Mark Dantonio Sends the Right Message To His Team: Do It in Practice & Get More Game Reps

The media covers all the players that eventually sign letters of intent to play football for Mark Dantonio. With the amount of coverage growing exponentially

The media covers all the players that eventually sign letters of intent to play football for Mark Dantonio. With the amount of coverage growing exponentially it can make for good and bad results.

It certainly is a reflection of the growth in popularity of college football, but is also can lead to unfair expectations. How so? When good players get to college there will be a learning curve. Especially in a good program like Michigan State. When new players arrive they come now with expectations that may NOT be reality.

Fans will watch games and clamor for certain players. I even had people sending me Tweets about whether or not fans should “DEMAND” that certain players get reps.   It has grown to places that fans who read clippings and see small amounts of video think that A. Coaches care what they demand B. They think they are smarter than the coaches. Now I know for fact that there have been players who coaches in previous regimes did not like. They had no choice but to play certain players because in practice they were so far ahead of the curve and it was that obvious. Under Dantonio he could care less about your STAR rankings or personal likes/dislikes. It is all about winning.

I got over 200 Tweets/Emails/IMs about the playing group during and after the MSU game vs. Notre Dame. So I asked Dantonio about it.

Coaches want to win more than anyone. Fans don’t see practice. They don’t watch the game or the film and know if the player threw the right block, ran the right route, played with the best technique, and executed the proper scheme or play. They don’t know if there is injury or grade issues. How about discipline? There is nothing wrong with asking, but to use words like “Demand,” or “Hollis needs to step in” are beyond preposterous, and frankly just silly.

So here is what I asked Dantonio. “Fans obviously know hype that media create over players. You've said before, the guys who get on the field are the guys who produce in practice. Would you talk about the emphasis you put on practice performance for game reps.” Here is his answer, “We're going to look at reps and evaluate who is playing the best. That's something we evaluate in the spring and summer for the most part. Then we look in the fall when it's close. “

He went on to add, “The wide receiver, because they are so young, we're constantly trying to evaluate that, let the games sort out that position a little bit. Who played well enough in the game. Who needs more opportunities a game. Who needs more opportunities in practice. Who hasn't caught the ball well in practice to get to the games. Who doesn't line up correctly. Those type of things are sort of looked at and evaluated.”

He finished with, “It's my belief that, just like on defense, our defense is pretty well set because of the guys that we have who have experience as far as starters. But there still are people that need to be evaluated even in that respect at number twos. We put a big premium on practicing. That's what we have to do.”

So the next time you get the urge to question there is nothing wrong with that. Just remember that a lot more goes into evaluation of a player than what he has done previous. Coaching and playing are certainly a what have you done for me lately profession.