I finally had an opportunity to type some of my thoughts out regarding the craziness that has gone on over the last 48 hours.
First up, Thorne. All the time I’ve been around Thorne, I felt like he was always up for a fight. So that’s why his leaving did surprise me. He is an intellectual QB and seemed to thrive on the fact that he was being pushed. I thought that his acknowledgement of his injuries after the spring “game” was setting the stage for his resurgence this fall – didn’t realize that it was more of a sales pitch to other schools. Regardless of where he ends up, I’ll be rooting for him. He was an overall net positive for MSU during his career and I wish him well.
Second, let’s discuss the Coleman situation.
It seemed that MSU had dodged the Keon Coleman bullet once again this off-season. There was only one year left before he went to the pros and he was going to be the featured guy at MSU, regardless of if Thorne came back or not. The interesting thing here is that Coleman’s interests and MSU’s interests align very clearly – they both want Keon to be a first round draft pick in the NFL. MSU will obviously do what it takes to get him the ball, continue his development, and turn him into an NFL story that they can sell other recruits on. And that’s what Mel Tucker is telling him right now. MSU would be willing to market him like they did with K9 two years ago and Baringer last year – he would be the man here whereas he would simply be one of the guys in many other offenses.
As I mentioned up above, he is still willing to give Mel Tucker an audience. I’m hearing that his family would prefer he stays at MSU and finish it out (and we all know that Thorne leaving might actually help him decide to come back). An important question he is asking himself right now: is it worth the risk to uproot myself from everything I know here and learn a whole new system just for one year?
It didn’t hurt him to put his name in the portal (very similar to Hoggard/Akins to the NBA draft), but it might have been a leverage move to increase his NIL even at MSU. There is enough NIL money at MSU to pay the players they truly need. This could have been a move by Coleman to increase that take. But in the end, this isn’t truly about NIL, though that is a piece of it. The real money is in the NFL – what’s the best way to get there? Tucker’s job is now – and has been – to convince him that the route to the NFL goes through East Lansing. Coleman’s relationships with his coaches are fine and now MSU finds itself in a spot where it has to re-recruit its star player for one last dance.
All that being said, I don’t feel as good regarding Coleman as I want to and its mostly because of the chaos of the transfer portal – there were at least 10 teams talking to him through back channels before he entered the portal and that only multiplies now. Teams are telling him that he can’t win championships at MSU and that he won’t be in the first round if he sticks it out at MSU. That they can get him there. It only takes one program to get him to believe them.
All that being said, though, the Keon Coleman Likelihood of Return Indicator In My Head has slowly clicked up, percentage-wise, over the last couple days. It went from 5% when he entered to 20% after I learned the timing of when he was making his decision as compared to Thorne. Now it stands at 33%. And a big part of the reason for that is because Brantley is back and is probably talking to Coleman about coming back as well. Brantley returning so quickly doesn’t un-ring the bell, but it does make it stop reverberating so loudly. The panic part is mostly over. Fans can see that, like Rico Beard said, this isn’t a Michigan State thing – this is a college football thing. There are no rules. There should be, of course.
Everyone loved the portal when MSU got Windmon and K9. This is going to be the new normal so get used to it – you’re going to win some and lose some. We’ll be here to let you vent, and to help you work through the reality of the situation, not the worst case scenario that so many Spartans quickly worked up in their heads.
MSU is going to be active in the portal. 2, 4, 6. Who knows? The hits to the program are done. Now some wins will come. MSU is definitely looking to add a wide receiver or two – looking for speed. Also looking for a linebacker and help in the secondary. I believe they will avoid taking a QB Anthony Russo style – they’ll let the quarterback room push each other as is and live with the results.
It’s never boring around here, that’s for sure. Thank you for supporting Spartans Illustrated and for engaging in some good ol’ fashioned respectful dialogue about the team that binds us all together.
First up, Thorne. All the time I’ve been around Thorne, I felt like he was always up for a fight. So that’s why his leaving did surprise me. He is an intellectual QB and seemed to thrive on the fact that he was being pushed. I thought that his acknowledgement of his injuries after the spring “game” was setting the stage for his resurgence this fall – didn’t realize that it was more of a sales pitch to other schools. Regardless of where he ends up, I’ll be rooting for him. He was an overall net positive for MSU during his career and I wish him well.
Second, let’s discuss the Coleman situation.
It seemed that MSU had dodged the Keon Coleman bullet once again this off-season. There was only one year left before he went to the pros and he was going to be the featured guy at MSU, regardless of if Thorne came back or not. The interesting thing here is that Coleman’s interests and MSU’s interests align very clearly – they both want Keon to be a first round draft pick in the NFL. MSU will obviously do what it takes to get him the ball, continue his development, and turn him into an NFL story that they can sell other recruits on. And that’s what Mel Tucker is telling him right now. MSU would be willing to market him like they did with K9 two years ago and Baringer last year – he would be the man here whereas he would simply be one of the guys in many other offenses.
As I mentioned up above, he is still willing to give Mel Tucker an audience. I’m hearing that his family would prefer he stays at MSU and finish it out (and we all know that Thorne leaving might actually help him decide to come back). An important question he is asking himself right now: is it worth the risk to uproot myself from everything I know here and learn a whole new system just for one year?
It didn’t hurt him to put his name in the portal (very similar to Hoggard/Akins to the NBA draft), but it might have been a leverage move to increase his NIL even at MSU. There is enough NIL money at MSU to pay the players they truly need. This could have been a move by Coleman to increase that take. But in the end, this isn’t truly about NIL, though that is a piece of it. The real money is in the NFL – what’s the best way to get there? Tucker’s job is now – and has been – to convince him that the route to the NFL goes through East Lansing. Coleman’s relationships with his coaches are fine and now MSU finds itself in a spot where it has to re-recruit its star player for one last dance.
All that being said, I don’t feel as good regarding Coleman as I want to and its mostly because of the chaos of the transfer portal – there were at least 10 teams talking to him through back channels before he entered the portal and that only multiplies now. Teams are telling him that he can’t win championships at MSU and that he won’t be in the first round if he sticks it out at MSU. That they can get him there. It only takes one program to get him to believe them.
All that being said, though, the Keon Coleman Likelihood of Return Indicator In My Head has slowly clicked up, percentage-wise, over the last couple days. It went from 5% when he entered to 20% after I learned the timing of when he was making his decision as compared to Thorne. Now it stands at 33%. And a big part of the reason for that is because Brantley is back and is probably talking to Coleman about coming back as well. Brantley returning so quickly doesn’t un-ring the bell, but it does make it stop reverberating so loudly. The panic part is mostly over. Fans can see that, like Rico Beard said, this isn’t a Michigan State thing – this is a college football thing. There are no rules. There should be, of course.
Everyone loved the portal when MSU got Windmon and K9. This is going to be the new normal so get used to it – you’re going to win some and lose some. We’ll be here to let you vent, and to help you work through the reality of the situation, not the worst case scenario that so many Spartans quickly worked up in their heads.
MSU is going to be active in the portal. 2, 4, 6. Who knows? The hits to the program are done. Now some wins will come. MSU is definitely looking to add a wide receiver or two – looking for speed. Also looking for a linebacker and help in the secondary. I believe they will avoid taking a QB Anthony Russo style – they’ll let the quarterback room push each other as is and live with the results.
It’s never boring around here, that’s for sure. Thank you for supporting Spartans Illustrated and for engaging in some good ol’ fashioned respectful dialogue about the team that binds us all together.
