"I had to see the replay," head coach Mark Dantonio said. "It was a bang-bang play. When I saw the replay, I thought he was down, I thought he had the catch. That's why they made the call I guess. Great effort, but that's Aaron Burbridge. He plays with great effort and he's going to hang himself out there to make the catch.

On Saturday's 35-21 win over Air Force, Burbridge caught eight passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns.

"(Burbridge) had an outstanding game. What he does is he gets those 50/50 catches, those difficult catches, those acrobatic catches," Dantonio said. "People are hanging on to him and he's making the play. Great game, and big plays. Big plays ultimately on the offensive side of the ball is what won the game. Great job there.

His highlight-reel afternoon came after two strong performances to start the season. The senior had four catches for 117 yards against Western Michigan in week one and eight catches for 101 yards and a touchdown against Oregon in week two.

Have a day, Aaron Burbridge. The senior WR finished with 8 Rec, 156 Yds, 3 TD in MSU's win over Air Force. https://t.co/hSeRDovb8Q

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 19, 2015

We've heard about the talent of Burbridge for years, but now we're finally seeing it on the field. The senior seems to be the clear No. 1 target for senior quarterback Connor Cook.

"I've always thought Aaron Burbridge is an outstanding receiver," Dantonio said. "And we've had a lot of good receivers here."

The Spartans have sent several wide receivers to the NFL as of late and Burbridge seems primed to be the next man up.

Even Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun couldn't help but describe Burbridge as a "heck of a player" per msuspartans.com.

However, before Burbridge's big couple of games this season, there was worry from Cook that a spring ball injury would leave us wondering what might have been.

“It was really unfortunate that he got hurt in spring ball," Cook said. "Leading up to spring ball (and) like the first week of practice he was balling out making catches like he was out there today, last week and the week before.

"(He was) doing super well, playing above what people thought he was capable of and then he gets hurt and then he’s out for two months and he can’t run, he’s not catching, he’s not doing anything."

Cook was disappointed during that time, thinking Burbridge could have been one of his go-to guys and he was skeptical of where his receiver would be as a player when he returned.

"(But), he picked up right where he left off starting with fall camp and then (he) continued to get better and better each week.”