MSU senior quarterback Tyler O’Connor has a phone, just like many of his quarterback counterparts in college football do. He doesn’t keep a picture of himself or a loved one as his screen background, though. Instead, his background is a list of goals for the spring. The first goal?

“I want to be the man on offense.”

O’Connor is one of four quarterbacks vying for the role of successor to Connor Cook. The question asked among many is, how can you follow up a quarterback like Cook? That was the question posed to Cook after his predecessor Kirk Cousins left school. How do you follow up Cousins? Cook answered that question by becoming MSU’s winningest quarterback. Time will tell with O’Connor, used Saturday afternoon to take another step forward in the competition.

His list of goals comes down to the simple phrase, “I want to be the man.” O’Connor delivered, in his words, an “alright” game on Saturday where plenty of eyes were watching the quarterbacks. He finished 10-for-16 with 138 yards passing and a touchdown, O’Connor led all quarterbacks in all categories.

“Personally, I feel like I played alright,” O’Connor said. “Couple throws here and there, but ran the offense well and put the ball where it needed to be for the most part.”

For the man looking to lead the offense he had a calm day, stepping in and delivering the ball at times into tight windows and making his reads timely and efficiently, especially on a 44-second 70 yard drive to pull the Green team within three.

On that drive O’Connor connected on every pass – eight yards to sophomore receiver Felton Davis III, then a long ball in between defenders to senior receiver Matt Macksood for 23 yards putting the team into White territory. On a team where other quarterbacks are more known for their mobility than O’Connor, he showed off his legs, scampering for 27 yards before being tagged down at the 13.

“He’s very mobile,” fifth-year senior tight end Josiah Price said. “He’s got a great feel in the pocket, when to scramble, when to sit in the pocket, when to throw off his back foot.”

His confident run might have ended in more yards or a score if it weren’t for spring game rules to protect the quarterback. One play later O’Connor ran a play action and floated one into the arms of new wide receiver recruit Cam Chambers in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

Not to stop at just a touchdown, he snapped off a strike to Macksood on the ensuing two-point conversion.

But a drive where he hit every single play wasn’t the easiest, as he said the shots he and the offense wanted to take down the field were limited by the White team’s defensive schemes, but he made the most of it.

His goal of leading the offense seemed to be more clear, as every other QB on the field couldn’t match O’Connor’s numbers. Junior Damion Terry went 6-of-12 for 70 yards on the day and a rushing score. Freshman Messiah deWeaver was 2-of-6 for 27 yards, though he did march White down the field for its first touchdown of the day.

Even though O’Connor seemed to be the guy, he was weary of calling himself the starter.

“I feel very good, I mean there’s a lot of football to be played,” O’Connor said. “These next few months, you know a lot can happen throughout the summer — you know that’s kind of the invisible time of the season.”

His other goals delved into the leadership aspect, with a goal listed as be “the guy someone could come to on and off the field.”

His new role of trying to be the leader of the team wasn’t lost on his teammates.

“To me he’s been up there,” senior wide receiver R.J. Shelton said of O’Connor. “Leader, takes care of business and just leads the team, leads the offense. When you got a guy who leads the offense, takes control of the huddle, you know, that’s the guy.”

Command of the huddle will be a key to success for MSU, as past quarterbacks Cousins and Cook were known for taking charge especially during crunch time.

“He’s played really well and acts like a starting quarterback, plays like a starting quarterback,” Price said of O’Connor, later mentioning the confidence O’Connor is playing with.

But he won’t be named the starting quarterback anytime soon, as head coach Mark Dantonio said he wasn’t going to make “the mistake of saying this guy’s it and put all the pressure on one guy.”

“I want the pressure to be on the group of four,” Dantonio said. “I want the pressure to be one our quarterback’s coach and I want the pressure to be on all of them for them to be consistent.”

As the team concludes spring practice, the emphasis moves to continuing to compete for the starting spot.

“A lot of work has to be done off the field from the feet all the way up to the arms and head so,” O’Connor said. “A lot can still happen right now but I feel really good where I’m at.”