Michigan State Depth Chart Released
I wouldn't normally post a non-opponent's week 1 depth chart, but this one seems worthy of a thread.
Michigan State's depth chart really shows how much suspensions and expulsions have devastated their program. I hardly recognize any names on there. The only guys I know are talented are Brian Allen and LJ Scott and maybe a couple other running backs.
Yikes.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:50 PM ^
due to a lack of strength, Don Brown will take advantage of it.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:14 PM ^
Isn't their LT supposed to be one of the better OL they have?
August 29th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^
From everything I have heard of from there fans, they think he is number 2 behind Allen at center.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:43 PM ^
B. Allen is their only OL you could count on being good. With his build, Chewins might be well suited to dealing with smaller speed rushers and struggle with bigger ends.
August 29th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
developing guys like him (Conklin), he might be pretty solid this year. Either way, he'll have to deal with some very good DEs against us.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:41 PM ^
The thing is, their fans think he is one of the better MSU lineman this year. So, there will be many places Brown can gameplan to take advantage of. Moreover, if he was the weakspot, I don't think he would have to move Gary there (not that e will not move gary around in this game). I think he would be more likely to just send more blitzes toward the trouble spots on the offensive line.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:48 PM ^
for Brown to gameplan them. I think in general, if you can exploit a weakness on the line, you keep hammering away at them. It might be more likely to be somewhere else. I expect MSU will keep a TE on whichever side Gary lines up on.
August 29th, 2017 at 11:06 PM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
but we'll probably not see it too often. I would guess Winovich as the WDE will be going up against the LT most of the time.
But just as well that the RT is a RS Freshman! Gary should feast.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:22 PM ^
Yeah. Here's a photo of him.
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August 29th, 2017 at 11:45 AM ^
They have also released their alternate uniforms!
August 29th, 2017 at 12:21 PM ^
Orange is the new Green
August 29th, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^
On the positive side for them, they're only going to lose about 9 guys off their two-deep this year, and only about 15 next year (assuming they don't have another offseason like the last). If they have any talent in those youngsters they're being forced to play, they could be in line for a nice bounceback in a year or two. Given that a lot of the guys they lost this offseason were some of the most talented guys they have brought into they program of late, it's unlikely that they'll reach their recent heights. But I could see them being a very tough out for the new big three in the East.
August 29th, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
But MSU's staff has a history of taking less heralded recruits and turning them into more than solid outfits, whereas Maryland hasn't earned that reputation yet. I don't take it as a given that MSU can do it again with this group since their 2016 class was decimated by criminal conduct and the 2017 class was a bit of a dud. On the other hand, their 2015 class was pretty solid for MSU standards, and I think it's mostly intact. A lot of those guys are going to have big roles this year.
What it's goint to come down to is whether the young guys playing are being brought in just a little bit earlier than you would ordinarily prefer, or if the offseason from hell is forcing in guys that really don't belong on a Big Ten two-deep. If it's the former, then MSU may be in line for a bounce back. If it's the latter, which is highly preferable, then it will just be good spin that they're young and their offseason from hell will actually result in a significant, more permanent step back for their program.
August 29th, 2017 at 2:03 PM ^
I do think Durkin has assembled a very good staff, but they have to prove what they can do together. MSU's staff may have to show improvement on the field this season or they may not be around in 2018.
Desmond Morgan is a new grad assistant for Maryland and Brady Pallante's father is an analyst. He was also Durkin's HS coach.
August 29th, 2017 at 5:28 PM ^
I'd take MSU's coaching before Durkin's any day of the week. Durkin might be a good recruiter but he's kind of meh with the defensive X's and O's. Does seem like he hired a good OC though and the better talent might still keep them ahead of MSU in 2018 and beyond.
But you have to respect MSU's coaching and player development.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:04 PM ^
Issues with this theory are:
- M is also playing young, higher-rated Frosh and loses similar low number of the 2-deep going into 2018...a few doubt M will be the better team this year.
- PSU is (somehow) recruiting at a clip that they may be able to overcome Franklin's coaching inadequacy.
- OSU - eventually Meyer and is team will show some effort and game plan when playing the Spartans.
- Maryland and Durkin are recruiting better and are also very young.
- MSU recruiting has taken a big hit between the offseason attrition and this and last year's classes. I think they are in good shape at WR, DT, and probably TE in terms of depth and quality not so much elsewhere. AND folks have been bitching about OL recruiting - particularly OT- well before even the recent struggles. Before he transferred T. Lykusa was a starting T as a Frosh -- same prospect M turned away as a recruit due to athletic limitations iirc.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:18 PM ^
I'm not expecting them to truly be competing for the Big Ten championship again any time soon, just that they could bounce back into a solid 3 or 4-loss bowl team by next year or the year after, which historically, has been a pretty good season for MSU.
