The helmet and shoulder pads will be returned to storage for a while. The Tom Izzo Football Building is about to be a little quiet for a few weeks.
As of Saturday afternoon, spring football has ended in East Lansing. michigan They held their 15th and final practice at Spartan Stadium in front of thousands of fans. cover the first spring under new head coach Jonathan Smith And his staff.
MSU appeared to get through the two-hour event, which ended with about 40 minutes of scrimmage, without any major injuries.Notable players not participating Saturday include tight end. brennan parachecksafety jayden mangumoffensive lineman Stanton Ramil and Cole Dillinger and defensive tackle alex vansmelen.
Here are my five thoughts on what I see from the Spartans.
1. If that's the baseline for offensive line play, I'm encouraged that MSU could approach that cap this year. The overall operation was cleaner than expected, especially up front, where the Spartans have struggled this spring. I thought the offensive line might be thrown into disarray due to a lack of play up front, but that wasn't the case. Afterward, Smith said it was the O-line's best day of 15 spring practices, so he wants that to be taken into consideration.right tackle Ashton Repo For someone who hasn't seen many snaps of the game, it looked pretty solid. His physical tools were by far the most obvious when MSU delisted him from Grand His Haven High School, but he seems to be starting to come into his own. His good size and good mobility allow him to get on the edge and start stretching the line of scrimmage horizontally on MSU's wide zone runs. The battle continues at Saemon. Christian Phillips and Gavin Brocious Both had good moments rotating between the first and second units. It could be a situation where MSU chooses between two strong options rather than the lesser evil. oregon transfer tanner miller It is a turnkey center.And all this happened without tackle ethan boyd or receive transfer luke newman So we'll provide you with additional help along the way.
2. Television broadcasts are a poor tool for watching secondary play, so I was very curious to see what kind of defensive coordinator we had on Saturday. Joe Rossi It will be done in the backend. I scoured YouTube to get a general feel for his system, but it's not that easy to see his coverage preferences with publicly available resources. MSU was very mediocre on both sides of the ball on Saturday – in the game setting you would see more motion and misdirection on offense, but on defense the Spartans did little to hide their looks. Many times it didn't work and only resulted in a few very basic blitzes. Still, from what I saw, Cover 3 was Rossi's favorite coverage on Saturday, with a sprinkling of Cover 2, Cover 4, and Manfree as well. MSU also ran a Cover 3 boat under its former coordinator. Scotty Hazelton, so there is some familiarity for returning players. It's unclear whether Rossi was playing with such confidence, whether he was intentionally playing bland, or whether that's how he really intended to defend. Nevertheless, it was interesting, and MSU has some players in the secondary who may be ready to break out this fall.guys like malik spencer, chance lacquer and Jaden Mangum, who did not participate on Saturday.
3. Watching backup quarterbacks Tommy Schuster, I've been thinking about Adam Sandler's line near the end of Billy Madison: “Hey, I'm glad I called that guy.” I imagine that thought crossed Smith's mind several times this spring.Schuster appears to be a very capable and competent insurance policy as the No. 2 behind a talented starter. Aidan Chiles.catch michigan Native and former record-setting passer north dakota The transfer portal move was one of the most underrated additions to Smith's staff this offseason. The two first-year signatories are: Alessio Milivojevic and ryland jesse, they may have a promising future ahead of them. Milivojevic has a good, accurate arm and Jesse has some interesting physical tools, but neither look like they're ready to be thrown into the Big Ten fire on Saturday. I can not see. If Chiles is unavailable for some reason, I think MSU would have no problem handing the keys to Schuster, who scored a nice goal on Saturday. Obviously, if the starting quarterback goes down with a long-term injury, the entire outlook of the season changes. But whether it's a half, a game, or maybe two, the Spartans can sleep better at night knowing Schuster will be there for them. Chiles also mentioned how he takes things from Schuster's games and approaches things. I can't overstate how important the addition of Schuster was.
Four. I thought it was a mixed day for the defensive line, which Smith has touted as one of MSU's strongest units. The team certainly dropped a click or two with the departure of defensive tackle Simeon Burrow, an All-Big Ten player and likely future pro. Expect MSU to respond to that loss with one or two additional transfers.This year is a breakthrough year for D-tackles. Derrick Harmon, he flirted with leaving before staying in the green and white, and I was hoping to see a little more from him.rush end chris bogle We had some strong rushes, but it was a bit of a quiet day overall for that group because we didn't have the ability to attack the quarterback. It's hard to really hone a pass rush when you know you need to throttle back, so I'm continuing to be in wait-and-see mode with them.Transfer defensive end Quindarius Dunniganfrom middle tennessee, obviously blinked a few times. This helped you to check if you are her MSU. Dunnigan appears to be the model for a transfer that Smith and others would like to pursue, in the sense that he was a proven and productive player, albeit at Group 5 level. The previous staff too often eschewed hard on-field data in favor of projections and pedigrees, leading to uncertain transfer accuracy. Dunnigan was a good player at his previous school and now looks like he could give the Spartans some good snaps. Sometimes it's not that complicated.
Five. First impressions of the freshman wide receiver weren't bad. nick marsh,picture? Not bad, at all. It was actually really good. I loved how this young man used his big frame to play physically. By all accounts, Marsh is in the early stages of truly learning both the scheme and the intricacies of playing the position at the college level. He's earned a reputation as a hard worker with a legitimate passion for the game, so there's no doubt he'll be a quick study. I think he'll get better by the minute once the Spartans reconvene for fall camp. Based on what we saw on Saturday, it's impossible to imagine, at worst, that Marsh isn't in the regular rotation at wideout.It's probably too early to talk about starting nods, especially with how many position coaches courtney hawkins He's a stickler for fundamentals and details, but you can see the talent that made him a top prospect in MSU's 2024 signing class. And the Spartans need weapons to go on the attack.Running back Nate Carter and tight end Jack Vering It looks like two legs of a stool. Who will be the third person? Marsh stands out as a unique option in the receiving room because of his size. It will be very interesting to see what he looks like in August after participating in an offseason conditioning program for several weeks and spending the summer developing his chemistry with the quarterback.
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