OT: Dion Sims to the NFL
ESPN analyst Joe Schad has reported that Dion Sims has declared for the NFL Draft. Kind of surprising considering the way his season has gone. Even more susprising is he is the # 4 rated TE by ESPN.
Michigan State tight end Dion Sims will enter the NFL draft, according to a source
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:45 PM ^
Connor Cook the next Andrew Maxwell
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:46 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:46 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^
Happy to see him go, thought he should have stayed. Had a lot of injuries and still looked overweight to me. Could still be a solid blocker and have just as good hands if he dropped about 15 pounds to improve his speed, especially off the line, and became a much better pass catching threat. As is, he's a huge body that makes him difficult to cover, but he doesn't get much seperation. As for other MSU players, Bell should go, Gholston should stay (because he has no technique still).
As for OSU, I think the only player that should leave early and did is Hankins. Spence from Illinois also made the correct call to enter the draft. I think it's best for Lewan to probably leave now unfortunetely. Other than that the B1G was really young and I don't see anyone else from the conference that should leave early (though I thought Nix from ND should have left, as his draft stock is high right now). There are a few players that I think are good enough to be NFL players next year, but will really improve their draft stock significantly by staying a year.
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^
Burbridge is their lone bright spot is Bell leaves, the kid is a great receiver. Just got a case of the dropsies every now and then
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:56 PM ^
Dion Sims accounted for 15% of the Spartans' receptions and 18% of their passing yards with 2 of the 13 passing TDs, so it might be something for which they could conceivably compensate in that regard if no one else left. "Might" being the operative word.
If Le'Veon Bell left, that's 77% of their carries from this season, as well as 92% of their rushing yards and all but one rushing TD from this season out the door. If that happens, Maxwell may very well have to become the best QB ever to live to compensate for that, forget how much the WRs would need to step up in the potential absence of RB talent.
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^
Sims has a lot of ability though. He's surprisingly fast for his size and (unlike their WRs) has good hands. He was off to a great start this year before he injured his ankle midseason. After he got hurt, Maxwell's passing numbers dropped like a rock.
He's a guy who, if healthy, could have been a major part of their offense in 2013. I was more worried about facing him than any of their WRs.
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:55 PM ^
and potentially Bell will start to show how far MSU recruiting has fallen since Hoke started. Especially offensively. Marky Mark needs to expand recruiting past the international or universal into another dimension
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:55 PM ^
We will absolutely shut them down with Mattison if Bell leaves. They got 10 on us this year. I'm not sure they get 3 on us without Bell and Sims.
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:17 PM ^
Did Sims even play against us this year?
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
Also, SIms may be gone, but Burbridge will be a year older and a year better. He will cause problems.
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:38 PM ^
Burbridge is good, but we should have corners able to cover him. The thing about an athletic TE like Sims (and Funchess for that matter) is that it's hard to find a LB or S with the combination of size and speed to cover him.
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
Now hopefully Bell and Gholston go. Then they'll be hurting on both sides. And doesn't Dennard graduate?
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^
Nope, Johnny Adams does.
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 8:30 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:04 PM ^
what are the chances MSU misses a bowl game next year assuming bell, sims, and gholson are gone?
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:09 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^
They have some promising young receivers and a QB coming back as a 2nd year starter. Rushing game might be awful, but passing game may be fine
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:39 PM ^
They return both Aaron Burbridge and DeAnthony Arnett at WR, the #9 and #8 wide receivers in their respective classes, according to Scout, so I agree we shouldn't be disparaging their wideouts.
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:55 AM ^
How much did Arnett play this year? I don't remember hearing his name at all.
January 3rd, 2013 at 5:17 AM ^
3 catches, 69 yards and 1 rush for 4 yards
January 3rd, 2013 at 10:55 AM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:18 PM ^
but we played Alabama, ND, Ohio, South Carolina, and Nebraska all away from home when they just had to play ND and Ohio and both games were home games.
