Follow-up story on Coghlin's recruitment, camp experience and commitment on the front of Mag.com:
https://michiganstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1777673
53-yarder at Spartan Stadium set Coghlin apart
Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher
Matthew Coghlin has been a member of the Spartan family for less than a day, but he already has made some clutch field goals in Spartan Stadium.
On Tuesday, seven days after dominating the Michigan State special teams camp, which finished up with intense field goal testing in Spartan Stadium, Michigan State offered Coghlin a gray-shirt scholarship plan. He accepted the offer and committed, choosing MSU over a full, immediate scholarship offer from Illinois, a gray-shirt offer from Purdue and heavy interest from Penn State.
The gray-shirt means Michigan State will bring him to campus in 2016 initially as a walk-on for his first semester, and then he will go on scholarship in January of 2017, counting toward next year's class. MSU didn't rule out the possibility of putting him on scholarship immediately for 2016, depending on scholarship availability.
"Right now it's a gray-shirt but with the possibility if things fall into place that it could be full right away," Coghlin said. "I was pretty excited when I was talking to Coach Dantonio, and we were talking about it. He's a big-time head coach. That's good stuff."
MSU has been tracking Coghlin for more than a year. Then on June 16, Coghlin and several other Division I hopeful kickers participated in Michigan State's special teams camp. The Spartans were utilizing the camp as a major checkpoint in their search for a kicker in the 2016 recruiting class.
First, Michigan State wanted to figure out who was the best of the bunch. Secondly, the coaches wanted to decide if the best guy was worth a scholarship.
Coghlin was so strong all day that he merited first place honors, and did it in scholarship-worthy fashion.
Last fall at Cincinnati Moeller, Coghlin was 17-of-27 on field goals, including makes from 46, 47, 47, 45 and 54.
When asked about the 17-for-27 success rate, Coghlin said: "At the end of the year, there were a lot of kicks in bad conditions but overall I felt like I had a great year."
"I think the key figure there is the 27 attempts," said esteemed Ohio kicking guru Tim Williams, who kicked for the Buckeyes in the early 90s and has trained dozens of kickers over the years, including Coghlin. "Their coach thought enough of him to have Matthew attempt some long, challenging kicks, and it should be noted that he was 5-of-6 in the state semifinals. He's done it in some unbelievably clutch situations."
The most recent of which were his kicks at Spartan Stadium last week.
"They had a competition with a lot of guys and then they brought the three best guys out to kick in the stadium and I did the best out there," Coghlin said.
SpartanMag.com doesn't have the names of the other participants, but Coghlin emerged as the clear winner.
"Coach (Mike) Tressel pretty much ran the camp and toward the end there was the kicker that is there now (Michael Geiger), and some past alums came out and helped, and toward the end Coach Dantonio came out with a bunch of other coaches," Coghlin said. "At the beginning, you have to show you're at the top. And then when Dantonio came out, you really felt the pressure on you, because they're looking at me and a couple of other guys and I need to stand out. And I was able to do that."
Was the pressure similar to hitting a game-tying field goal from 35 yards out with :03 seconds left to force overtime against archival St. Xavier during his sophomore year?
"It's pretty close," Coghlin said of the intensity of the moment.
Coghlin made that field goal against St. Xavier as a 10th-grader and then the game-winner in overtime.
A year later, he was MVP in a 13-7 win over St. Xavier.
Michigan State routinely keeps tabs on rising prospects at Cincinnati Moeller, one of the top programs in the Midwest - one that has produced Greg Jones, Marcus Rush, Shane Jones and Monty Madaris in recent years. But Michigan State's coaches didn't know much about Coghlin when he camped at MSU in the summer of 2014. MSU didn't invite him to that camp. He showed up on his own.
"I went to their camp last year and did really well and talked to Coach Tressel afterward," Coghlin said. "Nothing really came of it, I guess."
He also camped at Cincinnati, Georgia and Kansas last summer.
