“I think our wide receivers showed up today,” head coach Mark Dantonio said. “They all caught the ball very well. (Cunningham and Dell) caught the ball in traffic … we had some guys making plays.”

Dell led all receivers with 120 yards on six receptions, while Cunningham also had six receptions for 97 yards and a score. Rucker had three receptions — two for touchdowns — for 90 yards, while White grabbed four balls for 86 yards.

Although Dell and Cunningham proved to be the go-to guys for the Green and White teams, respectively, Dell said he’s not thinking about trying to take Thomas’ place as MSU’s go-to guy.

“I’m not sure, (Thomas) has got some big shoes to fill,” Dell said. “I’m just going to go out there every day and just give as much as I can and just make plays and do as much as I can, as well as all of our receivers.”

Aside from Dell, Cunningham, Rucker and White, the Spartans also have more talented pass-catchers in senior Deon Curry — who sat out Saturday because of a sore back — and incoming talent like Detroit Southwestern High’s Fred Smith that should make the wide receiver position a strength for the team.

Backup battle

Although the wide receivers are battling for the No. 1 slot, the quarterback position firmly belongs to senior Brian Hoyer. While the starting job belongs to Hoyer, freshmen Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles are battling for the right to be called his backup.

“It’s pretty close right now,” said Cousins, who went 12-for-19 with 196 yards and one touchdown. “I haven’t gotten direct word from the coaches since spring ball started — they told us we were even going into spring ball and we’ll just see where we go from there.”

While Cousins was the starting quarterback for the Green team, Foles suited up for both teams and completed 10-of-15 passes for 102 yards on the afternoon.

The two quarterbacks say there’s no rivalry between them and each came away impressed with one another’s play — and they weren’t the only ones.

“I thought they both did pretty well,” Dantonio said. “I thought they both made plays, they both had command of the huddle, threw the ball on rhythm and threw the ball with velocity.”

Defensive dominance

Freshman Andre Anderson and junior A.J. Jimmerson didn’t get much of a chance to show who should share the running back duties with senior Javon Ringer — and to no fault of their own. Dantonio credited the struggles of Anderson (17 carries, 28 yards) and Jimmerson (four carries, seven yards) to both teams’ defenses, which plugged up the middle and contained the outside.

“I think you have to look at the defense, too, on that one,” Dantonio said. “We’re playing pretty well up front defensively and applied some pressure to the quarterback. We were limited in some of the things we did defensively, but I thought we tackled well.”