Just don’t call him “Kirk’s replacement.”

“I just think I need to be myself,” Maxwell said. “I think from the day I walked on campus, I tried to build a relationship with my guys and establish myself as a leader, so if I try to be somebody that I haven’t been, that’s not going to translate well in the locker room.”

Maxwell patiently has waited for his time to take the reins of MSU’s offense since signing on with the team in 2009, when he was a redshirt freshman. He’s only played in nine games so far, but he could not have had a better teacher than Cousins.

“I don’t think he’s had as much experience when the game’s been on the line, and that’s what he has to get,” head coach Mark Dantonio said.

Maxwell is presented with a unique opportunity in that he will be throwing to players that he has built a relationship with during the last few years and likely will be around through the rest of his career at MSU.

When asked if he was excited to build on the relationship he’s formed with Maxwell, sophomore wide receiver Tony Lippett cracked a smile.

“Oh, yes sir, I’m looking forward to that,” Lippett said. “I love Maxwell — he’s my guy.”

Although the Spartans are seeing a much smaller turnover on defense, that doesn’t mean the younger players won’t be getting valuable experience during the spring practices.

Several linebackers have been forced to take a more reduced role in the spring due to injuries, including senior starter Chris Norman, but junior linebacker Max Bullough said if there’s a time for those players to miss, it’s at the beginning of spring.

“They’re going to get in (eventually); they’re going to get the same amount of reps,” he said. “But on the other side of that coin, there’s the young guys that can get in.”

Much of spring football revolves around those younger players stepping up to make an impression and compete for starting positions. Dantonio said there are three or four viable options for who could wind up in the starting free safety spot and the position battle could be one to watch throughout the season.

“I think it’s a good thing,” sophomore safety Kurtis Drummond said about the competitive nature of spring practice.

“Competition just brings out the best in you, and if you’re scared of competition, I don’t think this is the place to be. We’re going to compete every day, we’re going to push one another, and at the end of the day, we’re all better from it.”