Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins Shines When it Matters Most: In the Fall!

 Kirk Cousins’ spring demons don’t matter in long run Thank goodness football’s regular season isn’t played in the spring. Kirk Cousins has been

 

Captain Kirk is in command and come fall will prove he is a NFL first round QB. Photo courtesy of Starr Portice

Kirk Cousins’ spring demons don’t matter in long run

Thank goodness football’s regular season isn’t played in the spring.

Kirk Cousins has been notorious for not being an elite player during spring ball, albeit when scrimmages and spring games are concerned. He nails all the other details down pretty well, but stepping on the field and going up against his teammates on the defensive side of the ball seems to cause some problems for him.

Cousins wasn’t shy about expressing his disappointment with portions of another spring going bad.

“I didn’t have good scrimmages earlier this spring; I’ve never played well in scrimmages for whatever reason,” he said.

He’s not coy about it, but playing well in spring scrimmages is the least of the team’s worries.

Cousins has been one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten the last two seasons, making clutch plays and being the undisputed leader of the offense. Last season he passed for 2,825 yards, including a 20 to 10 touchdown-interception ratio. He ended up with a quarterback rating of 100.0, too.

But numbers don’t tell the whole story. He threw a huge touchdown to assure victory over Wisconsin at home, a game which really stood out to Michigan State fans and gave them the feeling that the Spartans have a real chance to compete in 2010. He also was a big part of comeback efforts on the road against both Purdue and Northwestern.

A part of Cousins’ mental makeup is how he handles adversity and never lets himself him get too high or too low on the field of play, which is probably why his pedestrian spring showings aren’t the end of the world for him. Basically, he is a realist.

For an 11-2 team to attempt to come back and be successful the following season, the importance of having that battle-ridden quarterback is beneficial and sometimes overlooked in the college ranks. The same can’t be said about the Spartans.

“It was good to get in a game-type setting (in the spring game) and play well, but I gotta credit our teammates, our play-calling,” Cousins said. … There’s a whole lot of factors that go into having a good day, there’s a whole lot of factors that go into having a bad day.

“It was a lot of fun, and you go out there to enjoy it and have fun playing the game of football.”