“(Drone) does some nice things in there,” he said. “He’s only in his seventh practice as a tight end, but he’s got power (and) can catch the ball pretty well, so I think that’s the position he’s going to stay in.”

With four very capable players at the running back position, much has been made about how senior Larry Caper, junior Le’Veon Bell and sophomores Nick Hill and Jeremy Langford will split time in the backfield.

However, Dantonio said he is trying Langford out at wide receiver, noting that he is too talented to not find his way onto the field.

“(We’ll) soak him there a bit because I feel he’s too good of an athlete to play one position at the fourth tailback,” he said. “He’s a guy who catches the ball down the field, he does some things naturally like (former wideout Keshawn Martin) did, so we’ll see how (it goes).”

Langford said although the transition hasn’t been completely smooth, he’s glad to work out wherever his team needs him in order to get in some playing time.

He added most of those troubles have come from trying to get the plays down while learning a new position, but he is confident that he can perform at either position.

“I just feel like I can do it all right now,” Langford said.

Banged up
For the most part, MSU has been fortunate in avoiding any major injuries this spring football season. However, Dantonio revealed sophomore wide receiver Tony Lippett suffered an ankle injury during Tuesday’s practice and may find himself sidelined for the rest of the spring.

He added senior cornerback Darqueze Dennard also will miss the rest of spring ball due to a shoulder injury. The status of linebackers Chris Norman and Lawrence Thomas has not changed, and although Norman may be able to participate in a limited capacity near the end of spring ball, he doesn’t want to aggravate the injury.

In the absence of Norman and Dennard, Dantonio said he’s had to count on some of the younger players to step into a leadership role.

“We had great leadership the past two years so there’s a little bit of a void there because we’ve got some guys like Norman where he’s a leader but he’s not able to participate this spring,” he said. “But guys like (junior linebacker Max) Bullough, guys like (junior quarterback Andrew) Maxwell, they’ve been solid. (Senior running back) Larry Caper, they’re guys that are stepping up. And these are things they’ve been thrust into and at times it takes a little time to balance themselves.”

Lemonade out of lemons
Redshirt freshman linebacker Darien Harris has taken advantage of the opportunity he’s been presented with to get some reps in at the position in place of the injured Norman.

Dantonio mentioned Harris as one of the players who has been a bit of a surprise this spring, adding that he and sophomore linebacker Taiwan Jones — who is listed as the starter over Harris on the spring depth chart — have benefited from the shared competition.

Harris said although he was disappointed to have to redshirt his first year, he was able to embrace the experience and better prepare himself to play in 2012.

“I just took that year to learn the system (and) get acclimated to the speed so I could come out this year and really start my career,” he said.

Harris added he has received a lot of advice from some of the more experienced linebackers, something he said stands out about MSU as a program.

“No matter freshman or senior … everybody’s out there helping everyone out,” he said. “And I think that’s why this defense is so close.”