This summer, he camped at MSU, Purdue, Illinois, Pitt and Penn State.
Why Michigan State again?
"Well why not?" Coghlin said. "They're such a great program, winning tradition. The last couple of years they're been great. So it was the winning, and their need for a kicker. And I've been up there twice now and I've just loved it both times."
At the MSU camp, Coghlin capped his winning performance by going 1-of-1 from 53 yards out, in swirling wind with Dantonio standing nearby.
"Tressel was very excited and said at the end, 'Well, you won the camp. And that's good,'" Coghlin said. "Coach Dantonio talked to me for a couple of minutes after the camp. It was like, 'You just jumped to No. 1. You're our guy. We'll have to see where the scholarships are.'
"The scholarship talk started the day after, with Coach Tressel saying, 'We really want you. Let's see what we can do.' And then it progressed."
Purdue offered a gray-shirt plan.
Illinois took it a step farther and offered an immediate full-ride scholarship on Monday. Spartan coaches were informed about that offer and had to talk war room business, Monday night. That's when Dantonio okayed the decision to offer a gray shirt, and sent word for Coghlin to call him Tuesday morning.
"I spoke with Coach Dantonio this morning and he told me that I was offered," Coghlin said Tuesday night. "My dad is a pilot and he was flying so I told him (Dantonio), 'Yeah I'm pretty excited and I'm looking to commit but I wanted to talk to my dad first.'"
Coghlin reached his dad later in the day and they decided it was time to accept the offer.
"So I talked to Coach Dantonio again and gave him my commitment," Coghlin said. "Coach Dantonio said, 'We're very excited. You're our guy. You're part of the future. We're really glad to have you up here and there are going to be great things in the future.'
"They said they like my leg strength and my poise and my ability to do both field goals and kickoffs."
Coghlin likes being the 20th member of Michigan State's 2016 recruiting class, a group that ranks among the Top 5 in the country in the Rivals.com rankings.
"I'm very excited to be a part of this class," he said. "There are a lot of big things coming and I think Michigan State has a bright future."
https://michiganstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1777673
53-yarder at Spartan Stadium set Coghlin apart
Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher
Matthew Coghlin has been a member of the Spartan family for less than a day, but he already has made some clutch field goals in Spartan Stadium.
On Tuesday, seven days after dominating the Michigan State special teams camp, which finished up with intense field goal testing in Spartan Stadium, Michigan State offered Coghlin a gray-shirt scholarship plan. He accepted the offer and committed, choosing MSU over a full, immediate scholarship offer from Illinois, a gray-shirt offer from Purdue and heavy interest from Penn State.
The gray-shirt means Michigan State will bring him to campus in 2016 initially as a walk-on for his first semester, and then he will go on scholarship in January of 2017, counting toward next year's class. MSU didn't rule out the possibility of putting him on scholarship immediately for 2016, depending on scholarship availability.
"Right now it's a gray-shirt but with the possibility if things fall into place that it could be full right away," Coghlin said. "I was pretty excited when I was talking to Coach Dantonio, and we were talking about it. He's a big-time head coach. That's good stuff."
MSU has been tracking Coghlin for more than a year. Then on June 16, Coghlin and several other Division I hopeful kickers participated in Michigan State's special teams camp. The Spartans were utilizing the camp as a major checkpoint in their search for a kicker in the 2016 recruiting class.
First, Michigan State wanted to figure out who was the best of the bunch. Secondly, the coaches wanted to decide if the best guy was worth a scholarship.
Coghlin was so strong all day that he merited first place honors, and did it in scholarship-worthy fashion.
Last fall at Cincinnati Moeller, Coghlin was 17-of-27 on field goals, including makes from 46, 47, 47, 45 and 54.
When asked about the 17-for-27 success rate, Coghlin said: "At the end of the year, there were a lot of kicks in bad conditions but overall I felt like I had a great year."
