By now the air has cleared on recruiting and 19 new players have added their names to the MSU football roster for fall 2002.
After evaluating the new Spartans, it looks like coach Bobby Williams found riches at the offensive skill positions.
But defense is an issue, and it’s hard to predict where the new guys will be placed.
The biggest hole opposite the ball is on the defensive line, where ends Josh Shaw and Nick Myers graduated. Add the exit of defensive leader Josh Thornhill and there’s a hole at linebacker.
“We don’t have any per se pure defensive lineman in this group,” Williams said of the 2002 recruits. “But that area is going to be addressed this spring with current players that we have on the football team.”
Thankfully MSU has plenty of bodies that can be shuffled around this spring.
Potential freshman upstarts Matthias Askew and Kevin Vickerson have a chance to become leaders.
Plus there’s redshirt-freshmen Lonnie Simmons, Greg Yeaster and Clifford Dukes and sophomores Greg Taplin and Kyle Rasmussen. Freshman Brandon McKinney looks to field some of the load, too.
James Cooper, Dedrick Roper, Michael Bazemore, Ronald Stanley and Seth Mitchell were all redshirted to prepare for linebacking duties come 2002.
You’ve also got sophomores Mike Labinjo, Monquiz Wedlow and Dominick Brown who all return with some experience.
But with injuries always a possibility, the youthful veterans need guys to back them up now, and that’s one of the main purposes of recruiting.
But with so much emphasis on offensive talent, the Spartans need to make up ground on the defensive end.
Luckily, the battle for recruits is far from over - the deadline is April 1. And Williams said Wednesday his work isn’t finished, as he expects to sign up to four more players.
Word has it there are prospects making their way to East Lansing this weekend. We can only hope they’re on he defensive side of the ball.
Williams doesn’t seem to be worried, or at least his actions Wednesday didn’t have a sense of urgency to grab some tacklers. He seems very excited about the group he gathered up because he believes they have the ability to be two-way or switch-position players.
“It’s balanced in the standpoint that we have several guys that can play on either side of the ball,” Williams said.
Hazelwood East High (St. Louis) running back David Richard, the stud of the class by most recruiting analyst standards, has defense written all over him. Tom Lemming has him nationally ranked the fourth-best linebacker in the 2002 class. But the MSU staff insists he will have a shot at replacing T.J. Duckett.
Wednesday’s events proved that I’m not a recruiting expert and I have no idea what will happen next fall. But Williams’ actions suggest that both a competent offense as well as a Defense will enter Spartan Stadium next fall.
Sports writer Paul Day can be reached at daypaul@msu.edu.
