Spartan Magazine

M.S. View Jim Comparoni It should go without saying that a group that ranked No. 1 in the nation in total defense through four games has been a team strength, heading into the conference season. The Hunt For A Better October A look at Spartan football and what parts of the team are on schedule, ahead of schedule and behind schedule - and the chances that each will stay that way through October: Ahead of Schedule: ➢ Shilique Calhoun. Many have been predicting for more than two years that the sophomore defensive end would become an impact pass rusher at Michigan State. Still, we need to acknowledge that it's kind of rare for a first-year starter, a sophomore, to emerge as National Defensive Player of the Week within his first three starts. He was supposed to be good. He was supposed to be this good. But it was still a pleasant September surprise to see him elevate his game quickly, and on cue. As for his quiet performance at Notre Dame, the Irish did a good job of double-teaming Calhoun all day - with tight end Troy Niklas (6-6, 270) serving as an outstanding pass protector for his position. Niklas repeatedly had help from a watchful offensive tackle as MSU generally sought to rush four versus six blockers. Was there some holding going on? Sure. But I've seen worse. Credit Notre Dame. Will Calhoun be making noise again soon? I would think so. There aren't many tight ends who can pass protect like Niklas, but MSU is going to need to find a way to counter some of those double-team schemes. ➢ Jack Conklin: Emerging as a starting offensive lineman is one thing. Doing it at the all-important left tackle position is even more impressive. Being able to flip back and forth from left tackle to right tackle as a first-year player is borderline ridiculous. And doing it for what appears to be a solid-to-strong overall unit is downright impressive. Conklin is living up to the billing as being a star on the rise at Michigan State. In film study through the first four games, I saw no negative plays from him. ➢ Max Bullough. We've come to expect standout play from him week-in and week-out, but that doesn't mean we should forget that he is well above standard for his position, nationally. Example: His third-andone stoppage at Notre Dame, working behind a twogapping Damon Knox, was quick and forceful - leading to a punt. He stopped the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage without the benefit of run blitzing. Good read, good force. He doesn't have to make the tackle to be the key guy in holding a play for no gain. On a first-and-15 at ND, he took on a lead-blocking pull guard and blasted him, creating enough spillage for Taiwan Jones to get the tackle for no gain. Play after play after play, doing his job with durability. ➢ Darqueze Dennard: Doing it all. Covering, breaking up passes, playing the run. He got home on a blitz to mess up a fourth-down pass at Notre Dame, and he forced a tight end fumble (which Notre Dame recovered). ➢ Jack Allen: After missing two games with injuries, and coming back solidly against Youngstown State, I was stunned by the way he out-leveraged big Louis Nix of Notre Dame with regularity. I put him on the short list of most-improved-players on the team. ➢ The MSU Defense as a Whole: It should go without saying that a group that ranked No. 1 in the nation in total defense through four games has been a team strength, heading into the conference season. On Schedule: ➢ The MSU Offensive Line: Good in pass protection (allowed only six QB hits against Notre Dame) and is getting a push on "power" runs and zone runs. All five linemen can pull and lead-block from the back side or to the front side, which makes linebackers have to pause a split second longer when an o-lineman's helmet pops up to pull - can't bite too quickly on what might be a false key. Meanwhile, MSU has some guys that can bash you. ➢ Tyler Hoover. As expected, the sixth-year senior defensive tackle has taken his game up a level. He is deflecting passes, getting penetration, playing the run, and one of the key reasons why MSU has improved its ability to force turnovers. He's not a completely disruptive force, but he has become a plus player. ➢ Bennie Fowler. The embattled senior wide receiver had a miserable first half of last year, and began this season in poor form with a bad game against Western Michigan. But he followed up with strong performances in the next three games, including a tackle-breaking TD against Youngstown State and a diving catch to put MSU into the red zone against Notre Dame. He's not great. But as a fifthyear senior, he is comfortably back on schedule as the type of play-maker that opponents must respect. Is he a plus player? Occasionally, but not consistently enough. On a team that was severely lacking play-making ability in September, Fowler was one of the few who provided some offensive push. Getting benched last year led to a mid-to-late season surge from him. MSU seemed to get that surge a little earlier from Fowler this year after removing him from the starting lineup in week two. MSU has also used him more frequently on reverses, and he showed improvement in that area after ginger-footing an opportunity in the season opener. I predicted that Fowler would vie for All-Big Ten