Spartans elect team captains

Not any surprises among the MSU captains: quarterback Kirk Cousins, offensive guard Joel Foreman and safety Trenton Robinson. In bold will be quotes from Mark Dantonio, which were provided by MSU.

It is the third year in a row Cousins has been elected captain. He will undoubtedly go down as one of the best leaders in MSU history.

“Kirk just has a way with people. Whether it’s joking around with them, being serious with them, sending a message at the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon, or just standing in the locker room talking to somebody, he has a way of being very real and very caring about other people. That’s why you see him succeed as a leader. It was a great choice again by our players.”


Foreman, the former Milford offensive lineman, is heading into his fourth year as a starter on MSU's offensive line, leading in inexperienced bunch.

“Joel is a very positive person and has battled through adversity – he’s a guy who’s been there, done that. He’s one of the first guys in that first group that came here in 2007, so he’s seen it from A to Z, really. I think it’s very fitting and very well deserved for him to become a captain in his senior year. He’ll do an outstanding job.”

Robinson is the lone senior starter on what should be a strong secondary. He is expected to be one of two starting seniors on the defense.

“Trenton brings a lot of energy to whatever he does. I think last year he was seen as a leader as well on the defensive side of the ball. He’ll be a great captain. He’s a very sentimental person and has a lot of enthusiasm. There’s a lot to him as a man. This will propel him into great things for the rest of his life – he’s a special person.”

There will be a fourth captain that will rotate each game.

“We will have the same process as we did last year (rotating a fourth game captain among the unity council). We vote on the unity council periodically, probably around five or six times a year, so guys have to continue to lead, and if someone emerges as a leader, somebody has to step aside. The unity council is such an important representation of our football team, and they meet with me regularly. I think it’s important they all have a voice on Saturdays and have that opportunity to go out to midfield and say, ‘what am I going to do with this opportunity.’ It’s a good thing for our team.”

A big strength of last year's 11-2 squad was the leadership, from Cousins to Greg Jones to Aaron Bates. You won't know until they face adversity, but it would appear that leadership will again be a strength of the team.

Hill making impression, drawing praise

Former Chelsea running back Nick Hill may be fourth on the depth chart, but coaches are going to try to get him on the field somehow this season.

Hill has drawn comparisons to Mike Hart not just because of his size, but his skill set as well. Here's my story on how Hill is turning heads at fall camp.

Also, MSU confirmed to the Lansing State Journal that Mark Dantonio returned to practice Wednesday. He returned to Zanesville, Ohio earlier this week to be with his father, who underwent a medical procedure.

Dantonio returns home as father undergoes medical procedure

Release from MSU:

Michigan State head football coach Mark Dantonio traveled to Zanesville, Ohio, Tuesday to be with his family, as his father underwent a medical procedure. Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi will manage the day-to-day football operations until Dantonio returns to campus. Preseason camp concludes Thursday, with the players returning to campus Sunday night to continue preparation for the Sept. 2 season opener against Youngstown State.

Dantonio notes from Monday's practice

Some updates from Monday's media availability. I'm working on some stories, but here's a collection of notable quotes from Mark Dantonio.

After not liking the team's energy in the first scrimmage, Dantonio was much more pleased after yesterday's 183-play scrimmage. Dantonio said the intensity picked up when they moved to the practice field, instead of dropping off like he thought would happen.

"When I look at the film, I always try and evaluate the toughness and the effort, in terms of what we’re trying to do. … I really feel like we have great chemistry on this football team. Guys are playing extremely hard and playing with toughness."

Dantonio thought the offensive line played well, but there were too many penalties from them.

"What we try to do is weight these penalties relative to the scrimmage. So that hurt them, that set them back a couple times. But as far as the play itself, I thought it was OK. Again, we’ve got some young guys up there playing, so they’re going to make some mistakes. But they’re athletic and continue to grow every time we have a scrimmage or every time we have a game, they’ll grow immensely."

Detroit-native and freshman linebacker Lawrence Thomas is expected to be out at least another week with a shoulder injury. With the amount of camp he has missed, the possibility of a redshirt is very real. Dantonio doesn't want to waste a redshirt opportunity by only playing him sparingly, so that's something to look for.

"I imagine it will be difficult because he’s got to rehab his shoulder first and then he’s got to be able to hit with it. Difficut, but he showed a lot of promise when he was able to practice … He’s lost a lot of time. We don’t want to put a guy in there just to put him in the game and say, ‘Hey, you’ve played.’ He’s too good of a player and too valuable of a commodity to waste. So when he’s ready to play, if that’s the third game, he’ll play, if it’s not until next year, then that’s what we’ll do."

When asked about how many freshmen are in the two-deep, Dantonio mentioned safety RJ Williamson, linebacker Ed Davis and Shilique Calhoun as the possibilities, which is quite a statement on the depth of this team.

Dantonio was asked about several position battles, and eventually didn't want to answer them any more. We might not know until the first depth chart comes out before the opener against Youngstown State, and even then, it might be filled with the "ORs."

"I’m not going to make those statements until we get ready to play the game. I think we jump to conclusions sometimes. We thought the guys were competing for the positions, but to me, we still have a week to go here. We’ll come back next week and we’ll sort of solidify where we’re at. I think that’s the fair thing to do. We want to evaluate them all the way through summer camp."

