Michigan State QB Hamp Fay, RB Davion Primm Changing Positions In Fall Camp

HC Mel Tucker confirmed the news at his weekly presser

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker confirmed at his weekly Monday press conference that several Spartan players would be switching positions.

Former quarterback Hamp Fay, a redshirt freshman, has moved to safety in recent practices, confirming that true freshman Katin Houser has moved up the third-string quarterback.

“We have taken a look at Hamp Fay at some safety – saw him do some good things," Tucker said.

In addition to Fay's position switch, Tucker also confirmed that redshirt freshman running back Davion Primm and true freshman safety Dillon Tatum were getting looks at cornerback as well.

“I’m always looking for corners, and the reason why is that’s not the easiest position to play," Tucker said. "It’s difficult to find guys who that can go out there and have the skill set to be about to do that.

“Those are guys that we’ve looked at and said, ‘Hey, let’s look at them at corner’ and we put them out there and they looked pretty good. They look like they can do it, and we’ll keep working with them.”

Tucker said that Fay began working with the special teams unit at the beginning of fall camp, as the Spartans explore ways to get the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder on the field.

"The safety thing is just the past few practices, but he’s been working special teams the entire camp and doing drills," Tucker said. "We have this drill called a 3-on-1 drill, where it’s one ball-carrier and three guys going down to cover a kick. He looked good in that drill a couple times, like more than once.”

It will take time for Fay to adjust to playing defense after spending his first year on campus at quarterback, but Tucker likes the traits that Fay can potentially bring to a new position.

"I’m not trying to put the guy in the Hall of Fame, saying he’s going out there and running through guys," Tucker said. "But, when we put him out there, he had the movement skills, he’s smart, he’s got range. He can run, he ran track in high school, he was like a hurdler. He’s a big guy. He’s a high-effort, high-intensity guy, so he understands the game. 

"He just wants to play ball. We already knew that, we could see it every day as an athlete.”

Fifth-year senior Xavier Henderson, a team captain and leader of the safeties, has been doing his part to help bring Fay along.

“Usually QBs don’t do any special teams work, and they moved Hamp pretty early to do some special teams work. He was kind of getting tossed around a little bit, but I can tell he was working hard," Henderson said.

"He wanted to do good at it, so I would go over there [to help coach him]. He’s a tall dude, but wasn’t afraid to run and hit. That’s the main thing.”

One benefit of Fay having played quarterback was that he already had a decent grasp on the coverages that Michigan State likes to play.

“It’s just little things on defense, like pad level," Henderson said of Fay. "He was a quarterback, so he’s a smart kid. He came in and I’m trying to tell him coverage, and he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah this is when you guys run this and that’ because he knows it from when he was playing quarterback.”

As far as Primm, Tucker said that the redshirt freshman spent a couple days at cornerback during his first season in East Lansing, before transitioning back to tailback due to injuries the Spartans sustained at the position.

Now, with the depth that MSU has at tailback, Primm is back to working with the corners.

“I was encouraged to see what Primm did in the scrimmage. He made some plays on the ball," Tucker said referring to the Spartans' second scrimmage of fall camp this past Saturday.

Henderson confirmed his head coach's observations.

 “Davion is just an athletic kid," the senior safety said. " He's really raw at cornerback right now, but he does some good things, honestly.”

Meanwhile, the true freshman Tatum was recruited to play safety for Michigan State, but he'll get a look at corner as well for the Spartans.

"The key is to get the best players on the field – so, get them on the bus and get them embracing it on the bus so they can be productive," Tucker said.

"We’re always keeping their future in mind as well. First and foremost, it’s about the team, but it’s about where we think they can be most productive and have the best career. So, it’s a two-way street. When we move guys, we’re doing it with intent. There’s a good reason that we’re doing it.”

Having been on campus for five years now, Henderson has seen position changes work out well for several former teammates. The senior's done his part to encourage these players to embrace the change.

“I just tell dudes it’s an opportunity," Henderson said. "To not look at it as anything but an opportunity and to control what you can control."