"I think the key figure there is the 27 attempts," said esteemed Ohio kicking guru Tim Williams, who kicked for the Buckeyes in the early 90s and has trained dozens of kickers over the years, including Coghlin. "Their coach thought enough of him to have Matthew attempt some long, challenging kicks, and it should be noted that he was 5-of-6 in the state semifinals. He's done it in some unbelievably clutch situations."
The most recent of which were his kicks at Spartan Stadium last week.
"They had a competition with a lot of guys and then they brought the three best guys out to kick in the stadium and I did the best out there," Coghlin said.
SpartanMag.com doesn't have the names of the other participants, but Coghlin emerged as the clear winner.
"Coach (Mike) Tressel pretty much ran the camp and toward the end there was the kicker that is there now (Michael Geiger), and some past alums came out and helped, and toward the end Coach Dantonio came out with a bunch of other coaches," Coghlin said. "At the beginning, you have to show you're at the top. And then when Dantonio came out, you really felt the pressure on you, because they're looking at me and a couple of other guys and I need to stand out. And I was able to do that."
Was the pressure similar to hitting a game-tying field goal from 35 yards out with :03 seconds left to force overtime against archival St. Xavier during his sophomore year?
"It's pretty close," Coghlin said of the intensity of the moment.
Coghlin made that field goal against St. Xavier as a 10th-grader and then the game-winner in overtime.
A year later, he was MVP in a 13-7 win over St. Xavier.
Michigan State routinely keeps tabs on rising prospects at Cincinnati Moeller, one of the top programs in the Midwest - one that has produced Greg Jones, Marcus Rush, Shane Jones and Monty Madaris in recent years. But Michigan State's coaches didn't know much about Coghlin when he camped at MSU in the summer of 2014. MSU didn't invite him to that camp. He showed up on his own.
"I went to their camp last year and did really well and talked to Coach Tressel afterward," Coghlin said. "Nothing really came of it, I guess."
He also camped at Cincinnati, Georgia and Kansas last summer.
This summer, he camped at MSU, Purdue, Illinois, Pitt and Penn State.
Why Michigan State again?
"Well why not?" Coghlin said. "They're such a great program, winning tradition. The last couple of years they're been great. So it was the winning, and their need for a kicker. And I've been up there twice now and I've just loved it both times."
At the MSU camp, Coghlin capped his winning performance by going 1-of-1 from 53 yards out, in swirling wind with Dantonio standing nearby.
"Tressel was very excited and said at the end, 'Well, you won the camp. And that's good,'" Coghlin said. "Coach Dantonio talked to me for a couple of minutes after the camp. It was like, 'You just jumped to No. 1. You're our guy. We'll have to see where the scholarships are.'
"The scholarship talk started the day after, with Coach Tressel saying, 'We really want you. Let's see what we can do.' And then it progressed."
Purdue offered a gray-shirt plan.
Illinois took it a step farther and offered an immediate full-ride scholarship on Monday. Spartan coaches were informed about that offer and had to talk war room business, Monday night. That's when Dantonio okayed the decision to offer a gray shirt, and sent word for Coghlin to call him Tuesday morning.
"I spoke with Coach Dantonio this morning and he told me that I was offered," Coghlin said Tuesday night. "My dad is a pilot and he was flying so I told him (Dantonio), 'Yeah I'm pretty excited and I'm looking to commit but I wanted to talk to my dad first.'"
Coghlin reached his dad later in the day and they decided it was time to accept the offer.
"So I talked to Coach Dantonio again and gave him my commitment," Coghlin said. "Coach Dantonio said, 'We're very excited. You're our guy. You're part of the future. We're really glad to have you up here and there are going to be great things in the future.'
"They said they like my leg strength and my poise and my ability to do both field goals and kickoffs."
Coghlin likes being the 20th member of Michigan State's 2016 recruiting class, a group that ranks among the Top 5 in the country in the Rivals.com rankings.
"I'm very excited to be a part of this class," he said. "There are a lot of big things coming and I think Michigan State has a bright future."
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