Lots of players were made available, so it's time for me to get back to work on some stories.

(I'm going to bold quotes now, so it looks better on the computer screen)

Defense dominates second scrimmage

One day after it was postponed due to thunderstorms, the defense dominated MSU's second intrasquad scrimmage with a 78-44 win on a modified scoring system.

The scrimmage lasted 183 plays and nearly three hours, but just 105 of the plays were played at Spartan Stadium. The scrimmage was wrapped up on the normal practice field. In the release, Mark Dantonio said the new field "looked and played great." Not sure if the change of venue says something about the new turf still taking root at the stadium or not. (UPDATE: According to Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal, the plan was the run 60 plays on the Spartan Stadium field. So the fact they ran 105 looks like a good sign).

The story of the day was turnovers, as Johnny Adams and Tony Lippett each returned an interception for a touchdown. It was the second pick-six for Lippett in as many scrimmages. The defense as a whole had four turnovers and the first-team defense didn't allow a touchdown. The offense had won the first scrimmage, 67-63.

Defensively, linebacker Max Bullough led the way with 11 tackles. Fellow linebackers TyQuan Hammock and freshman Taiwan Jones each had nine tackles. The other turnovers came when Hammock intercepted a pass and former Southfield Christian defensive end Taylor Calero recovered a fumble.

Offensively, Kirk Cousins went 11-for-25 for 153 yards and an interception. B.J. Cunningham, Keith Nichol and Keith Mumphery each caught four passes. 

Former Chelsea running back Nick Hill led the way on the ground with 85 yards on 25 carries. The coaches clearly want to get the kid reps, because they really like him. The two offensive touchdowns were short runs by Le'Veon Bell and Larry Caper. The MSU release did not say if former Oak Park running back Edwin Baker played in the scrimmage. He has been banged up throughout camp.

Here are the quotes from Dantonio:

“Our intensity level was very good throughout the scrimmage. We’re really excited about the way the defense played this afternoon. The first-team defense looked very sharp, pressuring the quarterback, running to the football and tackling in space very, very well. The defense got off to a quick start and really took control after the big pick by Tony Lippett that he returned for a touchdown. 

"Defensively, Max Bullough played very well. From ground level, it sure looked like Max made a lot of plays. Jeremy Langford (six tackles, including one for a 3-yard loss, and one pass break-up) made some plays too (for second-team defense).

“Offensively, we can’t beat ourselves. Penalties really put us behind the eightball. Offensively, we must eliminate the unforced penalties. Collectively, the tailbacks all played pretty well. They ran hard, broke a couple of nice runs and took care of the football. With windy conditions like today, the receivers need to catch the ball on a more consistent basis. 

"The quarterbacks threw crisp passes right on the money, but dropped passes killed some drives. The balls will flutter some in these windy conditions, but the receivers have to make the play.

“We thought our guys came out here with a purpose today. The guys played with intensity and toughness. We got 50-to-60 snaps each for the ones and twos and got another 40 snaps for the threes, so we got a lot accomplished.

“We’re really pleased with the attitude of our football team. You’re never going to be perfect, but you keep striving for perfection.  We’re very excited about our toughness and how hard our guys play. With our players’ willingness to work, the execution will come.”

One would think a blowout in a scrimmage is not ideal. But considering how much firepower the offense has, perhaps it is a good sign that the defense played so well.

Some of Cousins' numbers could be attributed to dropped passes, as Dantonio mentioned. The first-team defense pressured Cousins well. I'm not sure if that should be attributed to how good the defensive line could be or if the offensive line struggled. 

Only the coaches truly know how well the scrimmage went. And if Dantonio likes the team's attitude and toughness, that should be a good sign for MSU.

'We're getting about 4 different offenses'

As Pat Narduzzi works with a young defense, playing against perhaps the Big Ten's top offense has both helped and made things difficult.

Larry Caper said you could see the Spartans put four running backs on the field. I think he was exaggerating, but the point still stands: The Spartans have a lot of weapons. Here's a story on some offensive adjustments.

It must be fun to be Dan Roushar right now.

'It was the best thing to happen to me'

Lots of stuff from practice today. I'm working on some stories that will be up later, but for now, here's senior wide receiver B.J. Cunningham talking about getting redshirted his freshman year. If you haven't heard, he's 10 catches away from being MSU's all-time leader, which is quite a feat at a school with a history for great receivers. Cunningham got a lot of hype when he was on the practice squad in 2007, developing a chemistry with Kirk Cousins, who was redshirted the same year.

"I feel like it was the best thing to happen to me. (When I got my redshirt,) I called home, I was like, ‘Mom, I don’t know if I’m going to make it. I’ve got to sit out another whole year. I can’t play football, play a whole game. I’m just going to be a practice player. But looking back on it, I got to learn the speed of the game, get my feet right, my hands right and learn more about the game. Because I was still kind of raw."

"I had my senior talk a few days ago, and I told (the freshmen), ‘If you get redshirted, don’t be discouraged.' Look at me now. It helped me a lot. Now I’m on the verge of possibly breaking the record and win another Big Ten championship and be a part of another great team."

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.”