Coming in at No. 6 in the preseason rankings, expectations for MSU football have never been higher. Four 11-win seasons in five years, two top-5 finishes in as many years and success on the recruiting trails will do that for a team.
It’s been a wild ride for MSU fifth-year senior walk-on wide receiver AJ Troup, but it’s one he wouldn’t trade it for the world. “It’s been a long (journey),” Troup said.
A few changes are coming to the MSU football game day experience for students this fall.
Representing MSU at the recent 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto were senior basketball guard Denzel Valentine and recent graduate and sprinter Jellisa Westney. Valentine and the USA basketball team managed to capture a bronze medal at the games and the senior guard was able to produce despite limited opportunity. Valentine averaged just 11.4 minutes a game, good for the second lowest on the team on a team of 12. Despite the low minute totals, Valentine came in at No.
MSU senior quarterback Connor Cook was ranked No. 2 best college football quarterback of 2015— second to Mississippi State's Dak Prescott — in a recent ranking on campusinsiders.com.
The Spartans will begin the upcoming football season ranked No. 6 in the Preseason Amway Coaches Poll, their highest ranking ever since the poll's inception.
East Lansing is the 17th best soccer city in the U.S., according to wallethub.com's 2015 rankings.
The Big Ten Football Media Days will be hosted at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, on Thursday and Friday, July 30 and 31, according to a Spartan Athletics press release. The media days will include a Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon at the convention center on Friday, which is open to the public with limited seats still available for purchase, according to the release.
The MSU baseball and softball teams received good news recently in the form of stadium upgrades. The Drayton McLane Baseball Stadium at John H. Kobs Field and Secchia Softball Stadium will both be receiving new electric field heating systems, according to an announcement made July 28 by the MSU Athletics Department.
With summer winding down, the men’s soccer team is gearing up for another season after making a run to the Elite Eight in both 2013 and 2014.
Former Ohio State wide receiver Frank Epitropoulos confirmed today via twitter that he is transferring to Michigan State and will walk-on to the football team.
MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio announced Monday via a press release that junior running back Delton Williams, who violated University ordinance 18.01 by possessing a weapon on campus last March, will rejoin the football team in mid-August.
MSU Athletic Director Mark Hollis has been selected as the 2015-16 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee vice chair and the 2016-17 chair of the committee, according to a Spartan Athletics new release. “I love college sports.
Former MSU basketball star Keith Appling has inked a two-year partially guaranteed contract with the Orlando Magic of the NBA, news outlets reported Monday. The 6-foot-1 guard and graduate of Detroit Pershing High School played four years at MSU and finished his career with 1,509 points, 465 assists and 151 steals.
Former MSU and current Alabama head coach Nick Saban recently stated at SEC Media Days that he felt NFL draft feedback for players gauging their standing at the next level is a distraction to said players who are preparing for the final stretch of their season. Saban coached MSU from 1995-99, but he left to become the head coach at Louisiana State before the bowl game in the 1999 season after leading the Spartans to a 9-2 record. Former MSU wide receiver Plaxico Burress who played for the Spartans during Saban's tenure took offense to Saban's remarks. Burress was considering leaving school early for the NFL, but Saban convinced Burress to stay to "finish what he started." The former wide receiver recently took to Twitter to call out his former coach. I recall Nick Saban telling me to stay in school finish what I started, I wasnt 1st round pick and he left for LSU b4 the season was over — Plaxico Burress (@plaxicoburress) July 15, 2015 Now Nick Saban goes on tv saying that kids are distracted by NFL projections.
The United Stated women not only beat Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final on July 5, but took gold for most-viewed soccer game ever in the U.S.
With success comes recognition and several MSU football players have big expectations in the upcoming season. A majority of the annual college football awards have put out watch lists that feature Spartans.
The Los Angeles Clippers announced today that they have officially signed Rookie forward Branden Dawson, the details of the contact have not been announced. Never will I ever forget this day!
As the Orlando summer league begins to heat up former MSU basketball players Branden Dawson and Travis Trice are trying to find their path in the NBA. Dawson, of course, is playing for the Los Angeles Clippers summer league team after he was taken with the No.
After accepting an invitation to the 2015 U.S. Pan American Men’s Basketball Team training camp, senior guard Denzel Valentine is one of 12 players who made the team, according to a news release by Spartan Athletics.