Dantonio: resilience part of MSU's developing identity
Paul Konyndyk | Associate Editor
Mark Dantonio has been impressed with his young team's ability to handle adversity, including self-inflicted adversity.
Associated Press
Watching all but a handful of plays in the third quarter of a 30-27 victory at Minnesota, may have been a factor in Michigan State’s slippage on defense during a furious fourth-quarter Golden Gopher comeback, which was thwarted by a pair of onside kick recoveries by Khari Willis and Cody White.
“Our defense was not on the field almost the entire third quarter,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said during his weekly teleconference on Sunday. “I think it was 27 plays to four. So, then they had to come back in and we did not play well at that point.
“The game got very interesting but we closed out, won the football game and we’re 5-1 and made it difficult for them to run the football, had explosive plays.”
Changing quarterbacks from Conor Rhoda to Demry Croft provided a much-needed spark for a Minnesota offense, which had been stagnant until the fourth quarter. Croft ability to scrambling for positive yards on broken plays gave him the confidence needed to make big plays in the passing game down the stretch.
In retrospect, Dantonio believes his ballclub may have erred by defending Croft the same way they defended Rhoda.
“I thought we got a little lax there at the end and we didn't play as well as we had early,” Dantonio said, “and their quarterback change sort of changed the structure of the game. We needed to go to more of a capture mode, rather than just trying to take off and sack him at all costs. I felt like he got out a bit and extended plays, and that led to a couple of scores in the fourth quarter, that made it very close.”
Developing Resiliency
Young teams make mistakes, and Michigan State made a bunch of them in the fourth quarter against Minnesota. But the ability to bounce back from mistakes is beginning to emerge as part of youthful Spartans' identity according to Dantonio.
“It's painful at times, but I guess we all learn with some of the mistakes that we make, or we learn with things that happen to us,” Dantonio said. “It's not so much the mistakes, just things that happen. It's older players, younger players. I feel like our football team is developing a personality as we do this, as we move through. We're going to play hard, we're going to make some mistakes, but we're going to play hard and we're going to come ready to play. Those are the biggest two things that I could ask for of our football team.”
Michigan State’s resiliency as a football team begins with sophomore quarterback Brian Lewerke, whose demeanor is unchanged when faced with adversity like a first-quarter interception, which could have easily resulted in a pick-six, but didn’t.
“We’re going to make mistakes,” Dantonio said. “The biggest thing that I can say about our football team is we don’t get rattled when things happen. We didn’t get rattled when we had a 30-minute delay. When I walked over to Brian after the pick, he wasn’t rattled and was ready to go back to work. That’s a positive, and people see that, feel that in terms of his leadership.”
Cave Man Football
Michigan State was determined to get its run game sorted out at Minnesota, and the Spartans did just that, rushing for 245 yards and three touchdowns on a night LJ Scott set a new career high rushing total with 194 yards on 25 carries.
Michigan State’s game plan for run the ball effectively against Minnesota defense, which was ranked No. 25 in the FBS against the run before facing the Spartans, was to use multiple tight ends and a fullback. Early success running the football out of its jumbo package, a fullback, one wide receiver, and multiple tight ends, including converted offensive guard Chase Gianacakos, led co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner to stick with what worked.
“I thought Chase had a big game on Saturday night at tight end,” Dantonio said. “He gives us a different personnel grouping in there. He’s been good. It’s been good for him, and it’s been good for the football team.”
The likelihood of inclement weather made running the football imperative for Michigan State.
“We felt like the weather would be like this,” Dantonio said. “I do feel like we all felt like we needed to get our tailbacks going, and we did feel like these were things we could exploit a little bit because we had not done them as much … But the biggest reason, I think, is we wanted to get our tailbacks going. And the reality of the situation is, if things are working, you see more of it. And things were working.”
Fullback Colin Lucas was also instrumental in Michigan State’s success on the ground.
“Lucas played his best game last night,” Dantonio said. “I thought he had a dominant block on that touchdown run of L.J.’s to the right. I thought he had a nice game and did a nice job. He is going to fit up on you.”
Jarvis settling in, Reid gaining experience
Right guard Kevin Jarvis made his third consecutive start on Saturday, and the experience he has gained during in the Big Ten thus far will benefit the talented true freshman moving forward.
“I thought that he did some very good things,” Dantonio said. “He got out on the edge, but there’s a lot of different things that are going on in there, so again it’s a learning process for him. But when you look at him he’s extremely talented, he’s not out of sorts in terms of his athletic ability with size or his strength there.”
Dantonio does, however, seem concerned with keeping Jarvis fresh, and avoiding the dreaded freshman wall.
“He’s got valuable experience there and he’ll remain a fixture in that offensive line for many years and through the remainder of this year,” Dantonio said. “But I do think at times we need to take a little bit of stress off of him and just give him a minute to sort of settle in a little bit and refocus a little bit because it’s tough being out there every single play he’s out there as a true freshman.”
