Senior SirDarean Adams has a goal. And it's not a pretty one. "Just come out and just flat-out kill somebody," he said Tuesday after MSU's first spring practice. Don't be alarmed — it's not what you think.
When Mark Dantonio was hired as MSU's new football head coach in November, he was quick to stress toughness and effort as qualities he demanded in his program. And even though the official start of spring practice is still several days away, Dantonio has spent all winter instilling mental and physical toughness in his players via early-morning workouts.
The 12-game 2007 MSU football schedule, which includes seven home games, was unveiled Tuesday. MSU opens the season with three consecutive home games.
Profootballtalk.com's "The Rumor Mill" reported Sunday afternoon that several NFL teams are now considering former MSU quarterback Drew Stanton to have moved ahead of Notre Dame's Brady Quinn based on performances at the league's annual combine in Indianapolis. The Web site cites good team interviews and overall intangibles for Stanton's jump as well as Quinn's questionable ability to play on the big stage. In four years at MSU, Stanton built a career that includes back-to-back team MVP honors and the best completion percentage in Spartans history (.642).
Nick Foles has MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio anticipating big things. The newest recruit for the 2007 Spartans football team, Foles signed a National Letter of Intent on Feb.
First year MSU head football coach Mark Dantonio announced the 2007 football recruiting class, which Rivals.com ranked No.
Quarterback Drew Stanton, defensive tackle Clifton Ryan, wide receiver Matt Trannon and punter Brandon Fields all have accepted invitations to partake in the National Football League's 2007 Scouting Combine. The event is scheduled to take place Feb.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio will reveal the incoming class of football recruits tonight at Breslin Center as part of NCAA Signing Day. Fans have been invited to attend the event, which will consist of an autograph session and video tribute to the incoming class.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio scored a verbal commitment during the weekend from Cedric Everson, a 6-foot-1 athlete from Detroit Mumford High School. Everson is a four-star recruit, according to Rivals.com, and committed verbally to become a Spartan on Feb.
MSU football fans have been invited to join head coach Mark Dantonio when he unveils the 2007 recruiting class Wednesday at Breslin Center as part of the NCAA National Signing Day. Spartans football and Detroit Pistons announcer George Blaha is slated to serve as the host of the event.
Senior quarterback Drew Stanton has been selected to represent MSU today in the College Football All-Star Challenge in Miami. Stanton earned team MVP honors last season after tossing 17 touchdowns for 2,252 total yards.
MSU head football coach Mark Dantonio scored a pair of verbal commitments over the weekend. Guard Arthur Ray Jr.
New football coach Mark Dantonio has already brought seven of his Cincinnati coaches with him to MSU.
Mark Dantonio is wasting no time in his effort to turn around the MSU football program. On Thursday, he penciled four names into his coaching staff: offensive coordinator Don Treadwell, defensive line coach Ted Gill, offensive line coach Dan Roushar and tackles/tight ends coach Mark Staten, who also will serve as recruiting coordinator. On Friday, he named three additional position coaches: secondary coach Harlon Barnett, linebackers and special teams coach Mike Tressel and quarterbacks coach Dave Warner. All seven worked under Dantonio at Cincinnati. "When I first found out and knew that there were possibilities about coming to Michigan State, the first thing I did was check with our staff, in terms of where they would be at with everything," Dantonio said Friday.
Seven members of Cincinnati's football coaching staff have resigned on the heels of former head coach Mark Dantonio's departure and are likely to assume a role on Dantonio's staff at MSU. Tom Hathaway, Cincinnati's assistant athletics director, confirmed the resignations Wednesday afternoon and said the coaches will return to prepare and coach Cincinnati in its bowl game. The coaches who resigned are: • Offensive coordinator Don Treadwell • Tight ends coach Mark Staten • Defensive line coach Ted Gill • Linebackers coach Mike Tressel • Secondary coach Harlon Barnett • Offensive line coach Dan Roushar • Quarterbacks coach Dave Warner Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, Cincinnati's interim head coach, told the university it has until Dec.
New MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio's five-year contract will pay him $1.1 million annually, which puts him in the bottom half of the Big Ten football coaches.
When Dantonio was a graduate assistant at Ohio State from 1983-84, the head coach was Earle Bruce, a 2002 inductee to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Many MSU players were upset that the university didn't inform them of John L. Smith's firing last month until after an announcement had been made to the media. MSU officials didn't want that to happen again. So, the day before the Spartans played Penn State, Mark Hollis, senior associate athletics director and one of the lead directors of the coaching search, met with junior linebacker Kaleb Thornhill and junior running back Jehuu Caulcrick and asked them what the players were looking for in a new coach. While neither player would reveal what he told Hollis went wrong during Smith's tenure, both appreciated their input was sought. "I just want to thank (the administration) for involving us, letting us have a say in what we thought would be beneficial for this program," Thornhill said Monday. Caulcrick said Dantonio will be a players' coach like Smith — albeit a more hard-nosed one — but one who should help address the problems the players saw with the program. "Thinking about all the stuff that we mentioned to him that we needed," Caulcrick said, "Coach Dantonio is the guy that we were talking about."
Newly named head football coach Mark Dantonio and his family — wife Becky and daughters Kristen, 14, and Lauren, 12 — are returning to East Lansing after leaving in 2000 for Ohio State. During Monday's press conference, Becky wore a necklace from the Spartans' 2001 Citrus Bowl appearance, for which her husband was MSU's defensive secondary coach and associate head coach.
The last time Mark Dantonio coached in the Big Ten, it was 2003 and he was defensive coordinator under Jim Tressel at Ohio State.