Thorne among true freshmen turning heads in bowl practice
Jim Comparoni •
SpartanMag
Publisher
The Spartans are winding down their bowl preparations in New York City this week in advance of Friday’s New Era Pinstripe Bowl game against Wake Forest.
But before the Spartans left East Lansing, MSU’s freshmen and assorted underclassmen had a chance to show out in front of the coaches.
During the first two days of the bowl practice season, on Dec. 6 and 7, periods were held to showcase young players against one another.
Many of MSU’s true freshmen spent the fall season on the scout team. But the bowl practices gave them a chance to work within the MSU system for a change. True freshmen were gradually integrated into the practice playing groups.
“The first two practices were like everyone thrown in,” said senior quarterback Brian Lewerke. “We weren’t running a ton of crazy stuff. Try to keep it mellow for the young guys so they know what they’re doing.”
Those two days culminated on Dec. 7 with a special pair of periods in which the freshmen and rookies squared off solely against one another while upper classmen cheered on the sidelines.
“That was fun,” said senior tight end Matt Seybert. “We got real excited for them.”
In past years, with the regular season ending earlier and bowl games played later, there was time for more than a single period or two of freshman scrimmaging. But only four weeks between the regular season (Nov. 30) and the bowl game - with final exams and some time off mixed in - Michigan State wasn't able to have the kind of extended bowl season that used to be commonplace in college football.
But they got the most out of it.
“The bowl season is fun because all the young players get to come in and get reps,” Lombardi said. “Although I’m not necessarily a young player anymore, it’s good to see some of those guys get in and get with the team and improve. Through that, you can see the older guys getting fired up and bringing more energy because of them."
The freshman scrimmage period served as a highlight of the early portion of bowl season for the Spartans.
“Both sides are hype, the offense and the defense," Lombardi said. "You get a good run and everybody is hyped up. So it’s good for team bonding, too.”
The periods aren’t as long as an actual football game quarter. A period is more like a series of 10 or 15 plays. But it was enough for some freshmen to turns heads.
Coaches weren’t available to comment about the freshman scrimmage periods, prior to leaving for New York. But seniors such as Lewerke and tight end Seybert were interested spectators and came away with some opinions.
“Obviously Peyton (Thorne) is a dude,” Seybert said of the true freshman quarterback.
“He’s very shifty, very smart and he’s got a very consistent arm with great accuracy. He is very confident out there already, which I saw during that scrimmage period.
“(Wide receiver) Jayden Reed is not a freshman because he was at Western (Michigan) last year, but that man is going to be a problem for people and he showed it.
“Jalen Hunt on the d-line was making plays during that period. (Linebacker) Luke Fulton was playing pretty physical in that period. They were showing out and it was fun to watch them.”
Hunt (6-2, 305, Belleville) saw a little bit of playing time in November, but not enough to lose freshman eligibility. He will be listed as a redshirt freshman next fall and is emerging as a strong favorite to be in the playing group and compete for a starting job, along with Naquan Jones and Jacob Slade.
Hunt was a late addition to last year’s recruiting class. He committed to Iowa, but didn’t sign. MSU stuck with him through the late spring and summer, and added him to the program prior to August camp.
“I think he's on the cusp,” Mark Dantonio said last week. “He’s a guy who is going to be a great player for us. He came in about 320 or so, now he's about 305. He was a Dream Team selection at Belleville. Explosive, great change of direction, had a great year academically as well. He's traveled the last half of the season, may play a little bit in the bowl game as well.”
Fulton (6-2, 230, True Fr., Youngstown Cardinal Mooney) is an inside linebacker who is likely to compete with redshirt freshman Ed Warinner and walk-on junior Dante Razzano for second-string duty behind Noah Harvey at Mike linebacker in the spring. Incoming freshman Cal Haladay, a mid-year enrollee from Catawissa, Pa., will also be in the picture.
THORNE PRODUCTIVE IN FRESHMAN PERIODS
Payton Thorne, shown here during August camp, has had a constructive redshirt year.
Many eyes will be on the quarterback position next spring. Thorne will go into winter sessions with some momentum, coming out of bowl practice.
“He learned a lot,” Lewerke said. “Even though he wasn’t in the room, he still knows what he’s doing, the signals and all that stuff, where his read is. So I think he has definitely grown since he came here.”
