Senior quarterback Brian Hoyer reflects on MSU’s loss to Notre Dame in 2006 and the ways his game has changed in the past year. Junior center Joel Nitchman explains Hoyer’s leadership traits.
Unless you’re a member of the MSU football program, on his family tree or part of his Fave Five, Brian Hoyer probably doesn’t care what you think about the way he plays football. He doesn’t read what reporters write, listen to talk-radio personalities rant or hear what fans say about his play.
“I don’t really worry about outside sources because, really, what do they know?” the senior quarterback said. “I worry about what my teammates and what my coaches have to say.”
Hoyer is in his own bubble under center, a bubble that fans might want to pop if he has a poor performance against Notre Dame on Saturday.
His outing against the Fighting Irish could go a long way in determining what type of quarterback MSU will have for the rest of the season:
The Brian Hoyer who threw for 523 yards and six touchdowns while completing nearly three-fourths of his passes in MSU’s final two games of the regular season?
Or the Brian Hoyer who turned the ball over five times in the Champs Sports Bowl last year and had a 20-of-48 performance to go with a costly red-zone turnover against Cal in the season opener?
Through three weeks, Hoyer hasn’t impressed many fans and has drawn criticism — some of which might not be warranted.
Against Cal, Hoyer was forced to throw as the Spartans fought from behind throughout the second half. His completion percentage and an interception that took points off the board near the end of the first half drew calls for a change.
Against Eastern Michigan, Hoyer only threw 12 passes, completing eight of them, as running back Javon Ringer pounded Eastern Michigan’s front seven.
Against Florida Atlantic last week, a game in which even Tom Brady would have had trouble slinging a spiral, Hoyer couldn’t escape some disapproval because of a 5-of-15 game.
Hoyer has yet to exhibit his improvements from over the summer that, according to coaches and players, have made him a more confident, mechanically sound quarterback.
After two weeks of handing the ball off to Ringer, which he did 77 times, the thick-skinned Hoyer will finally get a chance to make plays himself.
Now it’s a question of what he will do with it.
Summer progress
Hoyer’s final performance of the 2007 season, a 24-21 loss in the Champs Sports Bowl to Boston College, simmered with him all summer.
Five turnovers. Fourteen-of-36 passing. An interception in the endzone. Forced throws into coverage.
As poorly as he performed, Hoyer didn’t let that feeling settle. He worked on improving the mental aspect of his game, focusing on facets such as how to look off receivers, avoid forcing throws in pressure situations and how to better evaluate game film.
Hoyer even traveled to southern Louisiana for the Manning Passing Academy, a football camp for high school athletes and college quarterbacks hosted by Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning.
Early in the season, he said he’s noticed the results.
“The game has really slowed down for me,” Hoyer said. “You see things a little bit faster, you can know what to expect.”
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In the first three games of the season, Hoyer had more freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage based on what he saw from the defense than he would have had last season.
“I think it’s something that we’re able to build into the offense more now that I’m a little more experienced,” Hoyer said. “Going into last week’s game plan, we had a lot of plays designed where, ‘If you see this, check to that.’”
Aspects of his game such as experience and leadership have ensured the trust of his teammates, even when outsiders have doubted Hoyer.
“We have total confidence in him,” center Joel Nitchman said. “Everybody does. He’s our guy. Enough said.”
Second-year success
As a second-year starting quarterback at MSU, Hoyer has plenty of predecessors. Since 1984, no MSU starting quarterback entering the season has held the position for only one year.
Seven of those nine quarterbacks either maintained or improved their statistical performances in their second seasons and eight of the nine quarterbacks had better winning percentages.
MSU running backs coach Dan Enos, who started two seasons as MSU’s quarterback beginning in 1989, saw his numbers fall slightly after his first year as a starter, but his team’s record held steady.
In 1989, the Spartans went 8-4. A year later, the Spartans went 8-3-1 and were co-Big Ten champions.
“Stat-wise, I don’t think I was even close to my junior year, but I felt more comfortable and I felt I made better decisions and I felt I had a better handle on things,” Enos said.
“Your second year, as you go back and look at it, when you do offseason studies, you see the mistakes that you made and hopefully you can learn from them and not make them again, whether it’s clock management or not throwing the ball away and taking a sack when you maybe should not have.”
For former MSU quarterback Bill Burke, who piloted the Spartans in 1998 and 1999, the senior season meant more familiarity when traveling for road games in hostile settings. Each of the final nine games Hoyer will play this season are against defensive schemes and players Hoyer has already seen.
“Your first year as a starter, you don’t know what to expect,” said Burke, who improved from 6-6 to 10-2 in his second season. “That second year, when you play a team again, you’re a little more familiar. Having played those teams a year before, you’re more comfortable with what they’re going to throw at you.”
Notre Dame challenge
Spartan fans can expect to have more substance with which to analyze Hoyer after Notre Dame leaves town, especially considering the rash of runs Dantonio has called in the past two weeks.
Even Hoyer said he is looking forward to airing it out more against the Irish because “this week will be a big week to see my progress.”
The weather last week against Florida Atlantic and Eastern Michigan’s deficiencies up front allowed MSU to run Ringer ragged, but Notre Dame poses a different animal.
Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis is planning for Dantonio’s game plan to throw more this week and sees Hoyer as a more mature quarterback than the one who led the Spartans to a 31-14 road win against the Irish last year.
“If anyone could kind of stifle (Ringer) at all, I’d still think they’d feel confident enough that Hoyer can make enough plays to win for them,” Weis said at his weekly press conference Tuesday.
If Hoyer doesn’t make enough plays to win, fans can rest assured that Hoyer will plow through any negatives, just as he has done to this point.
“If (fans) embrace me, they embrace me,” Hoyer said. “If not, I can deal with it. Like I’ve always said, I’m worried about what the guys in the locker room and what the coaches are saying.
“I’ve always said that we have great fans here.”
With a strong performance Saturday, Hoyer could have 75,000 fans in Spartan Stadium embracing him each week.
