As we inch closer to the 2011 college football season, it’s becoming clear MSU head football coach Mark Dantonio knows exactly what he’s doing along the recruiting trail.
After landing four-star recruit Se’Von Pittman of Canton, Ohio, and Elite 11 quarterback Tyler O’Connor of Lima, Ohio, earlier in June, Dantonio pulled off another caper for his 2012 recruiting class by landing Nick Tompkins out of Georgia. According to Scout.com and Rivals.com, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound running back is a three-star recruit who led his school to the 2010 GHSA Class 5A state championship.
In watching brief YouTube clips of Tompkins, who rushed for 1890 yards and 22 touchdowns on 229 carries as a junior, Dantonio found an elusive running back from out of state to join an already impressive class. Tompkins turned down offers from Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, Illinois and Maryland before signing on with the Spartans.
But this success with recruits outside of Michigan isn’t new to Dantonio.
Since coming to MSU in November 2006, Dantonio has built an up-and-coming program with pipelines of talented players extending from Ohio to Illinois and into Georgia. Sure, Dantonio has reaped the benefits of the ineptitude of former U-M coach Rich Rodriguez and the downfall of former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, but that doesn’t discredit the work he’s done in building the most stable era of Spartan football in close to two decades.
The days of MSU getting the of in-state scraps alledgedly left behind by U-M are long over. Dantonio shows a purposeful poise and cool confidence not seen at the head coaching position since the days of Nick Saban, and he has talented players flocking to East Lansing unlike any other time in the 115-year history of Spartan football.
In the past, MSU has been criticized for recruiting primarily in-state talent. Under Dantonio, the philosophy has been to win the best recruits from the state while also looking elsewhere to fill skill positions.
The result has been four straight bowl appearances, albeit with no victories, and a Big Ten championship in 2010, the program’s first since 1990.
Riding the momentum of a championship and with a chip on their shoulder after taking a colossal 49-7 beating at the hands of Saban and Alabama in the Capital One Bowl, expect Dantonio’s talented team to respond well in 2011 and pick up their first bowl victory since 2001.
Many experts have MSU poised to have a strong season behind senior quarterback Kirk Cousins and arguably the strongest backfield in the nation.
Expectations to win — and win now — are high for the Spartans, but Dantonio has built a team ready to rise to the challenge.
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