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:20 PM ^
Their QB has had 4 years to improve and he hasn't. Plus Cook looked abyssmal in the Spring Game and had pretty bad stats in the TCU game.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:06 PM ^
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
Cook didn't look solid. He was like 4/11 passing and threw a pass about 5 feet over a receivers head who was open on a slant route. MSU won because of Bell and TCU's turnover.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^
Maxwell wouldn't scramble for a 1st down on the 90 yard TD drive, and Maxwell wouldn't have gotten 2 quick 1st downs in the game winning drive. Cook looked solid despite his stats (Which included a couple dropped balls)
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:33 PM ^
On that 90 yard scoring drive, he had fewer passing yards than Le'Veon Bell and Bell also rushed it 8 out of 14 plays. He averaged under 5 yards per attempt, had 47 yards passing on the game, and had a completion percentage south of 50%. Just because he looked better than Maxwell doesn't mean he looked solid. He looked slightly less shitty than your shitty starting QB.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^
We'll see. It will be easy if all the opponent has to do is force him to pass and keep him from running.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^
I wish him the best, but that still doesn't negate fact that Tommy Vento is still there. That motherfucker keeps me up at night.
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:24 PM ^
Oh don't worry. Next year is definitely their year for the rose bowl...
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:30 PM ^
I know its the cool thing to do, to make fun of Sparty, but dont for a minute assume next year will be a cake walk. First of all, they will probably be better, even without Sims and Bell. They played all year with mostly backups on the O-Line, had a first year QB and new WRs who never got on the same page, and their defense was nasty. Fast forward to next year, they return their OL, and get back everyone in the passing game outside of Sims. They lose very little on their defense. They wont be a great team by any means, but not horrible like some here like to think.
Add in the fact that we are playing in EL, and you know Dantonio will be game planning for us all year...its gonna be a war. Seems like no matter what, some people just cant help but have extreme over confidence when it comes to Sparty. We barely beat them this year at home when they were "terrible". Get used to this game not being easy.
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:42 PM ^
Amazingly I heard the exact same thing last year about bringing back all their lineman except 1 (who just happened to be their best lineman) and their defense. The fact that the offense looked as shitty in the final week of the season as it did in the 1st means their offense didn't progress at all. It actually might have gotten worse. Add to that the fact that they benched their starting QB in the bowl game and will probably lose their only running back to carry the ball this year along with their best receiving threat and I have no idea why you think they will be anywhere near good. They had an amazing defense this year and still managed to lose to a horrible Iowa team....next year, with a worse offense, I see a lot of the same. They will be lucky to be bowl eligible next year.
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:54 PM ^
And yet they still almost beat us at home. Look, I'd love to think Sparty will be horrible as much as anyone. But we've thrown dirt on their grave before. 2009 they went 6-7 and then had back to back 11 win seasons. I'd agree that they were a terrible team this year if they got blown out, but they had 5 losses that were within 3 points? Thats insane. I'm not going to argue they will be great next year, I just think its foolish for anyone to expect we will waltz into EL next year and put a whupping on them. Their D will be as good or better, and I cant believe their offense will be worse. That means they will likely be in a lot of games again..yes, including us. Hope I'm wrong, but I'm not expecting them to roll over quite yet.
January 3rd, 2013 at 5:25 AM ^
They lose their starting NT (Anthony Rashad White), their best CB (Johnny Adams), a captain/starting linebacker (Chris Norman), backup DT (Tyler Hoover), and starting interior linemen (Ethan Ruhland, Chris McDonald). They also lose Fou Fonoto, who was injured when they played Michigan. That's not to mention potential early departures like William Gholston and Le'Veon Bell.
I have to assume that a Mark Dantonio-coached team will have a solid defense, but they're losing a few good players.
January 3rd, 2013 at 7:22 AM ^
Fonoti got a redshirt, he will be back. And Chris Norman didnt even start for a lot of the year, Taiwan Jones did.
January 3rd, 2013 at 8:53 AM ^
And apparently Hoover will be back as well. The only hope of their D not being very good again was if Narduzzi left, and that didnt happen.
January 3rd, 2013 at 9:36 AM ^
There's still time for Narduzzi to leave.
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:57 AM ^
January 3rd, 2013 at 9:41 AM ^
With Hoke, Brian Kelly, and Urb recruiting Sparty is not going to get anyone except legacies and players that those 3 teams pass on.
They'll be going head to head with Cincinnati for Ohio players.