Senior wide receiver Tony Lippett, 14, talks to sophomore running back Delton Williams during a timeout Oct. 25, 2014, during the game against Michigan at Spartan Stadium. The Spartans defeated the Wolverines, 35-11. Julia Nagy/The State News
—With the NFL Draft beginning at the end of the month, the final push for prospects hoping to get drafted is fast approaching. One of those prospects is former MSU wide receiver Tony Lippett.
Coming off of a senior season in which Lippett caught 65 passes for 1,198 yards and 11 touchdowns, you would assume that there would be buzz surrounding the recent Big Ten wide receiver of the year's name on the offensive side of the ball.
With only a 4.61 40-yard dash, 10 reps on the bench press and a 36.0 inch vertical jump— none of his combine numbers stand out enough to suggest that his future lies at wide receiver.
It is the fact that Lippett finished his final season at MSU as a starting wide receiver and cornerback that has created some intrigue surrounding his name.
At 6'2 Lippett has the size to be effective on both sides of the ball, his deep-coverage skills were evident in his limited time on defense last last season. If Lippet was beat it was almost certainly not deep.
“He’s not going to get beat deep because he’s got two or three inches on most people, very long arms and he’s got great deep ball judgement," head coach Mark Dantonio said. "I would equate that with (Darqueze Dennard’s ability) and the only other guy, maybe, because he was a wideout is Chris Gamble, who we converted when I was at Ohio State.”
It is his versatility that Lippett hopes will get his name called in the draft. He has the skills to be a productive wide receiver, even without eye-popping combine numbers, yet he also has the tools to be a NFL cornerback. Lippett's ability to provide depth at two positions makes him valuable.
"I can fill the void on the offense or the defense for any team, I just try to embrace it and have fun with it," Lippett said. "A lot of teams like me as a (cornerback), a lot of teams like me as a wide receiver its kind of 50/50."
Dantonio believes most teams already have a feel for what Lippett can do as a wide receiver and when he's been asked about his former player it was mostly for the defensive side of the ball.
“I think people have a pretty good idea of where he’s at as a wide receiver and they have a good feel for him, so a lot of people were talking to me about defensive back, corner in particular because that’s an unknown a little bit," Dantonio said. "When there’s things that are unknown, I think, at this day and age there’s very few of those (instances), there’s very few of those diamonds in the rough, so people are starting to say ‘hey he may be (one)’.”
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