Spartans Gaining Experience that will be Crucial in 2010

When Mark Dantonio took over the reigns to Spartan football, he had a team that was lacking depth and limited with talent. Last season that culminated when

When Mark Dantonio took over the reigns to Spartan football, he had a team that was lacking depth and limited with talent. Last season that culminated when they made the conscientious decision to use a lot of scotch tape to hold together their team while they allowed a greatly talented freshman class to almost entirely red-shirt.

In 2010 the team will still be young. They are gaining experience and reps, and they are ready to play. All over the field and at essentially every position, you see young players flying around.

In 2010 the Spartans youth will be on display, but so will their talent. I recently commented that 2010 won’t be a championship season and my inbox was flooded with people offering woulda, shoulda, coulda scenarios of success. The point is that young teams can win championships, but not a team with this much youth.

In 2010 I am very confident that there will be many more amazing moments, but those critical freshman and young player mistakes will be there for sure. That's O.K.  That is what happens in football.

When those moments occur, you need to remember that this is what happens with youth, but during the amazing moments, remember that is what happens with talent. The entire right side of the offensive line will be new. They will make mistakes. Look at D.J. Young last season. He had some amazing drives and then would miss a blocking assignment. He now has moved to the most critical position on the offensive line (the left tackle which protects the QB's blindside) and according to Dantonio has been, “Solid at left tackle and has showed amazing feet, toughness and leadership.”

D.J. Young will take over that critical spot and perform well because he went through some of those moments of growth last season. He will be playing his first year at LT and his second as a starter so he won’t be as good as next year, but he will perform exponentially better in 2010.

This spring the Spartans are hitting hard and playing at their fastest pace in spring so far under Coach D. They are trying to get as many reps in as possible and the sole reason is that this team no longer is thin on talent. They need reps.

Monster OTs David Barrent and Henry Conway both would have been competing for starting spots this spring, but Barrent missed the first 2/3 of spring healing from off season back surgery and Henry Conway got injured just prior to Barrent’s return with a neck injury. Those two are missing or have missed a lot of reps this spring. Come fall, it will be difficult (not impossible) for them to crack the starting lineup for the start of the year simply because OT's need reps.

Both are incredibly talented. Both aren’t in need of a talent upgrade. Both are the real deal and solid. Both are lacking experience and it is nice to have experience issues on this team now and not talent.

Spring is a time for new beginnings, not only in nature, but also in Spartan football. 2010 will include moments of shaking your head. There will also be moments of astonishment.  Either way, this program is coming together.

Mark Dantonio has proven his ability to accumulate talent and now he has to move and maneuver them to get those precious reps and experience that takes players from good to great.

In the past, we would look at players who lacked the ability to do great things at every position. The Spartans would have some that could do it, but not top to bottom at every spot. Now you look at the talent and they have talented players at every spot. In many cases, the talent is not from the first to third string, but is at least at every spot.

That is a major improvement from the past. It was sad to see fans get on players who simply didn’t have the talent to play for a Big Ten title. It was frustrating to see a national championship caliber player who was playing next to three guys who belonged somewhere in a non-BCS conference.

In 2010 every one of the players you will see belong here. They have talent. They lack the experience to win a Big Ten title, but they have the talent and that is refreshing and something that Mark Dantonio has done that some won’t appreciate.

In 2010 the Spartans two deep will be populated with Big Ten talent. We don't have OSU's talent, but the greatest achievement of Mark Dantonio is that he has brought in a consistent level of talent that coaching staffs have not had to work with in years.

I have reminded the Spartan Nation on numerous occasions that Mark Dantonio is following the Jim Tressel model of building a program. He should. He was a critical part of helping his mentor build two national championship programs at Youngstown and Ohio State.

OSU plays freshmen, but on a limited basis. They get a lot of guys’ reps so when one talented group of seniors go, they simply reload with more talented players that aren’t unproven. Dantonio is headed that way. What was once only a dream now has the foundation and you can see the skeleton of that system coming together.

Imagine a Spartan team where young players get reps, but aren’t counted on as much as they will be in 2010. This program is headed in the right direction, but hasn’t arrived yet. 2010 will let you see a lot of the talented young players, much more than what is ideal. Take heart Spartan fans, this program is progressing and progressing well.