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Dantonio Adds More Depth to His Stable of QB’s

Dantonio Adds More Depth to His Stable of QB’s

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Once again, in 2008, Mark Dantonio rang the bell for the 2009 recruiting class. With Nick Foles coming off of a red shirt season and Brian Hoyer entering his senior season, Dantonio adds another great QB to his stable.

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Andrew Maxwell is that new addition. At 6’3” and 191 pounds, the Spartans expect him to get bigger and stronger and probably fill out around 6’5” and nearly 220 pounds when his career is over at MSU.

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Maxwell is very accurate and has a very strong arm. “There isn’t a throw that you ask him to make that he doesn’t have the arm strength to make, you look at the film and just say ‘Wow’ at how strong that arm is. Usually you worry about great receivers outrunning a QB’s arm. You can take any of those highly regarded kids (WR’s) at State and tell them to just take off,” was a take on Maxwell from another division one coach. The same Coach went on to say, “We wanted him, but it was evident that he wanted to be a Spartan if Mark wanted him. His only weakness was his footwork, but you have to remember that you can teach that and you can’t teach size, smarts and ability. He’s the real deal.”

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Credit Dantonio for marking Maxwell as his top QB prospect for the 09’ class early last year just after he arrived at MSU and finished his first signing day. Immediately after his first signing day, Dantonio and staff spent literally hundreds of hours scouring tape of then current freshman, sophomores and juniors and targeted Maxwell immediately. You also have to credit Maxwell for knowing all along that MSU was his choice. Maxwell had been committed to Dantonio for quite some time, but true to form Dantonio encouraged Maxwell to make sure that MSU was his choice.Â

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Dantonio described his recruiting style to me by saying, “It is like a marriage. It isn’t to be taken lightly. I want kids to come to MSU and succeed in every phase of their life. I want them to look back at their time at MSU as the best years of their life. I don’t want guys leaving or decommitting so I guess I could be more [pushy], but I want guys that want to be here, no looking back. How hard a young man works determines his playing time; our staff will work hard to make the intangibles the best they can be. When you come here, you become a Spartan for life. This is your program then and I want each of them to cherish that.”

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Maxwell will conceivably get two solid years at the helm for MSU after Nick Foles graduates, and that time will only benefit his maturation and his skill set. He has a huge arm and at the high school level he can force some throws with less division one skilled defensive backs. He won’t get away with that at MSU, but like the coach said above, “You can teach that and you can’t teach size, smarts and ability.” Amen Coach and welcome to the Spartan Nation Mr. Maxwell.Â