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It has been a long time coming, Michigan State football is back. Or at least it seems to be. Last year's team faced quite a bit of adversity in losing so many players to injury, and still came out with a solid season. There was also the drama of fights, assault, and arrests that seemed to plague the team last year. Let me be the first to say that I commend D'Antonio for sitting those guys for the bowl game. It sent a message, and hopefully will clear up any more of the issues we may face this year. It also ushered Keith Nichol's transition to receiver, being that half the receiving corps was suspended for that game-- he played, and quite well. Nichol moving to receiver solidified Cousins as the #1 guy at QB.
Let's preview the offense first. MSU is returning every single receiver, except for Blair White, from last year's team. Yes, that's right. Good thing for Cousins. Biggest guys to look out for are going to be Mark Dell, BJ Cunningham, and Keshawn Martin. But the biggest piece to the passing game puzzle is not a receiver, it's Charlie Gantt. Charile Gantt has spent his entire college career as a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th string guy-- until his breakout season last year. Now he's a senior, and probably one of the best tight ends in the Big Ten.
Kirk Cousins had an amazing year last year too. Posting a 61% completion percentage and a 142.6 passer rating on the year with 19 touchdowns and only 9 interceptions. Highlight of the year was easily MSU's win over Western Michigan, where he completed 88% of his passes for 353 yards and 2 touchdowns. Cousins is an extremely accurate passer, and with a lethal running game behind him, leads one of the most explosive offenses in the Big Ten.
Baker, left, and Caper, right.
Possibly the best two-back combination in the Big Ten resides at Michigan State. Edwin Baker and Larry Caper are two names you're going to want to watch for this year. Larry Caper is a tough tackle, as shown in the second half of this video. Baker has the speed and quickness that Javon Ringer brought to State. The plus here is that they're both sophomores, and both are looking to get expanded roles on the team this year.
If MSU is going to play well in the Big Ten, they need a balanced attack from Cousins and the combination of Baker/Caper.
As far as defense goes, I'm not expecting much. Chris L. Rucker and Greg jones return for senior seasons, and both had decent years last year. Jones was 3rd in the NCAA in tackles, and is 2nd in the nation in total career tackles (359) and tackles per game (9.2). You can read the laundry list of accolades and statistics here; basically Greg Jones is our best player. MSU has never been know for their defense, so this year I'm not really expecting too much-- but I think the run-stopping game will impress some people. Jones and Gordon, paired with some playing time with blue-chip prospect William Gholston, can bolster a big but young defensive line with some of D'Antonio's blitz schemes-- in the Big Ten this is critical.
Greg Jones laying down some hurt.
Special teams suddenly became a strength of MSU last year after years of the John Goss "types." Unfortunately, Swenson is gone and we now have 2 new kickers. On the plus side, one of the top punters in the country-- Aaron Bates-- is returning. That's all fine and dandy, but what I'm really excited about is Keshawn Martin's returning ability. He has the talent to play a bunch of skill positions (3rd on the team in rushing yards and 4th in receiving yards), and is a threat returning kicks. From MSU's sports site: 1,451 all-purpose yards, averaging 18.1 yards every time he touched the football (80 total touches). That's an explosive player.
Keshawn Martin has been nominated by many as one of the best returners in the country.
As far as schedule goes, I see a good season ahead for Sparty. We got lucky in facing only 3 ranked Big Ten teams-- none of which are named the Buckeyes. We have very winnable games early on, including FAU, WMU, and Northern Colorado (school that is bad in the division my school is in, the Big Sky). As typical with State's schedules, it gets tougher the farther in we get, including Wisconsin, @ Iowa, Purdue, and @ Penn State. I do, however, think that all of these are winnable for State, though it is never logical to predict a team running the table in the Big Ten. Of those four games, I see us winning one. For some of you, looking for a prediction, I say MSU will finish 8-4 this season. With that finish, they could (finally) make the Insight Bowl, and I can go see them. Win-win.
Because I am so into the aesthetics of athletics, I also think it's worth mentioning the uniform transition this year. They added a little variety, so I like these. There was quite a bit of controversy this offseason about Nike changing the logo, and the Facebook group garnered enough attention that the AD decided against it, thankfully. Here's the new unis:
And the proposed "new logo"
Ugly, huh? I'm glad they stuck with the old one.
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