At this point, it's safe to say that senior Drew Stanton is one of the best quarterbacks to play for MSU.
The All-American ignited the Spartan offense last season to much-earned critical acclaim and national attention.
While Stanton's incredible play faltered a bit during the second half of the season, the hotshot quarterback established himself as one of the foremost ball-slinging authorities in the nation and a fierce competitor.
The statistics speak for themselves.
Last year, Stanton led the Spartans to a record-breaking season in offensive play by battering opposing teams with passing, supported by a solid ground game.
In 2005, Stanton became only the second quarterback in MSU history to surpass the 3,000-yard passing milestone in a single season. He completed 236 of 354 passes for 3,077 total yards with a school-record 22 touchdowns.
Stanton also finished second in the Big Ten and 10th overall in the country, with a passing efficiency rating of 153.4 leading to an average of 310.5 yards per game of total offense — No. 8 in NCAA. At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, the Spartan quarterback is a powerhouse.
Stanton has not only managed to keep that same level of intensity, but he has cemented himself as both a team mentor and leader on the Spartan squad.
"Drew Stanton will give us that leadership and the great ability to run the football at that position, to throw the football at that position and to provide leadership on the football field," said the team's offensive coordinator, Dave Baldwin. "This summer, that's what he has done more than anything. He's shown that leadership. He's a coach on the field."
If anyone is familiar with Stanton's ability to lead, it's head coach John L. Smith.
Stanton spoke about Smith and the relationship he shares with the players.
"Coach Smith has been great since he's been here, and we want to win for him. There's no doubt about that," he said. "We want to see him succeed because he's given us so much."
In return, Smith commented on Stanton's uncanny leadership ability and what it takes to grab the reigns of the team.
"As a leader, you have to be the first one on the field, and you have to be the last one to leave. You have to be the guy that if Johnny doesn't make it to class, then maybe you grab him by the neck and say, 'Hey, go to class.' And now we're starting to get that," Smith said. "This summer, (Stanton) wasn't afraid to grab a few of those guys. That's what you need; that's ownership of the team."
Entering his third year as MSU's starting quarterback, Stanton already ranks fourth out of this year's top preseason candidates for the Heisman trophy, according to NationalChamps.net, and is rated one of the nation's top 20 quarterbacks by ESPN Insider, The Sporting News and CollegeFootballNews.com.
"In our offense, he's got to turn things over on the line of scrimmage and be that coach," Baldwin said. "He's definitely going to be one of the top quarterbacks in the country. We're real excited about that."
Stanton also holds the third and fourth place among active quarterbacks respectively for having the best passing completion percentage (0.657) and passing efficiency (145.3) in the nation. This quarterback can find his receivers.
"It's knowing each other. Say if I was your brother, well you know what your brother is going to do when I'm not around you," said senior wide receiver Matt Trannon about connecting with the quarterback. "We have that when we're not on the field. Like we can just call each other and say something, and he would know exactly what I'm talking about. We had to grow together and find out about each other more this summer than we did in previous summers and just keep it going through the season."
Despite all of Stanton's accolades, praise and statistics, the Spartan star couldn't keep the offense together in the final stages of last year's season. Stanton himself came unraveled with forced passes and bad decisions. The quarterback threw three interceptions to Northwestern and four to Penn State late in the season.
"I think (Stanton needs to work on) the things we talked about this spring: interceptions, touchdown ratio, letting the offense work for him, don't think you have to force things and don't take maybe as many chances," Smith said.
"You want a guy as your leader who's not afraid to take chances, but again, I think some of them may be unnecessary. But I think that's something that he's learned, something that he's better at and something that he will continue to get better at."
The Spartans senior quarterback said he was ready for a successful season and made it clear that this year's last chance won't pass him by.
"Us seniors, you know, we've been here for so long and never experienced the things that we wanted to," Stanton said. "We've had everything except for that season. We had a great start that fell off, we had a horrible start and kind of did all right, and when we were younger we had an OK season and went to the Alamo Bowl. But there were still games we could have won.
"After experiencing all of this, there's only one thing left to do: to go out and have a successful season. I hope every day that the stars will align and that will happen."
