MSU football players junior defensive end William Gholston and redshirt-freshman linebacker Lawrence Thomas did not sustain any major injuries after being involved in a rollover accident Wednesday afternoon.
The score might have been 14-2 in favor of the White team, but the real winner of the MSU football team’s Spring Game was the defense. With a young offense and an even more inexperienced quarterback substituting in, there was no question that the team with the stronger defense would be victorious, and with such a low scoring game, defense was dominant on both teams. “We stepped up; we (rose) to the challenge,” said junior linebacker Denicos Allen, who played for the White team.
Despite a strong personal effort, junior defensive end William Gholston now knows what it’s like to lose at Spartan Stadium. Gholston’s Green team fell to the White squad, 14-2 during MSU’s annual Spring Football Game.
Junior defensive end William Gholston has never lost a game at Spartan Stadium. In two years, the Spartans were undefeated at home, but at least half of the MSU football team will know the losing feeling when the team plays its third and final scrimmage of the spring practice season Saturday at 1 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
When Max Bullough earned his starting position at middle linebacker in 2011, he immediately became a leader on the MSU football team, especially within the Spartan defense. But with several key leaders graduating following last season, the junior linebacker embraces his leadership role in a new way for 2012.
Despite Saturday being the MSU football team’s final scrimmage of the spring before training camp in August, Andrew Maxwell will have to sit this one out. The knee sprain Maxwell suffered during a team scrimmage almost two weeks ago has kept him limited in practice, and although there was a chance he could return for the Spring Game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Spartan Stadium, head coach Mark Dantonio said Maxwell is officially not playing.
The MSU athletics department announced Tuesday the Spartan football team will play two prime-time games during the 2012 season. MSU’s Aug. 31 season opener against Boise State will be played at 8 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN, while the Spartans’ Sept. 15 game against Notre Dame also has been scheduled for 8 p.m. to be broadcast on ABC.
Although the MSU football team might have lost junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell for the remaining spring practices, the Spartans are beginning to see some injured players get back on the field.
Before Tuesday’s spring football practice, head coach Mark Dantonio addressed the media and revealed that during Saturday’s scrimmage, junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell sprained his knee and may or may not return for the remaining spring practices. Dantonio said the sprain will not require surgery, but that redshirt freshman Connor Cook will take most of the reps with the first team offense and likely play for both sides in the scheduled April 28 spring game.
You don’t know John Jakubik. You might not notice the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Jakubik if you sat next to him on the bus, saw him at a party or even worked with him on a group project. But he’s getting noticed somewhere else. As a walk-on sophomore wide receiver, Jakubik quickly has made a name for himself within the MSU football coaching staff.
Seven practices in, the MSU football team prepared for its first scrimmage of the spring football season, and there has been some movement at several different positions. Head coach Mark Dantonio spoke briefly about his decision to move junior Denzel Drone from defensive end to tight end and indicated the switch could be permanent.
With the departure of leading wide receivers B.J. Cunningham, Keshawn Martin and Keith Nichol, along with tight ends Brian Linthicum and Garrett Celek, the receiving corps for the MSU football team is wide open. And with junior tight end Dion Sims as the only player with more than 10 receptions, the chances for the rest of the receivers are even greater.
The last time Anthony Rashad White took the field in a competitive atmosphere, he secured MSU’s first bowl win since 2001 with a blocked kick on the final play of a 33-30 victory over Georgia in the 2012 Outback Bowl. Three months later, the senior nose tackle is back on the field for MSU’s spring practices and working to fill the void left by the person who was lined up on White’s left during the play — defensive tackle Jerel Worthy, who elected to forgo his senior season and declare for the NFL draft just a few days after the bowl game.
Blake Treadwell knows both sides of the line better than most — probably because he’s played three positions in four years for the MSU football team. Starting his Spartan career at defensive tackle, the now-junior made the switch from a defensive lineman to an offensive lineman during spring football last year and started at center in MSU’s first three games in 2011.
MSU student season tickets for the 2012 football season will go on sale April 7 from the Spartan Ticket Office. The tickets are priced at $175 and include admission to each of MSU’s seven home games this fall and an official 2012 student section T-shirt priced at $10.
Although it’s early in the spring season — with the spring game not until April 28 — the coaching staff said it’s been impressed with the first week of practice, seeing potential for development in several areas.
There are a number of fresh faces among MSU football’s first-team offense, but none is more jarring than the one lining up behind sophomore center Travis Jackson. For the first time in about three years, Kirk Cousins won’t be leading the Spartans on offense — his graduation allowing for junior Andrew Maxwell to step in at quarterback. Just don’t call him “Kirk’s replacement.”
After back-to-back 11-win seasons, an appearance in the inaugural Big Ten championship game and MSU’s first bowl win since 2001, head coach Mark Dantonio doesn’t want anyone involved with the MSU football program to get complacent.
As 15 former Spartans worked out before 52 NFL representatives to prove their worth in the upcoming NFL Draft at MSU’s Pro Day on Wednesday, they also helped to prove the worth of MSU football.
After he transferred to MSU from Oklahoma following his freshman year of college, Keith Nichol always has been out to prove himself. Coming in as a quarterback, Nichol saw his playing time quickly evaporate in favor of Kirk Cousins.