nine pass in the third quarter. Darboh came back for the pass, which was slightly underthrown. Miller will learn to play a ball that stays in the air that long better in the future.
"Both of them have a couple things they have to clean up," Dantonio said. "But they were active, they were productive, and they're very good players and I thought they were beyond their years in terms of how they handled things, in terms of adjustments and just the intensity of the football game. So I thought they did very, very well."
Nicholson played nickel back against the Wolverines on Saturday, without incident. He played that role most of last season.
Nicholson was coming off another shaky performance at Rutgers. He showed improved tackling in the first half of the game at Rutgers, but he was the responsible party on two of Leonte Carroo's three TD receptions against the Spartans.
Nicholson also missed a tackle on a third-and-long QB scramble late in the game.
Against Michigan, Nicholson failed on a tackle opportunity during Peppers' 57-yard kickoff return in the second quarter.
Willis also missed a tackle on Peppers on a shovel sweep in the third quarter. Peppers beat linebackerRiley Bullough and Willis to the edge in turning the corner for a 28-yard run.
Willis has looked like a more natural, reliable tackler in the past two weeks than Nicholson. But Willis will need to remain solvent, and continue to make progress, in order to hold Nicholson off for the job.
Tyson Smith, Next Man Up
Cox is expected to remain at cornerback at least a while longer as Darian Hicks continues to recover from an apparent head injury suffered at Rutgers. Hicks started against the Scarlet Knights but had to come out of the lineup, midway through the game.
Cox and Colquhoun started at cornerback against Michigan.
Tyson Smith is likely to be the third true freshman to rotate into the secondary, this weekend.
Junior Jermaine Edmondson filled in for Hicks at Rutgers. However, coaches passed up the option of starting Edmondson with Colquhoun at Michigan (with Cox and a freshman at safety) in favor of moving Cox to corner, Edmondson to the bench and both freshmen at safety.
Edmondson didn't see action with the Spartan defense at Michigan, but provided the key block in helping Jalen Watts-Jackson find the end zone on the game-winning touchdown via Michigan's botched punt.
With Watts-Jackson out for the year, due to a hip injury sustained on the touchdown, and Hicks questionable, Dantonio said on Tuesday that true freshmen Tyson Smith and Josh Butler are likely to be activated for duty against the Hoosiers on Saturday.
Michigan State came into the season believing it needed to have nine defensive backs available to take on the best uptempo spread attacks, such as Oregon. Michigan State planned to use the same approach to defensing Indiana, but Michigan State is without five defensive backs who played against the Ducks: Hicks, Meyers, Watts-Jackson, Williamson and Vayante Copeland.
In trying to piece together an eight-person defensive backfield playing group, the Spartans will likely go with: Colquhoun, Cox, Miller, Willis as starters; Nicholson and Edmondson as the top reserves off the bench. After those six, Michigan State listed three true freshmen in filling out the top nine in the secondary: Butler, Smith and fellow true freshman David Dowell.
Smith and Butler are set to play this weekend.
"There's no question that both those guys could have showed up on special teams already, but in my mind, they should be playing significant plays if we are taking a red-shirt off of them," Dantonio said. "And so that's why we have not played them yet because they weren't in a position to play significant plays.
"I think this week, Tyson will be for sure. I think maybe Josh, but we'll see. We do have other options there. He's a good player, though."
Wide receiver R.J. Shelton played a handful of snaps at cornerback in the Cotton Bowl against Baylor. However, he told SpartanMag.com on Tuesday that he has not yet repped at cornerback in practice this year. So he is apparently not an option MSU is considering at this point.
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