Thoughts on the opening of MSU spring football

Doesn't it feel like we just saw LSU get demolished by Alabama in New Orleans?

The surprisingly successful and exciting MSU basketball season resulted in the last three months going by in the blink of an eye. Now, football back. MSU's first of 15 spring practices took place Tuesday. Spring culminates with the intrasquad scrimmage at 1 p.m. on April 28. The game will be televised live on Big Ten Network, a result of sustained program success. MSU looks to build on back-to-back 11-win seasons, but has some major holes to fill before the season kicks off next fall. That starts with spring practice.

"We want to try to get 3 percent better every practice," Mark Dantonio said at his press conference on Tuesday (full transcript here). "That's something my head coach, my position coach really talked about in spring practice going way back in the 1970s. I think I still try to hold that to be true. So you're going to remain 97 percent of what you do will remain the same. If you can just change that 3 percent every day, you're going to become a more effective football player in the end. So that's what we're trying to do.

"Develop new concepts, new ideas, new position changes and experiment with those different things. We also need to stay healthy, but guard against complacency, I would say. Regardless of where you're at, if you're the head coach here, position coach, position player, you need to look forward to the next thing and really guard in terms of being complacent in everything that we do."

Considering not much has happened on the field yet, the biggest stories are on the depth chart. Bennie Fowler, Chris Norman, Lawrence Thomas and Paul Lang are notable players who will miss part or all of spring due to injuries, but let's take a look at who will be practicing.

Two Spartans on All Two-Star (And Fewer) Team

A few weeks ago, Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated sent out a tweet that he was putting together a list of top college players who were overlooked by the recruiting services, given two stars or fewer.

The list came out today, and, to no surprise, a few Spartans made the team: Le'Veon Bell and Darqueze Dennard.

Five questions as MSU football heads into spring

With the 2011 season officially in the books after tonight's national championship game, it's time to take a look at what MSU's biggest issues are going to be heading into spring ball.

1. How will Andrew Maxwell transition into the starting role?

I wrote about Maxwell last week. He has all the physical tools to succeed Kirk Cousins, the winningest quarterback in school history. Maxwell also has one of the Big Ten's best running backs, one of the best defenses and one of the most-experienced offensive lines to help him. The only things Maxwell doesn't have are experience and wide receivers. Maxwell knows the offense, as he will be a fourth-year junior next year. He just needs to take everything and show it on on the field.

2. Who will be the new defensive tackles?

Fowler, Giampapa out, Narduzzi staying (for now)

Hope everyone had a great weekend. How 'bout those Lions? I was downtown Saturday and I have to say my first experience of Ford Field with a good Lions team was great. That place gets loud, and I mean loud. Congrats to the Lions and their fans.

As for MSU, Dantonio talked to reporters down in Tampa today.

From Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal:

--Long-snapper Matt Giampapa is out for the Outback Bowl for violating team rules. Steve Moore will take over long-snapping duties.

--Wide receiver Bennie Fowler's status finally is clear: out. Fowler only played in a few games while dealing with a stress fracture in his foot that has been bothering him all season. Per Rexrode, Dantonio said Fowler shouldn't need surgery, although his status for spring ball is uncertain. That's quite a stress fracture.

--There is one unnamed player who did not travel to Tampa because of academic issues, but may head down later in the week if that is taken care of.

--Dantonio said Pat Narduzzi interviewed for one other job, but is staying at MSU for now. Narduzzi was reportedly in the mix at Akron and Pitt, and both those jobs have been filled. MSU assistants are supposed to be getting raises in early 2012.

Fowler making his way back from foot injury

After missing the first five games with a foot injury, former Detroit Country Day wide receiver Bennie Fowler made his debut against Michigan and was in for six plays against Wisconsin, including recovering the blocked punt for a TD.

He's going to be the go-to receiver next year (with three seniors ahead of him this year), so getting him back into the flow of things will be good for both this season and the next two.

Here is my story on Fowler and where he is at with the foot injury.

Dress list update

Bennie Fowler (Country Day) and Tyler Hoover (Novi) are not dressed for today's game against Florida Atlantic.

Fowler has been dealing with a foot injury and Hoover suffered a rib injury last week.

On the dress list are offensive guard Arthur Ray Jr., who had a memorable start last week, and center Travis Jackson, who has been dealing with an ankle issue since camp. Mark Dantonio said earlier in the week that Jackson would only play in a reserve role if he was able to play. Blake Treadwell is listed as the starter at center.

Freshman linebacker Lawrence Thomas also is dressed, although I wouldn't expect him to play, given the fact he hasn't practiced much and MSU wouldn't want to waste a redshirt opportunity.

Skies are cloudy, but the weather report shows we could miss the rain. Let's hope so.

New Spartan head logo at midfield. I'm glad they put an S at each 25-yard line.

Offense wins first preseason scrimmage

In MSU's first preseason jersey scrimmage on Saturday, the offense edged out a 67-63 win against the defense over 149 plays (in two hours and 20 minutes), to hold onto the green jerseys.

Former Chelsea running back Nick Hill led with 72 yards on 14 rushes and former Detroit Country Day receiver Bennie Fowler led with six catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. Former Oak Park running back Edwin Baker had one rushing touchdown in limited action.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins went 17-for-28 for 216 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. On defense, safety Isaiah Lewis had eight tackles, safety Trenton Robinson had an interception and defensive end William Gholston had 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

Here are some quotes from MSU head coach Mark Dantonio. (Quotes provided by MSU).

“It’s tough to evaluate things overall because we haven’t watched the film yet, but we did some very good things. We could have a very good football team, but when things get tough, we have to be able to reach down and find our identity.

“As a head coach, you really try to remain neutral, hoping that both sides play well. The biggest things I’d like to see are more emotion and more intensity. We went for awhile today (2:20), but we have to display more emotion and intensity. We’ll have a good football team; I don’t worry about that, but how good can we be? To reach our full potential, we must consistently play at a high level. The season opener is still almost three weeks away, and sometimes, a team finds its identity as it moves through the season.

“Everybody got a chance to play and that’s the main thing we wanted to do today. The ones, twos and threes all got reps, so now we can evaluate everybody. We tried to put those different units in tough situations and see who could block, tackle, and make a play.

“The expectations of our football team are very high, so the expectations of its head coach internally are going to be very high. After eight practices, there’s plenty of room for improvement.”