Jarvis was inserted into the starting lineup after an undisclosed injury to junior David Beedle, who remains sidelined, but could return at some point this season, according to Dantonio, who also expects promising redshirt freshman tackle AJ Arcuri to return from injury this season.
Jarvis is one of two true freshman playing significant roles for Michigan State on the o-line, along with Jordan Reid, who played 22 snaps against Minnesota at right tackle. Investing reps in Reid at right tackles enables Michigan State to give starting left tackle Cole Chewins a breather from time to time. In those instances, the Spartans move redshirt freshman Luke Campbell from right to left tackle.
“Jordan is very athletic,” Dantonio said. “He played right tackle, we flopped Luke Campbell over to left tackle to give (Chewins) some relief … But he’s a very good football player. Again, a true freshman, so we have a redshirt freshman, two true freshmen really playing there, then two sophomores and a senior making up the bulk of who’s playing on our offensive line. But talented and should be another fixture for the future.”
Dazzling Debut
True freshman Connor Heyward validated his reputation for great hands in his debut as Michigan State’s starting kick and punt returner.
“He has done an outstanding job of catching punts in practice and kickoffs in practice and I just felt like we needed a guy that could do that and had some running back skills,” Dantonio said.
Heyward showed running back skills, and then some, totaling, 115 yards on three kick returns.
“He’s got great running skills, he’s calm, he’s been in a position of leadership,” Dantonio said. “I don’t think any situation is too big for him because he was a quarterback at a large high school in Georgia, and also he started as a ninth grader for their basketball team. So, I knew he had been in pressure situations before. He has great hands, great hand-eye coordination.”
Heyward’s impact performance likely cemented Heyward’s role as Michigan State’s starting punt and kick returner for years to come.
“I think he showed what he could do a little bit, which was a big positive in the game,” Dantonio said.
Heyward would have been the story on special teams if not for redshirt freshman kicker Matt Coghlin making field goals of 42, 35, and 25 yards respectively.
“He’s proven to be a good kicker, and thus far he’s 5-of-7 on the year,” Dantonio said. “I think the two he’s missed -- he missed the last one here, but I’ll give him a hall pass on that one, I guess. He’s gotten the ball up, which that’s the main thing with me all the time. Get the ball up and believe you’re going to make it.”
Paul Konyndyk | Associate Editor
Mark Dantonio has been impressed with his young team's ability to handle adversity, including self-inflicted adversity.
Associated Press
Watching all but a handful of plays in the third quarter of a 30-27 victory at Minnesota, may have been a factor in Michigan State’s slippage on defense during a furious fourth-quarter Golden Gopher comeback, which was thwarted by a pair of onside kick recoveries by Khari Willis and Cody White.
“Our defense was not on the field almost the entire third quarter,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said during his weekly teleconference on Sunday. “I think it was 27 plays to four. So, then they had to come back in and we did not play well at that point.
“The game got very interesting but we closed out, won the football game and we’re 5-1 and made it difficult for them to run the football, had explosive plays.”
Changing quarterbacks from Conor Rhoda to Demry Croft provided a much-needed spark for a Minnesota offense, which had been stagnant until the fourth quarter. Croft ability to scrambling for positive yards on broken plays gave him the confidence needed to make big plays in the passing game down the stretch.
In retrospect, Dantonio believes his ballclub may have erred by defending Croft the same way they defended Rhoda.
“I thought we got a little lax there at the end and we didn't play as well as we had early,” Dantonio said, “and their quarterback change sort of changed the structure of the game. We needed to go to more of a capture mode, rather than just trying to take off and sack him at all costs. I felt like he got out a bit and extended plays, and that led to a couple of scores in the fourth quarter, that made it very close.”
Developing Resiliency
Young teams make mistakes, and Michigan State made a bunch of them in the fourth quarter against Minnesota. But the ability to bounce back from mistakes is beginning to emerge as part of youthful Spartans' identity according to Dantonio.
“It's painful at times, but I guess we all learn with some of the mistakes that we make, or we learn with things that happen to us,” Dantonio said. “It's not so much the mistakes, just things that happen. It's older players, younger players. I feel like our football team is developing a personality as we do this, as we move through. We're going to play hard, we're going to make some mistakes, but we're going to play hard and we're going to come ready to play. Those are the biggest two things that I could ask for of our football team.”
Michigan State’s resiliency as a football team begins with sophomore quarterback Brian Lewerke, whose demeanor is unchanged when faced with adversity like a first-quarter interception, which could have easily resulted in a pick-six, but didn’t.
