Even though he didn’t play in Saturday’s home opener - a 35-21 victory over Central Michigan - about 100 protesters outside Spartan Stadium still felt Eric Knott’s presence. Knott said Monday that he was aware of the protests, but didn’t pay much attention to them.
MSU’s gridiron matchup with Central Michigan was laced with controversy Saturday as about 100 people protested the university granting admittance and scholarships to Eric Knott and Damon Dowdell. Knott, a freshman tight end, was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in June from charges extending from a 1999 incident involving a 13-year-old Detroit girl. Dowdell, a redshirt freshman quarterback, was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct in the same incident.
The No. 6 Spartans continued to struggle a bit on their current six-game road swing, losing 1-0 to No.
Seven former MSU athletes and coaches became hall of famers Friday. Golf All-American Sue Ertl, Spartan hockey player Weldon Olson, football and academic All-American John D.
A bus pulled in front of the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center on Friday and when the door swung open, Steve Smith, the son of the late Clara Bell Smith, stepped out wearing a yellow linen suit.He towered over his former head basketball coach, Jud Heathcote, who hobbled next to him with a cane in his right hand.
Senior outside hitter Erin Hartley is no stranger to personal accolades.She can now add most valuable player of the Coca-Cola Spartan Invitational to her list of individual accomplishments, after she led the Spartans (7-0) to another undefeated weekend and tournament title at Jenison Field House.MSU hasn’t started the season 7-0 since 1989.Spartan head coach Chuck Erbe said Hartley is playing at a level he has never witnessed.“Erin Hartley played the best weekend of volleyball I have ever seen,” he said.
History has witnessed many epic battles and among those battles it has seen the triumph of many great underdogs.
The MSU men’s soccer team topped Cleveland State 2-0 on Sunday at Old College Field in its only game of the weekend. The Spartans’ game against Bowling Green Friday was washed away by rain at halftime of a scoreless game.
As special teams hampered the MSU football team during Saturday’s season opener against Central Michigan, it was the one weak spot that carried over from last season - despite an entire summer of troubleshooting.Central linebacker James King was the catalyst of the Spartans’ special teams debacle when he blocked senior punter Craig Jarrett in the first quarter.But when he blocked three more punts in the second half, he took his performance to another level by tying the NCAA Division I-A individual and team record for most punts blocked in a game.MSU head coach Bobby Williams said the problems with the punt team need to be rectified immediately.“The blocks all came off of the edge.
One of East Lansing’s most beloved sports heroes will no longer be just a stone’s throw away from the MSU campus. The Detroit Pistons traded point guard Mateen Cleaves, who guided MSU to a NCAA men’s basketball national championship in 2000, to the Sacramento Kings on Friday. For Cleaves, Detroit acquired swingman Jon Barry, 32, and a first-round draft pick that cannot come before 2004. Ironically, the deal consummated on Cleaves’ 24th birthday, a year and a day after he signed a 3-year, $4.1 million contract with Detroit. Cleaves, a Flint native, played only one season for his childhood favorite Pistons, but his reputation as a local kid with a big heart and an incredible work ethic instantly made him one of the Pistons’ most popular players. That’s why many in the area were shocked to hear the news that Cleaves was being shipped to the West Coast after only one year in Motown. “It’s an obstacle for him,” said former Spartan cager and 11-year NBA veteran Steve Smith, who was traded to the San Antonio Spurs this summer.
Saturday’s postgame buzzword from head coach Bobby Williams was “breakdowns” and there were plenty of them in the messy 35-21 win over Central Michigan.
The Spartans squeaked past Dayton 2-1 on Friday, but suffered their first loss of the season in a 6-0 pummeling by Kentucky on Sunday.
The Spartan Chariot arrived late for Saturday’s season-opening football game, bolting across the field mere minutes before kickoff.
Homecoming is arriving about a month early for Sue Ertl. The 1979 MSU golf All-American, who now teaches at a Florida country club, will visit East Lansing for the first time in years for today’s MSU Athletics Hall of Fame induction. Ertl, the only female athlete in the seven-member 2001 induction class, said her brother and three sisters are coming in from Grand Rapids to share the induction with her. “It’s going to be a great time to reminisce the past and remember the great times I had around campus,” said Ertl, a Big Ten medalist in 1977 and 1978.
For a guy with an outgoing personality and a winning smile, sophomore receiver Charles Rogers sure has taken plenty of flak lately from his fellow teammates.
Listening to Spartan volleyball players and coaches talk, you’d think they were rehearsing an Aretha Franklin song. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” Head coach Chuck Erbe knows those seven letters are embedded in the minds of his players as they look to make it two tournament titles in a row at the Coca-Cola Spartan Invitational this weekend. “I’ve always told them the first rule of war is to respect your opponent,” Erbe said.
When the MSU football team opens its 105th varsity season at 1 p.m. Saturday in Spartan Stadium against Central Michigan, it will be the fifth round of battle U.S.
It didn’t take long for freshman Chris Toloff to earn Big Ten honors. After his first collegiate race ever, the cross country runner was named this week’s Big Ten cross country athlete of the week, by posting a second place, 20:24:27 performance in the four-mile at the Grand Valley State Fall Classic on Aug.
MSU freshman tight end Eric Knott and redshirted freshman quarterback Damon Dowdell will not be welcomed by all to Spartan Stadium on Saturday.A group of MSU activists are organizing a protest against the two athletes.
On a team where experience is minimal and youth is abundant, Spartan volleyball head coach Chuck Erbe needs some of the youth to mature quickly. Freshman outside hitter Michelle Kopka - one of seven freshmen on the team - took steps in the right direction in Friday and Saturday’s MSU Volleyball Classic.