2012 Michigan State Football End of Year Report: Part Six

In part six of our series reflecting back on the disappointing 2012 season, we focus in on the MSU offensive line play. In 2012 it really was: OFFENSIVE. In

In part six of our series reflecting back on the disappointing 2012 season, we focus in on the MSU offensive line play. In 2012 it really was: OFFENSIVE.

In the Mark Dantonio power system of offensive football the play of the OL is the lifeblood of that side of the ball. All you have to do is look at final season rankings to know the truth. The Spartans were eighth in the Big Ten in rushing, they were ninth in total offense, and tenth in scoring. Let me put football into real simple terms, the team who scores the most points wins.

If not for the amazing Pat Narduzzi led defense, the Spartans would have been lucky to win one game. If you can’t run the ball in the Dantonio system, you can’t win at the level they expected, the fans expected, and the nation expected.

If you have missed any of the previous five articles I suggest you scroll to the bottom of this page where I have provided links to each of them. It will be much easier to understand this article if you have read those. The purpose of these articles is for the conscientious fan looking to be educated and not the 150 word entertainment pieces that have taken over all reporting.

One member of management on an NFC team said to me about the Spartans’ offensive line, “I think it is incredibly important to remember it just isn’t the five linemen, in a power scheme, especially with what Mark (Dantonio) runs. You must include the end (tight end) and sledge (FB) to that equation. The NFL is a pass first league and that is where Sims shined, but whose kidding who? He struggled to stay healthy and your end blocking at MSU this past season was piss poor. You had no sledge. When you have multiple converted defensive players midway through the year, you don’t have one sledge. The offensive line was bad, but you can’t keep those two spots (FB/TE) out of the spotlight.”

Travis Jackson is the best offensive lineman that Michigan State has. He has the size and the athleticism that the next level craves and coaches at this level covet. OL has never been great since Mark Dantonio arrived. At risk of stating the obvious, it has never been able to get to a place like Wisconsin has been. You use the Badgers as the gauge because they run a power system also.

One NFL contributor for this series said, “Our scout once told me that there were eight NFL prospects on the Wisconsin OL when he was at practice. Eight. They aren’t all high rated recruit type players. They do an excellent job of identifying talent and developing it. Developing it at a NFL level. Wisconsin doesn’t have the biggest recruiting budgets or staff budgets, hell that is why Bret (Bielema) left. They just coach the hell out of them. Wisconsin wins because they put such great value on the OL. If you asked Russ (Seahawks QB Russell Wilson) today if he would trade the line at the Hawks for the line at Wisconsin his one year there, as a group, he would make that trade.”

So why is it that the MSU line struggled in 2012? There are several reasons. Let’s start from the ground up.

Naming names is not necessary, but during one key stretch this season there were fine young men, good people, playing on the MSU OL that had no business being on scholarship at MSU, let alone playing in a key moment. I am certain that Mark Dantonio would not doubt that claim.

That is not to say that MSU doesn’t have capable and very talented players on the line, because they do. They do not have the amount on the roster than reflected coming off back to back 11 win seasons that they should have in 2012.

MSU has to upgrade the talent level that they have and must start doing a better job of developing young men. I think the two work synonymously. Because Kirk Cousinsplayed at such a high level, he was able to mask many of the problems that the Spartans faced this year.

Every single week teams stacked the box to force MSU to the air.  With a young WR group they knew MSU was lining up to run and teams feasted like a fat man at a buffet. Go back and watch the games and you constantly saw LeVeon Bell getting touched in the Spartans backfield. Well over 50% of his yards came after contact and we aren’t talking about open field. A big powerful back like Bell rarely got up to top speed to engage defenders. He was often dancing to the next hole or not even able to accelerate because of defenders.Â

When you look at what Bell had to endure as far as help from the OL and look at what he did, there was no doubt he was the most valuable RB in the nation. The MSU OL couldn’t block much. QB Andrew Maxwell did a very good job avoiding many sacks, because he got rid of the ball, but it hampered his play as well because at times he was gun shy and afraid to take some risks.

Please remember that when we talk about the OL we are including the FB and TE spot.

1.      The Tight End position

Dion Sims had a good season and will be drafted in April by an NFL team, but his blocking was very bad.  No matter what MSU tried to do in game of what became musical (chairs) TE, the loss of Garrett Celek to the 49ers in the NFL and Brian Linthicum from the 2011 team gutted MSU.

The loss of Linthicum and Celek was much more critical to the struggles of MSU than what Sims offered to their limited success. Although Sims is a great kid and will be drafted, MSU coaches would have gladly traded Sims for Celek or Linthicum and there were times only Sims could catch the ball on the team. Sims value was as a receiver, but the MSU system is predicated first with the TE as a blocked at the point of attack.

By the time the Spartans got to Arizona for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl they had seven and a half tight ends on the roster. Two of them were redshirting in Evan “BULLDOZER” Jones and Josiah Price.  There was a lot of talk about breaking the redshirts on both of those promising stars, but Dantonio wasn’t willing to throw away a year of eligibility for less than a year of play.