“We’re going to make mistakes,” Dantonio said. “The biggest thing that I can say about our football team is we don’t get rattled when things happen. We didn’t get rattled when we had a 30-minute delay. When I walked over to Brian after the pick, he wasn’t rattled and was ready to go back to work. That’s a positive, and people see that, feel that in terms of his leadership.”
Cave Man Football
Michigan State was determined to get its run game sorted out at Minnesota, and the Spartans did just that, rushing for 245 yards and three touchdowns on a night LJ Scott set a new career high rushing total with 194 yards on 25 carries.
Michigan State’s game plan for run the ball effectively against Minnesota defense, which was ranked No. 25 in the FBS against the run before facing the Spartans, was to use multiple tight ends and a fullback. Early success running the football out of its jumbo package, a fullback, one wide receiver, and multiple tight ends, including converted offensive guard Chase Gianacakos, led co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner to stick with what worked.
“I thought Chase had a big game on Saturday night at tight end,” Dantonio said. “He gives us a different personnel grouping in there. He’s been good. It’s been good for him, and it’s been good for the football team.”
The likelihood of inclement weather made running the football imperative for Michigan State.
“We felt like the weather would be like this,” Dantonio said. “I do feel like we all felt like we needed to get our tailbacks going, and we did feel like these were things we could exploit a little bit because we had not done them as much … But the biggest reason, I think, is we wanted to get our tailbacks going. And the reality of the situation is, if things are working, you see more of it. And things were working.”
Fullback Colin Lucas was also instrumental in Michigan State’s success on the ground.
“Lucas played his best game last night,” Dantonio said. “I thought he had a dominant block on that touchdown run of L.J.’s to the right. I thought he had a nice game and did a nice job. He is going to fit up on you.”
Jarvis settling in, Reid gaining experience
Right guard Kevin Jarvis made his third consecutive start on Saturday, and the experience he has gained during in the Big Ten thus far will benefit the talented true freshman moving forward.
“I thought that he did some very good things,” Dantonio said. “He got out on the edge, but there’s a lot of different things that are going on in there, so again it’s a learning process for him. But when you look at him he’s extremely talented, he’s not out of sorts in terms of his athletic ability with size or his strength there.”
Dantonio does, however, seem concerned with keeping Jarvis fresh, and avoiding the dreaded freshman wall.
“He’s got valuable experience there and he’ll remain a fixture in that offensive line for many years and through the remainder of this year,” Dantonio said. “But I do think at times we need to take a little bit of stress off of him and just give him a minute to sort of settle in a little bit and refocus a little bit because it’s tough being out there every single play he’s out there as a true freshman.”
Jarvis was inserted into the starting lineup after an undisclosed injury to junior David Beedle, who remains sidelined, but could return at some point this season, according to Dantonio, who also expects promising redshirt freshman tackle AJ Arcuri to return from injury this season.
Jarvis is one of two true freshman playing significant roles for Michigan State on the o-line, along with Jordan Reid, who played 22 snaps against Minnesota at right tackle. Investing reps in Reid at right tackles enables Michigan State to give starting left tackle Cole Chewins a breather from time to time. In those instances, the Spartans move redshirt freshman Luke Campbell from right to left tackle.
“Jordan is very athletic,” Dantonio said. “He played right tackle, we flopped Luke Campbell over to left tackle to give (Chewins) some relief … But he’s a very good football player. Again, a true freshman, so we have a redshirt freshman, two true freshmen really playing there, then two sophomores and a senior making up the bulk of who’s playing on our offensive line. But talented and should be another fixture for the future.”
Dazzling Debut
True freshman Connor Heyward validated his reputation for great hands in his debut as Michigan State’s starting kick and punt returner.
“He has done an outstanding job of catching punts in practice and kickoffs in practice and I just felt like we needed a guy that could do that and had some running back skills,” Dantonio said.
Heyward showed running back skills, and then some, totaling, 115 yards on three kick returns.
“He’s got great running skills, he’s calm, he’s been in a position of leadership,” Dantonio said. “I don’t think any situation is too big for him because he was a quarterback at a large high school in Georgia, and also he started as a ninth grader for their basketball team. So, I knew he had been in pressure situations before. He has great hands, great hand-eye coordination.”
Heyward’s impact performance likely cemented Heyward’s role as Michigan State’s starting punt and kick returner for years to come.
“I think he showed what he could do a little bit, which was a big positive in the game,” Dantonio said.
Heyward would have been the story on special teams if not for redshirt freshman kicker Matt Coghlin making field goals of 42, 35, and 25 yards respectively.
“He’s proven to be a good kicker, and thus far he’s 5-of-7 on the year,” Dantonio said. “I think the two he’s missed -- he missed the last one here, but I’ll give him a hall pass on that one, I guess. He’s gotten the ball up, which that’s the main thing with me all the time. Get the ball up and believe you’re going to make it.”
