The helmets and shoulder pads are going back into storage for a while. The Tom Izzo Football Building is about to get a little quieter for a few weeks.
Spring football is over in East Lansing as of Saturday afternoon. Michigan State held its 15th and final practice at Spartan Stadium in front of a couple thousand fans, capping the first spring under new head coach Jonathan Smith and his staff.
MSU appeared to get out of the two-hour event, which featured roughly 40 minutes of scrimmaging at the end, without any significant injuries. Notable players who did not participate Saturday included tight end Brennan Parachek, safety Jaden Mangham, offensive linemen Stanton Ramil and Cole Dellinger and defensive tackle Alex VanSumeren.
Here are five thoughts on what I saw from the Spartans:
1. If that’s the baseline of offensive line play, I’m encouraged about MSU’s chances to get close to realizing its ceiling this year. The whole operation was cleaner than I expected, particularly up front, where the Spartans have had some struggles this spring. I thought there was a chance the offensive units would be in disarray due to lacking play up front, but that didn’t happen. Afterward, Smith said this was the O-line’s best day of their 15 spring practices, so take that into account. Right tackle Ashton Lepo looked very solid for someone who hasn’t seen a lot of game snaps. His physical tools were overwhelmingly obvious when MSU signed him out of Grand Haven High, and he looks to be starting to come into his own. Great size and good mobility to get on the edge and begin stretching the line of scrimmage horizontally in MSU’s wide zone runs. The battle wages on at left guard. Kristian Phillips and Gavin Broscious both had good moments while rotating between the first and second units. That might wind up as a situation where MSU is picking between two strong options instead of the lesser evil. Oregon State transfer Tanner Miller is a turnkey center. And this all happened without tackle Ethan Boyd or incoming transfer Luke Newman in the mix, so there’s additional help on the way.
2. TV broadcasts are poor tools for looking at secondary play, so I came into Saturday really curious about what defensive coordinator Joe Rossi would do on the back end. I’ve scoured YouTube to get a general feel for his system, but his coverage preferences aren’t as easy to see with the publicly-available resources. MSU was super vanilla on both sides of the ball Saturday – you’re going to see a lot more motion and misdirection on offense in a game setting, and defensively, the Spartans did little to disguise their looks and only brought extremely basic blitzes a handful of times. Still, from what I watched, Cover 3 was Rossi’s favorite coverage on Saturday, with some Cover 2, Cover 4 and man-free sprinkled in. MSU also ran a boatload of Cover 3 under previous coordinator Scottie Hazelton, so there’s some familiarity with that for the returning players. It’s unclear whether Rossi was playing to that sense of comfort, or if he was being intentionally bland, or if that’s truly how he intends to call his defense. It was interesting, nonetheless, and MSU has some players in the secondary who could be ready to break out this fall. Guys such as Malik Spencer, Chance Rucker and Jaden Mangham, who did not participate Saturday.
3. Watching backup quarterback Tommy Schuster, I kept thinking of Adam Sandler’s line near the end of Billy Madison – “Man, I’m glad I called that guy.” I have to imagine that thought has bounced around Smith’s head more than a few times this spring. Schuster looks like a very capable, competent insurance policy as the No. 2 behind uber-talented starter Aidan Chiles. Nabbing the Michigan native and former record-setting passer at North Dakota from the transfer portal is one of the most underrated personnel moves from Smith’s staff this offseason. The two freshman signees, Alessio Milivojevic and Ryland Jessee, could have promising futures ahead of them. Milivojevic has a good, accurate arm, and Jessee has some intriguing physical tools, but neither looks prepared to be thrown into the fire of a Big Ten Saturday. If for some reason Chiles was unavailable, I think MSU would be comfortable turning the keys over to Schuster, who had his share of impressive completions on Saturday. Obviously, if the starting quarterback goes down with a long-term injury, the entire outlook of the season changes. But, for a half, for a game, maybe even two, the Spartans can sleep well at night knowing Schuster is on call. Chiles even mentioned how he gleans things from Schuster’s game and the way he approaches things. You can’t overstate how important the addition of Schuster was.
4. It was a mixed bag of a day for the defensive line, I thought, which is the unit Smith has been trumpeting as one of MSU’s strongest. The unit certainly dropped a click or two with the departure of defensive tackle Simeon Barrow, an All-Big Ten-caliber player and likely future pro. Expect MSU to react to that loss with a transfer addition or two. It’s a big year for D-tackle Derrick Harmon, who flirted with leaving before staying put in green and white, and I was hoping to see a little more from him. Rush end Khris Bogle had a couple strong rushes, but without the ability to hit the quarterbacks, it was a bit of a quiet day overall for that group. Hard to truly hone your pass rush when you know you have to throttle down, so I remain in wait-and-see mode with those guys. Transfer defensive end Quindarius Dunnigan, from Middle Tennessee State, obviously flashed a few times, which was good to see if you’re MSU. Dunnigan appears to be the model for the kinds of transfers Smith and Co. want to pursue in the sense that he was a proven, productive player, albeit at the Group of 5 level. The previous staff too often eschewed hard on-field data for projection and pedigree, leading to an iffy hit rate on transfers. Dunnigan was a good player at his previous school, and he looks capable of giving the Spartans good snaps now. Sometimes, it’s not that complicated.
5. Not a bad first impression by freshman wide receiver Nick Marsh, eh? Not bad at all. Actually, it was really darn good. I loved how physically the youngster played, using his big frame to his advantage. By all accounts, Marsh is just in the beginning stages of truly learning both this scheme and the intricacies of playing the position at the college level. I have no doubt he’ll be a quick study as he’s earned a reputation as a worker with a legitimate passion for the game. I think he’s going to get better by the minute once the Spartans reconvene for fall camp. Based on what we saw Saturday, it’s impossible to imagine Marsh not being in the regular playing rotation at wideout, at worst. Probably too early to talk about a starting nod, especially with how much position coach Courtney Hawkins is a stickler for the fundamentals and details, but you can see the talent that made him the top-ranked prospect in MSU’s 2024 signing class. And the Spartans do need weapons to emerge on offense. Running back Nate Carter and tight end Jack Velling look like two legs of a stool. Who will be the third? Marsh’s size makes him stand out as a unique option in the receiver room. I’m very curious to see what he looks like in August after several weeks in the offseason conditioning program and spending the summer sharpening his chemistry with the quarterbacks.
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