honors this year. After he stomach-dropped a couple of passes in the season opener, failed to contend for a deep ball and repeated many of his errors of 2012, I wondered how I could have been so wrong about a player. After the horrible start, he played in week two, week three and week four more like the player I expected him to be. But hopes of an all-conference type of season, considering MSU's problems at quarterback, appear to have been misguided. A star? No. On schedule? I guess so, for now. ➢ Marcus Rush. The junior defensive end has plateaued as a pass rusher, but he is a good, improving, reliable short-side defender against the run. Quality player who knows the tricks. ➢ Macgarrett Kings. The true sophomore from Florida has emerged as the most reliable receiver, and an explosive, acrobatic one at that. However, he has been involved in some route-running errors (see the third-down incompletion in the red zone on MSU's first possession of the ND game) and a near-interception on a slant route against Youngstown. Coaches said he needed to clean these things up in the past, and he still needs to. As a second-year player getting extended playing time for the first time, he has been a pleasant surprise. Now forget about all that. He's a starter now, and MSU can expect more from a starting flanker. ➢ Nick Hill and Jeremy Langford. These guys were behind schedule in the spring, and tossed aside in favor of transplanted linebacker Riley Bullough. But Hill and Langford have answered the call so far this fall. They haven't been great. Coaches are still looking for the game-breaking, 50-yarder from Langford. But they have been serviceable, each averaging more than 4.5 yards per carry through four games. ➢ Others: Damon Knox, looking real good as a second-string sophomore DT … Josiah Price hasn't had a huge, huge impact as a play-maker at tight end, but don't forget that he's just a redshirt freshman who should probably be second-stringing behind a junior or a senior right now. He is developing into a functional player right now, and looks like a potential star of the future. Behind Schedule: ➢ The Quarterbacks. Even with last year's problems, I expected Andrew Maxwell to be more productive in the season-opener, and more poised with his reads when he had his second chance in that game. When he began repeating some of the yips of last year in the first two games, the coaches pulled the plug and put their chips behind Connor Cook. Maxwell wasn't good enough in the season opener. But I thought Cook was worse. I was surprised when Cook was given the starting job in week two. By week three against South Florida, we started to see some of what the coaches must have been seeing in practice. But we headed into the Big Ten season still unsure what we were going to see from Cook from game to game, and pass to pass. QBs coach Brad Salem said it best in saying that Cook needs to do a better job of making the "elementary" throws. He's not the game-breaking runner that can make up for bouts of inaccuracy. But I like his brain. I like the decision-making he showed against Youngstown State. True, it was against poor competition, but he showed the ability to make quick reads and get the ball to the proper area. That in itself offered a promise of improvement over last year. The red zone failures at Notre Dame were the fault of negative runs via first-down Wildcat and first down zone read calls, putting the passing game behind the sticks against an Irish defense that, to its credit, changed its look and played well when backed up near its goal line. Overall, I didn't give Cook poor marks as a passer in the red zone in that game. The accuracy thing on the elementary plays, however, MUST get solved. Is it possible to improve a QB's accuracy at mid-season? We delve into that topic with Brad Salem on Page 28. All the while, I wonder more about what Tyler O'Connor might be able to do right now than Damion Terry. But MSU is out of chances to experiment. ➢ Fou Fonoti. He was bothered by injuries in August camp and throughout most of September, so he gets a bit of a pass. Will he rally if and when he becomes healthy? Well, I thought he was a bit behind schedule last year before he was lost for the season to an injury. Everyone loves Fou, but I'm not sure we'll see him take it up a level. ➢ Keith Mumphery. When he dropped a thirddown pass at Notre Dame, it was like a turnover. We had seen this movie too many times, and Mark Dantonio had every right to sit him for the rest of the day. It's too bad, when thinking back to the tackle-breaking TD catch-and-run he made against Ohio State last year. The inconsistency at this position is maddening. ➢ Aaron Burbridge. Many of us expected him to build on last year's promising freshman season. A breakout year seemed likely. But he was too quiet in September, and had too many dropped passes. Don't give up on him yet. He looked dangerous on a double post for 25 yards against Youngstown State, and also ran a good comeback route against press for a thirddown conversion in that game. Still, he is behind schedule for what MSU needs and expects from a starting split end. Of all the "behind-schedule" areas of the team, I think Burbridge has the best chance to make noise in October. SPARTAN Magazine 3

• Cover