Sims was listed as your starter in Arizona for the bowl and Paul Lang (who would have benefited from not playing last year as he recovers from a severe back injury) was listed as your backup. Add to that, walk on Andrew Gleichert,Derek Hoebing, and a former WR who has not panned out in Juwan Caesar. The half came from former LB, turned DE, turned FB, turned DT, turned TE, Lawrence Thomas.

The Spartans essentially played last year with no true gritty fighting blocker in a scheme that they have to have that type of production from that position. Is it imperative for the staff to adjust to the talent they have? Sure, but it doesn’t change the simple fact that the Spartans identity is a power game and they were a cylinder short at TE. As fans raved over Sims performance as a receiver, they missed that the TE spot on the 2012 Spartans was a hindrance.

There is a lot of criticism for the OL and rightfully so, but you can’t deny the TE spot despite losing a player early to the NFL in Sims, was beyond bad.

2.      The Full back position

The full back spot gets very little fanfare, but is just as critical in the MSU offensive scheme as any OL and is an extension of the OL. MSU has always been able to convert a player to play FB and the have had some good ones. Perhaps none better in the Dantonio era than Todd Anderson who came awfully close to making the NFL after a great 2011 season for MSU.

This should have been another warning sign of the impending struggles coming in 2012. Niko Palazeti was the first true FB scholarship given to a recruit out of high school and he was your starter. Heading into the summer your depth chart was 1) Niko 2) Trevon Pendleton and 3) Taylor Calero. Calero left the team before the season started, Pendleton, a walk on, was a special team’s player, and Niko was injured and couldn’t get healthy.

By the time MSU made it to Arizona for the bowl game, Lawrence Thomas was your starting FB, and LB turned FB turned LB was back to FB in TyQuan Hammock. MSU got zero traction out of the FB spot.Â

Thomas is very athletic and can catch, but catching the ball as a FB in the MSU system is .05% of your job. Thomas has great effort for someone that had never sniffed the part, but he wasn’t and isn’t the answer. He was just too good to be on the bench and Dantonio looked for any reason to get him game reps.

We are talking about OL and before we have even discussed a T, G, or C we have to look at the TE and FB spots and admit that they were anemic for talent.Â

You can blame a lot of people, especially players for not making plays. That is fair and germane, but you also have to look at the coaches. They have boards that tell them the depth they have. They coach these young men every day and know how they are developing.

At this level you have to anticipate injuries and in 2012 the roster at TE and FB DID NOT reflect back to back 11 win seasons and the talent level at both spots was suspect at best in its entirety. At best. Recruiting and developing at these two very key spots crushed the Spartans.Â

In these articles we are looking back at what went wrong and you have to quickly point to these key spots. I am guilty; I took the confidence of the coaches (on and off the record) for how good the OL play would be and overrode my natural concerns. That is on me.

3.      The Offensive Line

When you look at the primary five positions that make up the OL you have tackle (T), guard (G), and center (C). As we are preparing to enter the seventh season of Mark Dantonio, Fou Fonoti and Travis Jackson are his two best NFL worthy prospects he has had. Both return and will start in 2013. They certainly are NOT the only two good players, but the quality and depth on the line is NOT reflective of back to back 11 win seasons.

When Fonoti went down just hours prior to the Notre Dame game and Jackson during the OSU game, both with season ending injuries, an already anemic OL went from bad to worse. In the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl five of the listed nine OL two deep didn’t belong playing at Michigan State (based on their performance so far at MSU and not recruiting rankings), let alone in the two deep. No other position in the Spartan program is more hurting right now than OL.

Mark Dantonio is getting beat up on the recruiting trail because in his time at MSU he has not had one player drafted by the NFL from the true five OL spots. High level OL recruits are like gold on the recruiting trails and Dantonio’s opponents are using the lack of development and getting players to the NFL to continually hurt the Spartans.

You can give a lot of reasons as to why it hasn’t happened, but 16-18 year old kids don’t look at those.

I will give you examples from three players. They come from the last two recruiting cycles. I am not going to use their names, but I will tell you what they told me about what other schools are saying about MSU.

Recruit #1: “Really liked Coach Dantonio and I thought Michigan State was an amazing place. Coach Narduzzi was great as my recruiter and I would have loved to play for him. As I talked to other schools and mentioned my interest in MSU, they really showed me some things. They all respect Coach Dantonio and had great stuff to say, but I didn’t realize that they aren’t getting guys to the league. Coach ______ (a Big Ten coach) told me that the purpose of school is to get you a job in the field you study when you graduate. He told me that with all the hours a student athlete works; why not think of the NFL as that job? I agreed because my family really needs the help. My mom needs me to make it. He told me that his school and staff have put guys there and if that was my goal, why would I go to Michigan State? I didn’t pick his school, but what he said stayed with me and that is why I went where I did.”