I think people will look back at MSU's last 8 years in the appropriate context and see it for what it was. A well coached team, that had a historically great (lucky?) streak of finding very talented football players with lower recruiting rankings, playing at a time where Michigan went through two bad coaching regimes, PSU was decimated by the last years of the JoePa era and the sanctions that followed, and even a 1-year blip (2 if you include the ensuing sanction year) in an excellent OSU program. MSU needed all of that to come together to put together what they did. While I think they can continue to be well coached and may be able to still find diamonds in the rough at a higher rate than others, it is unlikely that everything comes together again to allow MSU to truly compete for Big Ten titles regularly.
August 29th, 2017 at 5:31 PM ^
Oakland.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:04 PM ^
but they are up against a moving target. That improvement might still only put them at 5th in the east. Top 3 seems completely out of reach for the foreseeable future. The recruiting gap is growing and there's no reason for that to change.
August 29th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^
Spinmaster will instead talk about how much they are reloading and how next year they will have a ton of returning starters...
August 29th, 2017 at 11:53 AM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^
They're doing it wrong. Not enough "OR" content.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
Not that it matters, but for fucksake LJ Scott is only a junior?
He and JT Barrett must have some kind of kiddy porn on the NCAA Eligibility Center.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:04 PM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 5:32 PM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 11:23 PM ^
No I'm not. It just feels like he's been around 3 years and this would be his senior year. Guys who play their freshman year tend to do that.
It was a joke.
August 29th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^
I think he's an NFL back and will likely go in the draft after this season. He takes a lot of contact and will see even more this year with that offensive line. Running backs have to hurry up and get paid because they don't have long careers.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:07 PM ^
Various trustee's at Ingham County Jail are on depth chart as well! They will feed other inmates breakfast first, then go to the game on special dispensation.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:11 PM ^
Both under 250
Dillon Alexander: Fourth-year player earned a scholarship in the spring . . . will compete for playing time at defensive end.
Kenny Willeakes: Third-year player earned a scholarship in the spring . . . saw time with the first-team defense at defensive end during the spring game and tied for the team lead with eight tackles . . . will contend for a starting position at defensive end.
Ooof.
August 29th, 2017 at 1:10 PM ^
Yeah...that's what you'd expect to see at a Fordham-type or a bad MAC team. Not a playoff team 2 years ago.
Life comes at you fast, apparently.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ^
They will play better than expected at all positions except OT, where they are quite young, and here they will get crushed... note that Dantoni success came from the man strength full of fifth year senior laden starters in years past vs our Hoke sophomores..... Lewerke is actually pretty good, but is gonna take a lot of hits.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:27 PM ^
This would depend on one's expectations.
For my expectations of STAEE...RB and the interior OL are the only "position group(s)" that meets my high 3-star talent with a chip on his shoulder/8-4 or 7-5 type season expectation.
Lewerke is a backup that's an MSU starter as a RS junior and RS senior.
...so the RB is going up against one of the top 3 DLs in the country. They don't run a spread/hurry up offense so they won't get into the inexperience depth behind the starting DL.
Meanwhile, their interior OL is going up against the best DT tandem in the country with a preseason All-American stunting at them from the strongside?
Haha.
Morgan Freeman said it best.
August 29th, 2017 at 6:05 PM ^
with great success during that span.
Jack Conklin was a RS Freshman that started 13 games at OT only one year removed from having his best offer a partial scholly from Wayne State in 2013 and he was good enough for a conference title and Rose Bowl winner.
The next year RS Sophomore Kodi Kieler started 8 games on the other side (while Conklin was also a RS Soph, obviously) in a very good season in which they beat Baylor in a NY6 bowl. Kieler didn't give up a sack all season according to his MSU bio.
I don't need to go back further, but it's clear they've identified and developed some very good OTs that contributed early.
I do agree they'll probably struggle this year at the position because they're hoping for two young guys to be capable. That's a lot to ask. Odds are very much against.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ^
They could very well lose this game. That roster is atrocious.
But I still don't feel bad because of the Rich Rod/Hoke years...if they would've just been humble about it and not been so little brothers gets W over big bro about it, I just may have some sympathy for them.
Now? Now I just want to watch them burn like a couch on a drunken Saturday night.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:22 PM ^
They better hope for no OL or WR injuries, most of the backups are true freshmen.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^
Knock on wood...we could say the same thing. It's just our true freshman are better than theirs.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:27 PM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 12:27 PM ^
Not a lot here, and as others have pointed out, they've almost always had a big crop of senior/redshirt seniors on the team, esp on the line. Lower levels of talent, and younger, is not the stuff of Mork's successful teams. Here's hoping we throw a real beating their way this year.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 4:04 PM ^
Well they'll lead the B1G in mullets and bad tattoos again, for sure.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
We're going to smash MSU this year.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^
How many Bulloughs are there?!
August 29th, 2017 at 1:11 PM ^
August 29th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
8 per litter.
August 29th, 2017 at 4:07 PM ^
It's probably come full circle. One would think the original Bullough's offspring are now about ready to slip on an ugly green jersey and deliver some personal fouls.
August 29th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
I heard he was 1st team all-area at Dothraki High.