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.
It surprised few when Jerel Worthy decided to forgo his senior season and declare for the 2012 NFL Draft. Sitting next to MSU head coach Mark Dantonio at the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center in January, the first team All-American junior defensive tackle came to the decision to leave following MSU’s 33-30 triple overtime victory against Georgia in the 2012 Outback Bowl.
If there’s one thing about Kirk Cousins that stands out above all the rest, it’s the way he leads his team. So then it should come as no surprise that during MSU’s Pro Day at Duffy Daugherty Football Building on Wednesday, the former Spartan quarterback found a way to showcase his leadership before representatives from 32 NFL teams.
As the success of the MSU football team grows, so does the number of fans who wish to be at every game. The Spartan Ticket Office has received a high volume of orders for season ticket packages for the upcoming home football season, to the point where Associate Athletics Director Paul Schager said MSU is expecting a record number of sales.
Former MSU All-American safety Allen Brenner died on Feb. 13, in Clinton, N.C., after battling an extended illness. He was 64.
Football Saturdays at MSU are characterized by many iconic traditions, including Sparty, sounds from the “Michigan State Fight Song” filling the air and for much of the last decade, Zeke the Wonder Dog catching Frisbees at halftime. Zeke the Wonder Dog II, who performed at MSU football games from 2001 to 2007, died at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday from old age, said Zeke’s trainer Jim Foley. Jim and his wife, Terri Foley, rescued and trained the black labrador and pointer mix at their Holland, Mich., home. Zeke II was more than 16 years old when he died.
For MSU head football coach Mark Dantonio, recruiting has everything to do with the program’s identity and where it aspires to be.
Considering his vast résumé filled with several defensive coordinator and defensive secondary coaching positions, it should come as no surprise that head coach Mark Dantonio developed one of the nation’s top defenses in 2011. As a three-year letterman defensive back in the late-1970s for South Carolina, it also should come as no surprise that the defensive-minded coach has a knack for finding talented defensive backs and developing them into a skilled secondary.
Affectionately known as “Joe Pa” to fans across the nation, former Penn State football head coach Joe Paterno passed away Sunday morning at the age of 85.
After recording 12 tackles for loss and four sacks this season, MSU defensive end Marcus Rush has been named a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America. Rush joins defensive tackle Jerel Worthy, who recently declared for the NFL Draft, and three other players — kicker Brett Swenson, linebacker Greg Jones and offensive guard Joel Foreman — as the five Spartans to be named FWAA All-Americans in the last six years.
When a team puts in five months of dedicated practices, sacrificed countless hours for strength and weight training, succeeded in triumph after triumph and spent nearly a month studying film on an opponent, the only additional thing the players can do on game day is believe.