As the nation’s top prep player of a year ago, Charles Rogers came to East Lansing confident of his abilities as an athletic, big-play receiver.
His 40 catches for 760 yards and 14 touchdowns on Saginaw High’s 2000 Class A state championship team proved that.
But despite all the accolades on the field, nothing could make up for Rogers’ struggles to fully qualify academically to play for MSU last season.
The sophomore failed to score a 17 or better on the ACT to be eligible and instead became a partial-qualifier who was only able to participate in practice.
“Last year was tough,” said Rogers, who is expected to contribute to the offense immediately. “The good thing about sitting out though was that I was able to learn a lot from some great players. My approach this year is to just be more relaxed and feel more comfortable with the offense.”
Familiar with the hype involved with being a high school phenom, junior running back T.J. Duckett - who earned similar honors in 1999 - said Rogers has persevered and been impressive in spring practices.
“He’s been able to handle things pretty well,” Duckett said. “You could tell last season how he was frustrated because he really wanted to play. It hit him hard, especially when he saw new recruits come to visit the campus. He really wanted to take those frustrations out on the field. But now he knows what kind of opportunity he has and he’s working extremely hard to make up for that lost year.”
Rogers, who will also see time returning punts, said he appreciates all the advice he has received from Duckett.
“T.J. is just a solid person,” Rogers said. “He knows what it’s like to be in the position I was coming into college and shares those experiences with me. He’s been real helpful in my development, telling me to work hard and concentrate on getting better. You really can’t ask for a better teammate.”
At 6-foot-4 and 207 pounds, Rogers - who runs the 40-yard dash in roughly 4.4 seconds - played a significant role in preparing the defense to cover the conference’s most talented deep threats.
“The difference this year is that he’s being coached,” MSU head coach Bobby Williams said of Rogers’ rapid improvement. “Last year he just read a card and remembered which routes to run against our first team defense. We would show him cards of routes for teams like Michigan and Ohio State and he would mimic their receivers.”
Rogers said he is not too concerned with how much playing time he will receive, as long as he can contribute.
“I’m ready to put on the pads and go out and either be part of the first or second team, wherever they put me,” he said. “Running with the first team in spring practices has been very intense, but a lot of fun as well. There are really no breaks playing with the starters, so I’ve learned to just be prepared at all times.”
Sophomore quarterback Jeff Smoker, who’s competing for the starting spot with senior Ryan Van Dyke, said the addition of Rogers brings more versatility to an offense in need of a big scoring punch.
“It’s definitely going to be nice to have more of a balanced attack this year,” Smoker said. “A receiver can make a quarterback look really good and these guys are really coming along. A guy like Charles can really take a lot of pressure off the running back since he’s extremely athletic and can do so many things.”
Rogers believes the offense has improved so much, it has the potential of being as potent as some successful NFL teams.
“We have one of the best running backs in the country in T.J. and have a great tight end in Chris Baker as well,” Rogers said. “I feel like we can have a St. Louis Rams-type offense with some three wide receiver sets along with great play from the back field and tight ends. Add in our two outstanding quarterbacks in Jeff and Ryan and I really think we can be a threat.”
