https://michiganstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1813974
LJ Scott could experience first-time vibe as starter
Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher
EAST LANSING - True freshman running back LJ Scott could be in line for his first college start on Saturday, and he'll do it in college football's biggest stadium.
With redshirt freshman running back Madre London's status uncertain after an apparent knee injury last week at Rutgers, the time might be coming for Scott to emerge as a feature back who may have to carry the ball more than 20 times a game.
"I think this is why he came to a place like Michigan State," said head coach Mark Dantonio. "He's played on a big stage already, in the Oregon game on a real big stage. Every game here is a big stage. Oh, I think L.J. will be fine. I think he's handled that situation. He will be ready to go."
Dantonio said he held Scott out of the first half of the Rutgers game with a knee situation. Scott chipped in an enormous 15-yard romp on a key third-and-one situation during the game-winning drive at Rutgers, receiving key blocks from fullback Trevon Pendletonand tight end Paul Lang.
Scott and London split carries evenly through the first six games. Now Scott might be called upon to take on a larger share of the work load.
Scott leads the team with 418 yards rushing (6.0 per attempt).
"L.J. is getting more and more confident each and every week," Cook said. "Going all the way back to Western, I remember, like the end of that game, handing him the ball to him trying to get the clock out, watching him break tackles and I was kind of shocked, like, wow, this kid is a freshman. And he's just going to continue to get better as the season goes on and each and every week moves forward.
"He's a good running back and he's smart. Usually freshman running backs take time to learn a playbook or don't know how to block or don't know who is accounted for, but L.J. puts in the time, he puts in the extra hours in the film room. Coach Warner gets him right being a running backs coach, and he understands the game, and that's what you want from a guy who is younger to understand what's going on, and that's what he does. I think he's going to continue to get better."
As for the adrenalin level of facing the arch-rival, Dantonio says he had little advice for first-timers.
"Guys want to know: Hey, what's it like? Well, I can't really tell you, you've got to experience it first-hand," Dantonio said.
When Dantonio was a first-year assistant under Nick Saban in 1995, Saban and holdover assistants Pat Shurmur and Bobby Williams told new staff members they would only need a few minutes of time on the field during pre-game warm-ups for the Michigan game to get a feel for what the rivalry is about. Dantonio hasn't gone into specifics about it, but he seemed to feel it again in his first game as head coach in 2007 against Lloyd Carr's Wolverines. There was less animosity during the Rich Rodriguez years, as Dantonio had a previous positive relationship with Rodriguez from their years in the Big East.
Last year, Michigan rankled Dantonio when linebacker Joe Bolden spiked the Spartan Stadium grass with a tent stake during pre-game. The stunt prompted Dantonio's decision to go for an extra touchdown in the final minute. Dantonio said "it got shoved," presumably back at them.
Dantonio qualified that remark and touchdown by saying the stake incident "comes from the program," and not former head coach Brady Hoke.
Cook says he has felt the vibe prior to kickoff.
"Coach usually says you don't have to say anything about it, as soon as you are out there for warm-ups, you kinda feel it," Cook said. "You know, the attitude, the emotion, there is just something in the air that you get, that you feel playing against Michigan.
"It's very intense. There is a lot of heart that goes into this game, and just starting out and going out there and feeling it, smelling the air, all that stuff, it kinda runs through your body, runs through your veins and you kinda just get more pumped up than you would for any other opponent."
The vibe begins in a different way on the practice field.
"I think you're always going to see signs in (Coach Dantonio) and the rest of our coaching staff when this week comes up," senior senior linebacker Darien Harris. "We had our normal Tuesday lift this morning and it took about 35, 40 minutes to even start moving some weight, because (strength) Coach Mannie had to give his spiel that he gives every year for this game, and that's how it's going to be for the rest of our coaches. They're fired up for this, ready to go.
"We came in, Monday morning to watch film from the Rutgers game, and Coach Tressel was saying how he hasn't slept since the night before, because he had been up watching film. So you're always going to get a different vibe when this week comes up, and when we hit that practice field today, it's just going to be something different out there."
"I'm expecting a very loud, hostile environment," said Cook, who has never started a game at Michigan Stadium. "There is no such thing as a perfect football game, and things are going to go wrong, and I'm just trying to get focused right now as the week goes on and trying to picture myself making plays, visualizing myself making plays, and not being too high and not being too low and just staying level headed.
"In an environment like that as soon as Michigan makes one big play, the stadium is going to erupt, but we've just got to continue to fight forward and fight to the end.
Me, right now it's obviously early we have pretty much almost a whole week until we play them, couple more days, but I'm just trying to get mentally focused right now and visualize myself making plays and o
"Obviously, playingin stadiums like Iowa, in stadiums like Nebraska, playing at the Rose Bowl and playing at Ohio State at Indianapolis when 75, 80 percent of the people there were rooting for Ohio State, we've played in loud environments before, playing at Oregon, so obviously playing in those type of venues will have me ready for a venue like this."