Seybert noticed it too.
“With Peyton, his intelligence has really stood out to me,” Seybert said. “I haven’t been able to play much with him because I’ve been with the offense and he’s been with the scout team. With him being the youngest guy in the room, he has a bright future.”
Most upper classmen make sure to spread their compliments around. Seybert is no different.
“I love Theo (Day),” Seybert said. “He is also very intelligent. He makes smart decisions, he’s tall and a good, athletic guy.
“Rocky has the grit. He’ll go and run someone over.
“They’re all intelligent, you have to be smart as heck to play quarterback.”
Thorne is the intriguing x-factor of the group. He is a 6-foot-2, 197-pounder from Naperville, Ill. He was a three-star recruit, ranked the No. 1 QB in Illinois by Rivals.com and the No. 24 player overall in Illinois. He committed to MSU in December of 2018 after originally being committed to Western Michigan.
Thorne enjoyed the competitiveness of the freshman periods, early in bowl practice.
“It was fun to be in a live situation again, to be able to play with those guys and be able to throw the ball around,” Thorne said. “It felt good to be able to just go out there and play, just roll the ball out there and let’s see what you got.”
Reed, the transfer from Western Michigan, was Thorne’s favorite receiver during the freshman scrimmage. That's no surprise.
Reed, a 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore, caught 56 passes in 2018 at Western Michigan. He was a FWAA Freshman All-American, and then transferred to Michigan State.
Reed attended Naperville (Ill.) Central High School with Thorne. In 2017, when Thorne was a junior at Naperville Central and Reed was a senior, Reed hauled in 60 receptions for 1,792 yards and 20 touchdowns.
After Reed signed with Western Michigan, he was a factor in helping Thorne commit to the Broncos the following year. But then when MSU flipped Thorne, Reed soon followed his former quarterback to East Lansing.
Those two hooked up nicely a few times in the freshman scrimmage periods on Dec. 7.
“I think I threw Jayden a bubble or something and he made a guy miss,” Thorne said. “It was a short period, so nothing crazy.”
Thorne hooked up with other receivers during the freshman scrimmage periods, too.
“Javez (Alexander), I think is a very good player too,” Thorne said. “It’s been fun to get relationships going with other guys. Andre Welch is fun to play with.”
Redshirt freshmen and sophomores tried to take advantage of bowl practice scrimmage reps, too.
“It’s good to get in there and build some of that chemistry and rep with the ones that I don’t always get to rep with,” Lombardi said. “It’s such a long season that the team wears down. The bowl practice is good in that it brings everybody back together for one purpose.
“Everybody got back after a couple of days off and everybody’s body feels good and it’s just a completely different atmosphere.”
Day, who will compete with Lombardi and Thorne for the starting quarterback job in 2020, was fired up about it too.
“Bowl practice is almost like a new start from the season,” Day said. “We can look at what we did well during the season and what we did poorly. We can kind of learn from that and build off that.”
Some true freshmen who crept into the playing group late in the fall have continued to gain momentum in December. True freshman running back Brandon Wright is in that category.
“Brandon Wright’s been thrown in there a little bit more,” Lewerke said. “He’s been playing well.”
Wright saw his role sneakily increase in the last month of the season.
Wright had 18 carries on the year for 48 yards. He had five carries in each of the last two games, and he was the go-to ball carrier on MSU’s final drive for a game-winning field goal against Maryland. He didn’t pick up first-down yardage against the Terrapins in that situation, but with Elijah Collins slowed by a minor lower body injury, coaches turned heads by going with Wright at crunch time.
“Brandon has been doing really good,” Seybert said. “He’s been playing so it’s not like he is out of nowhere, but he has been getting better and better every day. But everybody knows that guy is a big body and he is going to be a load to bring down.”
During freshman scrimmage time, offensive linemen like Nick Samac, D.J. Duplain and Devontae Dobbs probably felt like old veterans. Samac and Duplain became emergency starters in the second half of the season, for better or worse.
Bowl practices gave them a chance to step back and gather themselves.
“They’re still growing, still learning,” Lewerke said. “They are by no means a finished product yet. That’s why these practices are good for them - to develop and get better.”
