OT: Dion Sims to the NFL

Submitted by wresler120 on

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.

 

Joe Schad @schadjoe

Michigan State tight end Dion Sims will enter the NFL draft, according to a source

Space Coyote

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.

LSAClassOf2000

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. 

snarling wolverine

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.

swdodgimus

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

lhglrkwg

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

BigBlue02

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.

cypress

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.

BigBlue02

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.

cypress

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.

Magnus

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.

backtoblu

January 3rd, 2013 at 12:57 AM ^

That's pretty much how I see it. Much like this season, they have potential and return most of a good defense. If they blow it and have another 6 win year I think their time in the sun is over, but they have some talent coming back/in next year and a very easy schedule so I will wait one more year and see what happens before shouting it from the rooftops.

pdgoblue25

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.