Chicago - One thing is becoming more clear as MSU’s Aug. 31 kickoff approaches - the Spartans are a fixture on everyone’s radar screen. At this weekend’s annual Big Ten football Kickoff Luncheon, media members picked MSU to finish third in the conference and named junior wide receiver Charles Rogers the preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.
Tickets for three of the Spartans’ eight home football games went on sale this morning. The games against Eastern Michigan on Aug.
Former MSU football players will be signing autographs from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at Meridian Mall, 1982 W.
With a four-game sweep of Penn State, the MSU baseball team solidified the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. “We played well.
The list of MSU football players that will be attending NFL training camps has grown to nine.Former tight end/defensive end Ivory McCoy said he will sign a free-agent contract today with the Philadelphia Eagles.
A day after not being picked in the 2002 NFL Draft, middle linebacker Josh Thornhill was given another chance.The third-team All-American and team MVP was invited to workout at the Detroit Lions mini-camp Thursday through Sunday at its Allen Park practice facility.
First-round draft pick T.J. Duckett was the guy in the spotlight this weekend, but four other Spartan players quietly fulfilled childhood dreams of their own. Tight end Chris Baker, wide receiver Herb Haygood, defensive tackle Josh Shaw and punter Craig Jarrett all had their names called in the 2002 NFL Draft, which took place Saturday and Sunday in New York. All four were Spartan seniors last fall - but being drafted is the official start of their professional football careers.
The NFL Draft can be the most exciting two days in a young college football player’s life. This weekend, five Spartans came one step closer to playing professional football. Five players from a team that finished 7-5 last season is a pretty good accomplishment, and showed just how much talent that team had. Last year the Spartans weren’t represented until the seventh round, when three players were selected. Cornerback Renaldo Hill went to the Arizona Cardinals, center Siitupe Peko went to the New York Jets and T.J.
Spartan receiver Charles Rogers will become part of an elite class of athletes when he is pictured in the October 2002 issue of Playboy Magazine. Rogers will not be baring all, he will join 25 others as members of the 2002 Preseason Playboy All-American team. Gil Brandt, an analyst for NFL.com said Thursday that Rogers would be part of the 2002 Playboy All-American team. “He’s a great player and can he return kicks,” Brandt said. Brandt has helped Gary Cole, photography director and sports editor of Playboy Magazine, select the team in the past. Last season, Rogers caught 67 passes for 1,470 yards in 12 games.
Lansing - While family, friends and reporters waited for T.J. Duckett to make a statement at Trippers on Saturday, his aunt June Smith asked, “Anyone like Georgia peaches?” A short time earlier, Duckett was with friends and family at the Frandor Shopping Center sports bar when the Atlanta Falcons notified him that he was their selection in the first round of the NFL Draft.
The MSU football team’s long snapper from last season signed as an undrafted free agent with the Washington Redskins on Sunday night - five minutes after the conclusion of the NFL Draft. Tony Grant, 23, signed a two year deal in addition to a small signing bonus after not being picked up during the seven-round draft. The electrical engineering senior said he didn’t know if he would get drafted at all. “I don’t know any details, all I know is I’m a Redskin,” Grant said.
Former Spartan tailback T.J. Duckett was picked by the Atlanta Falcons as the 18th pick in the NFL Draft on Saturday.Duckett, an MSU standout and fan favorite, was largely expected by analysts to be chosen by the Cleveland Browns, which would have put him at 16th in the draft.
No one at Beaner’s Gourmet Coffee recognized him as he sipped an Orange Brain Freeze smoothie that matched his orange American Eagle T-shirt. His gold chain, with a tiny gold football dangling at the end, didn’t give him away either.
A few hopeful Spartans are anxiously waiting to hear their names announced this weekend at the 2002 NFL Draft in New York. Junior tailback T.J.
The MSU football team concluded spring practice Saturday with its Green and White spring game at the Duffy Daugherty Football Building. “This has been a very positive spring practice for us,” MSU head coach Bobby Williams said.
Heading into the final scrimmage of spring practice, the race for the starting tailback position is heating up.In the wake of T.J.
Spartan football fans hoping to get a sneak peak of the team at Saturday’s annual Green-White intrasquad game will have to wait until the fall season.MSU head coach Bobby Williams officially canceled the game, which was scheduled to take place at Okemos High.
During the winter, the MSU football team’s No. 1 offensive weapon went from a 6-foot-1, 249-pound bulldozer, to a 6-4, 200-pound game-breaker.
The pretrial hearing Wednesday for Spartan defensive end Clifford Dukes was adjourned. Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Joyce Draganchuck said the reason for the adjournment was so that Dukes’ attorney, Brian Jeffries of ASMSU’s legal services, could have access to all the information. “He just had to sort through all of the police report,” Draganchuck said.
After reviewing testimony involving an October fight that included football players and fraternity members, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office says it will only charge a sophomore defensive end, citing lack of evidence to pursue others. Clifford Dukes, 20, is scheduled to have a pretrial hearing today in 54-B District Court on four counts of assault and battery and two counts of aggravated assault. The charges, issued on March 20, involve an Oct.