Jim Comparoni •
SpartanMag
Publisher
The Spartans are winding down their bowl preparations in New York City this week in advance of Friday’s New Era Pinstripe Bowl game against Wake Forest.
But before the Spartans left East Lansing, MSU’s freshmen and assorted underclassmen had a chance to show out in front of the coaches.
During the first two days of the bowl practice season, on Dec. 6 and 7, periods were held to showcase young players against one another.
Many of MSU’s true freshmen spent the fall season on the scout team. But the bowl practices gave them a chance to work within the MSU system for a change. True freshmen were gradually integrated into the practice playing groups.
“The first two practices were like everyone thrown in,” said senior quarterback Brian Lewerke. “We weren’t running a ton of crazy stuff. Try to keep it mellow for the young guys so they know what they’re doing.”
Those two days culminated on Dec. 7 with a special pair of periods in which the freshmen and rookies squared off solely against one another while upper classmen cheered on the sidelines.
“That was fun,” said senior tight end Matt Seybert. “We got real excited for them.”
In past years, with the regular season ending earlier and bowl games played later, there was time for more than a single period or two of freshman scrimmaging. But only four weeks between the regular season (Nov. 30) and the bowl game - with final exams and some time off mixed in - Michigan State wasn't able to have the kind of extended bowl season that used to be commonplace in college football.
But they got the most out of it.
“The bowl season is fun because all the young players get to come in and get reps,” Lombardi said. “Although I’m not necessarily a young player anymore, it’s good to see some of those guys get in and get with the team and improve. Through that, you can see the older guys getting fired up and bringing more energy because of them."
The freshman scrimmage period served as a highlight of the early portion of bowl season for the Spartans.
“Both sides are hype, the offense and the defense," Lombardi said. "You get a good run and everybody is hyped up. So it’s good for team bonding, too.”
The periods aren’t as long as an actual football game quarter. A period is more like a series of 10 or 15 plays. But it was enough for some freshmen to turns heads.
Coaches weren’t available to comment about the freshman scrimmage periods, prior to leaving for New York. But seniors such as Lewerke and tight end Seybert were interested spectators and came away with some opinions.
“Obviously Peyton (Thorne) is a dude,” Seybert said of the true freshman quarterback.
“He’s very shifty, very smart and he’s got a very consistent arm with great accuracy. He is very confident out there already, which I saw during that scrimmage period.
“(Wide receiver) Jayden Reed is not a freshman because he was at Western (Michigan) last year, but that man is going to be a problem for people and he showed it.
“Jalen Hunt on the d-line was making plays during that period. (Linebacker) Luke Fulton was playing pretty physical in that period. They were showing out and it was fun to watch them.”
Hunt (6-2, 305, Belleville) saw a little bit of playing time in November, but not enough to lose freshman eligibility. He will be listed as a redshirt freshman next fall and is emerging as a strong favorite to be in the playing group and compete for a starting job, along with Naquan Jones and Jacob Slade.
Hunt was a late addition to last year’s recruiting class. He committed to Iowa, but didn’t sign. MSU stuck with him through the late spring and summer, and added him to the program prior to August camp.
“I think he's on the cusp,” Mark Dantonio said last week. “He’s a guy who is going to be a great player for us. He came in about 320 or so, now he's about 305. He was a Dream Team selection at Belleville. Explosive, great change of direction, had a great year academically as well. He's traveled the last half of the season, may play a little bit in the bowl game as well.”
Fulton (6-2, 230, True Fr., Youngstown Cardinal Mooney) is an inside linebacker who is likely to compete with redshirt freshman Ed Warinner and walk-on junior Dante Razzano for second-string duty behind Noah Harvey at Mike linebacker in the spring. Incoming freshman Cal Haladay, a mid-year enrollee from Catawissa, Pa., will also be in the picture.
THORNE PRODUCTIVE IN FRESHMAN PERIODS
Payton Thorne, shown here during August camp, has had a constructive redshirt year.
Many eyes will be on the quarterback position next spring. Thorne will go into winter sessions with some momentum, coming out of bowl practice.
“He learned a lot,” Lewerke said. “Even though he wasn’t in the room, he still knows what he’s doing, the signals and all that stuff, where his read is. So I think he has definitely grown since he came here.”