Recruit 2: “I loved Coach Dantonio and he kept it real. He was a man of faith and I am a man of faith. We loved everything about Michigan State. My parents don’t have much and I have to get a great degree and I have to get to the NFL if I can. I didn’t know that they haven’t put anyone in the league from MSU at offensive line. That really hurt. My coach (the team he signed with) explained that if I wanted to go to the state of Michigan to play football I should look at Michigan, or Central, or a school called Hillsdale.  I hadn’t heard of Central school or Hillsdale.  They had NFL draft picks, but not Michigan State for the line. I like Michigan State a lot and Coach Dantonio is doing a great job. They told me where I am going that if I played any other position MSU was a great choice, but not for me. I had to agree.”

Recruit #3: “Michigan State is awesome. I loved the players, the coaches, the facilities, and really loved the educational center. They really spent a lot of time with me talking about that place and how they help a motivated student reach his educational goals. That was big to me. I also have goals of playing in the NFL. They talked with me about having to upgrade the talent level on the offensive line and that they felt I could really help that. I ended up picking a school with a lot of guys right now in the league on the offensive (line) and not because I hated State. I love it, but like my coach said I couldn’t be selfish and I had to pick a place that best set me up for tomorrow and not today.”

The gentleman from the NFL who answered a questionnaire for this series of articles went further. “I don’t know how you can run a pro-style offense in the Big Ten and win back to back seasons off 11 games and not have a better producing offensive line. When we were watching film of Edwin Baker it was noticeable that they had issues. It really is a testament to the job Coach Dantonio is doing even with the problems on their line.”

If you were being fair in analyzing the MSU offensive line you could certainly point to their lack of landing some big fish recruits, but you also have to point to Michigan State’s failure to develop young men. You can look at every position on this team and find players that were coached up and developed into great players and some pro prospects. With five true OL spots, the fact that MSU has yet to have one developed to a high enough level and to be drafted by the NFL, that points to real issues.

I was recently told by a member of the MSU athletics community that I was being, “Known as a Warner/Staten basher.” They were not trying to get me to stop writing what I think; they were informing me that some members of the media had run to Coach Dantonio to inform him that I have been critical. Oops, what they didn’t know is that my thoughts that I have shared and will share for these series of articles are already known by him.

I want to see MSU succeed. I want to see Mark Dantonio do well. I also have to report to you the truth.

None of my comments are personal. I am a man and I don’t write things like this without being a man and sharing my thoughts. I truly like Mark Staten. I also respect him. He is a super father and husband and is a great part of the MSU community. Just in the last month I have seen him at hockey, baseball, and basketball events with his family. He doesn’t see MSU as a job; he loves this place as much as any member of the Spartan Nation.

Pointing out problems on the OL doesn’t mean that I am saying fire Mark Staten. It is saying that Mark Dantonio has to fix it. How he fixes things is his call. I just want to point out that the MSU OL is not performing where it should and MSU is paying a dear price for it. I want to see Mark Staten succeed. If you knew him you would too. He is one of the good guys in college football.

At this level it is not about good guys. In my opinion if it was about good guys you would not see the success at Alabama that you see today. In my opinion. College football is a big business. People now have to purchase seat licenses or make donations to the Spartan fund just for the right to buy tickets. It is a big business.

The administration says that the goal for this program is to compete for national titles and win Big Ten titles. The fact that Mark Dantonio has won one Big Ten title and played for two more with a subpar OL tells you how far they could go if they could ever assemble a top notch one.

I leave you with this last thought. After the year all of the NFL people who helped me for this set of articles mentioned the OL. I sent them several follow up questions. One of them was specifically about the OL. Here was that question. MSU suffered several injuries during the year, including their top two players. Are injuries a fair excuse for how this line played?

One gentleman who has been very successful in the league said this. “At a big time school like MSU it is the same as with an NFL team. You go to war with what you have. None of those kids that came in to replace people were true freshman. Correct? (Yes he was correct) They all had at least one year in the program to learn technique, system, skills, and what not. They had scholarships. That means the school was basically paying them to play football. In my thinking it is next man up. You lose some guys, but have men with at least a redshirt that can play? Guys with scholarships? (Yes) No, that isn’t a valid excuse.”

Whether you agree with him or not, the MSU OL has issues. There still are several talented players and Dantonio certainly knew he had to address the OL issues and did so with the hiring of Jim Bollman.  Bollman has the title of OC and TE coach, but he IS the responsible party to fix the OL.

Mark Staten will benefit greatly from having Bollman there and I think it will only make Staten a better coach. The OL has issues and with 2013, 2014, and 2015 ahead, this part of the team must improve. Immediately.

In our next article we turn our attention to the wide receiver group and issues that hurt the Spartans in 2012.

 

 

MSU Football 2012 End of Year Report Part One

MSU Football 2012 End of Year Report Part Two

MSU Football 2012 End of Year Report Part Three

MSU Football 2012 End of Year Report Part Four

MSU Football 2012 End of Year Report Part Five