Senior safety Kurtis Drummond, left, and sophomore cornerback Darian Hicks tackle senior wide receiver Tony Lippett on April 26, 2014, during the Spring Green and White game at Spartan Stadium. The White team won, 20-13. Julia Nagy/The State News
The 2014 MSU football Spring Game began and ended in a similar fashion — with members of the secondary completing interceptions.
Less than 20 seconds into the game, sophomore cornerback Jermaine Edmundson intercepted sophomore quarterback Tyler O'Connor's pass at the Green 40-yard line, setting up a 23-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman quarterback Damion Terry on the next play.
With eight seconds to go, sophomore cornerback Darien Hicks picked off O'Connor's potentially game-tying heave, sealing a 20-13 win for the White team.
Granted, the Green and White game is a glorified scrimmage, and some portions of the game were certainly sloppy.
But despite graduating two key members of last year's "No Fly Zone" in cornerback Darqueze Dennard and safety Isaiah Lewis, on Saturday afternoon, it looked as though the "No Fly Zone was very much intact, as the secondary tallied five interceptions.
"Having a guy like (Dennard), being able to watch his physicality and the way he just handles receivers, that was a good guy for some of our younger guys to be able to look up to," senior safety Kurtis Drummond said after the game. "A lot of guys try to implement that in their games"
The lessons learned from Dennard, who is slated to be a first-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft according to ESPN analyst Mel Kiper's most recent ESPN mock draft, were apparent on the field.
Hicks tightly contested a pass from O'Connor to senior wideout Keith Mumphrey late in the fourth, forcing an incompletion. Sophomore defensive back Ezra Robinson and redshirt freshman safety Jalyn Powell, who was the first safety drafted by the Green team despite being inexperienced, also had breakups.
"I would say we have a very confident group," Drummond said. "We may be young, but guys understand they can play. Coach Barnett just does a great job of just developing guys, putting confidence in them and guys feeling comfortable once they're out there to make plays."
The position battles in the secondary are still going, as junior RJ Williamson is competing with sophomore Demetrious Cox and Powell for the second safety spot.
Head coach Mark Dantonio said Williamson and Cox are very good and are in the mix. But the wild card is Powell, who's hitting ability was complemented by both Drummond and Dantonio.
The consensus on Powell is despite being young, he's a guy who will eventually turn heads. Dantonio went as far as to compare him to a "No Fly Zone" pioneer, Lewis.
"If he becomes more consistent in his mental assignments, you're going to see him get on the field because he can tackle, he can get downfield and he's a big strong guy, and that's a little bit of what Isaiah Lewis was, especially early in his career," Dantonio said.
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