Seybert noticed it too.
“With Peyton, his intelligence has really stood out to me,” Seybert said. “I haven’t been able to play much with him because I’ve been with the offense and he’s been with the scout team. With him being the youngest guy in the room, he has a bright future.”
Most upper classmen make sure to spread their compliments around. Seybert is no different.
“I love Theo (Day),” Seybert said. “He is also very intelligent. He makes smart decisions, he’s tall and a good, athletic guy.
“Rocky has the grit. He’ll go and run someone over.
“They’re all intelligent, you have to be smart as heck to play quarterback.”
Thorne is the intriguing x-factor of the group. He is a 6-foot-2, 197-pounder from Naperville, Ill. He was a three-star recruit, ranked the No. 1 QB in Illinois by Rivals.com and the No. 24 player overall in Illinois. He committed to MSU in December of 2018 after originally being committed to Western Michigan.
Thorne enjoyed the competitiveness of the freshman periods, early in bowl practice.
“It was fun to be in a live situation again, to be able to play with those guys and be able to throw the ball around,” Thorne said. “It felt good to be able to just go out there and play, just roll the ball out there and let’s see what you got.”
Reed, the transfer from Western Michigan, was Thorne’s favorite receiver during the freshman scrimmage. That's no surprise.
Reed, a 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore, caught 56 passes in 2018 at Western Michigan. He was a FWAA Freshman All-American, and then transferred to Michigan State.
Reed attended Naperville (Ill.) Central High School with Thorne. In 2017, when Thorne was a junior at Naperville Central and Reed was a senior, Reed hauled in 60 receptions for 1,792 yards and 20 touchdowns.
After Reed signed with Western Michigan, he was a factor in helping Thorne commit to the Broncos the following year. But then when MSU flipped Thorne, Reed soon followed his former quarterback to East Lansing.
Those two hooked up nicely a few times in the freshman scrimmage periods on Dec. 7.
“I think I threw Jayden a bubble or something and he made a guy miss,” Thorne said. “It was a short period, so nothing crazy.”
Thorne hooked up with other receivers during the freshman scrimmage periods, too.
“Javez (Alexander), I think is a very good player too,” Thorne said. “It’s been fun to get relationships going with other guys. Andre Welch is fun to play with.”
Redshirt freshmen and sophomores tried to take advantage of bowl practice scrimmage reps, too.
“It’s good to get in there and build some of that chemistry and rep with the ones that I don’t always get to rep with,” Lombardi said. “It’s such a long season that the team wears down. The bowl practice is good in that it brings everybody back together for one purpose.
“Everybody got back after a couple of days off and everybody’s body feels good and it’s just a completely different atmosphere.”
Day, who will compete with Lombardi and Thorne for the starting quarterback job in 2020, was fired up about it too.
“Bowl practice is almost like a new start from the season,” Day said. “We can look at what we did well during the season and what we did poorly. We can kind of learn from that and build off that.”
Some true freshmen who crept into the playing group late in the fall have continued to gain momentum in December. True freshman running back Brandon Wright is in that category.
“Brandon Wright’s been thrown in there a little bit more,” Lewerke said. “He’s been playing well.”
Wright saw his role sneakily increase in the last month of the season.
Wright had 18 carries on the year for 48 yards. He had five carries in each of the last two games, and he was the go-to ball carrier on MSU’s final drive for a game-winning field goal against Maryland. He didn’t pick up first-down yardage against the Terrapins in that situation, but with Elijah Collins slowed by a minor lower body injury, coaches turned heads by going with Wright at crunch time.
“Brandon has been doing really good,” Seybert said. “He’s been playing so it’s not like he is out of nowhere, but he has been getting better and better every day. But everybody knows that guy is a big body and he is going to be a load to bring down.”
During freshman scrimmage time, offensive linemen like Nick Samac, D.J. Duplain and Devontae Dobbs probably felt like old veterans. Samac and Duplain became emergency starters in the second half of the season, for better or worse.
Bowl practices gave them a chance to step back and gather themselves.
“They’re still growing, still learning,” Lewerke said. “They are by no means a finished product yet. That’s why these practices are good for them - to develop and get better.”
