Tyrell Dortch has seen plenty of adversity in the past two seasons, but MSU football head coach John L. Smith gave him a vote of confidence Monday when Dortch was named the starting running back.
The 5-foot-10, 203-pound junior broke his leg while playing cornerback at Wisconsin in the sixth game of the 2001 season and has recovered to take the lone starting spot in the Spartans' backfield.
Dortch's comeback has been an inspiration for many of the Spartans, looking to forget about last season's meltdown.
He beat out sophomores Jason Teague and Jaren Hayes for the position. Last week, Smith had announced that Teague was No. 1 on the depth chart.
"With that injury and him coming back to play this game has been inspiring, encouraging for us as a team," senior left guard Joe Tate said. "Just to see him on the field."
Smith knows a difficult task is in front of him, taking a team that finished 4-8 last season and making them a contender. But Smith compared the current Spartans to the Louisville team he took over in 1998. Louisville went from 1-10 to 7-5.
The Spartans will start senior Ziehl Kavanaght alongside sophomores Kyle Brown and Agim Shabaj at wide receiver. But Smith indicated that sophomores Matt Trannon, Aaron Alexander and Jerramy Scott and freshman Samuel Champagne would also see plenty of playing time.
Trannon has shown flashes of brilliance during preseason practice, but he is still a raw talent.
"Don't worry about how they are listed," Smith said. "Just like the D-Line, we're going to roll those guys in and out and they're all going to play.
"But you won't see too much rotation on the offensive front, at linebacker and in the secondary."
Senior Kyle Rasmussen and junior captain Brandon McKinney will start at defensive tackle, while senior Greg Taplin and junior Clifford Dukes will start at the defensive ends.
Despite an altercation in practice a few weeks ago that left Taplin as a third-teamer for a limited time, Smith decided to keep him in the starting lineup.
Asked whether the senior was out of the doghouse, Smith said, "Taplin has got his head out. He's trying to do the right things. The last couple of weeks since we've had our altercation, he's come a long way."
A lighter Labinjo
With sophomore Seth Mitchell hampered by knee injuries after a sprained medial collateral ligament in 2001, Mike Labinjo has played his way into the starting position at inside linebacker.
Although he is listed as only two pounds lighter than last season, he is supposedly in much better playing condition.
Not so fresh
Don't expect to see many true freshmen making an impact any time soon for the Spartans.
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Smith indicated that Champagne, who played high school football at the same school as Kavanaght in Montreal, would be the only one seeing regular playing time.
Linebacker Kaleb Thornhill is the only other freshman nearing the rotation, but Smith would rather allow the Lansing Eastern High School graduate to redshirt this season.
And our Flagg was still there
After being reinstated on Aug. 13 after an academic suspension, junior Robert Flagg has moved his way into the backup position at BANDIT behind senior Monquiz Wedlow.
He will be starting on special teams and might see time on the defense later in the season.
"Had he had spring ball, it would have been real good for that kid," Smith said. "But again, there were just some things we had to do and some things that we needed to clean up. We have to make up as much time as we can."
Sellout nearing
Despite the Spartans disappointing play last season, the fans haven't given up on the team yet.
As of Monday afternoon, only 2,000 of the 72,027 tickets are still on sale for Saturday's opener against Western Michigan at 3:40 p.m. in Spartan Stadium.
Position Breakdown:
MSU's preseason depth as it was released on Monday. Senior quarterback Jeff Smoker remains the top signal-caller, but has yet to be named as starter.
| Offense: | ||
| X | 82 | Ziehl Kavanaght (5-11, 180, Sr.) |
| LT | 72 | Stefon Wheeler (6-5, 319, So.) |
| LG | 68 | Joe Tate (6-5, 295, Sr.) |
| C | 51 | Chris Morris (6-4, 291, So.) |
| RG | 57 | Paul Harker (6-3, 302, Sr.) |
| RT | 77 | Steve Stewart (6-5, 312, Sr.) |
| TE | 4 | Eric Knott (6-3, 267, Jr.) |
| Z | 3 | Kyle Brown (6-1, 205, So.) |
| SLOT | 2 | Agim Shabaj (5-10, 194, So.) |
| QB | 9 | Jeff Smoker (6-3, 224, Sr.)/td> |
| RB | 34 | Tyrell Dortch (5-10, 203, Jr.) |
| Defense:: | ||
| RUSH | 94 | Greg Taplin (6-5, 259, Sr.) |
| DT | 99 | Brandon McKinney (6-3, 305, Jr.) |
| DT | 97 | Kyle Rasmussen (6-4, 290, Sr.) |
| STUD | 59 | Clifford Dukes (6-3, 264, Jr.) |
| MIKE | 44 | Ronald Stanley (6-0, 234, Jr.) |
| WHIP | 42 | Mike Labinjo (6-1, 252, Sr.) |
| BANDIT | 45 | Monquiz Wedlow (5-11, 203, Sr.) |
| LC | 12 | Ashton Watson (6-0, 177, So.) |
| FS | 25 | Jason Harmon (5-11, 195, Jr.) |
| SS | 36 | Eric Smith (6-1, 205, So.) |
| RC | 17 | Roderick Maples (5-10, 190, Jr.) |
| RB | 34 | Tyrell Dortch (5-10, 203, Jr.) |
| Special Teams:: | ||
| PK | 16 | Dave Rayner (6-2, 203, Jr.) |
| P | 8 | Brandon Fields (6-5, 219, R-Fr.) |
