SPARTAN NATION SPEAKS WITH MARK DANTONIO'S LATEST COMMITMENT Shilique Calhoun

It has been a growing trend during Mark Dantonio’s tenure as Michigan State head football coach: moving out of the state of Michigan to snag impact

It has been a growing trend during Mark Dantonio’s tenure as Michigan State head football coach: moving out of the state of Michigan to snag impact recruits. This time Coach D has snagged stand out defensive end, Shilique Calhoun out of Middletotown North High School in New Jersey.

Calhoun turned down offers from multiple BCS conference schools to join the Spartans. Calhoun had a feeling that East Lansing was going to be his destination after visiting during homecoming, but didn’t pull the trigger right away. He chose instead to take a thoughtful approach and weighed all of his options before officially becoming a Spartan. “I took my time to make sure it was the right place for me,” said Calhoun, “and fortunately it was.” When asked why he chose MSU, Calhoun stressed his comfort level with the other Spartan football players he had met, saying “I really fit into the whole stream of things.”

Shilique’s best weapon is probably his speed off of the edge. At 6’5” and 215 pounds, Calhoun has the build of a typical speed pass rusher, but he doesn’t think he’s ready just yet. Shilique hopes to weigh in at 230 pounds when he finally steps onto campus next season, which would give him some extra power to be better able to push around those plus-sized Big Ten offensive tackles. “Those guys are big out there,” he laughed, “real big!”

The most important thing about Shilique Calhoun, however is not his prowess on the football field, it’s his demeanor off of it. This stems primarily from Shilique’s strong family. His parents not only pushed him athletically, they’ve been to every single one of his games, but also pushed him academically. “My mom is very big on school…So that was our primary focus, how are the academics?” said Calhoun. In the end it may have been Michigan State’s academic record that helped draw Shilique Calhoun to East Lansing. As for his parents’ streak of never missing one of his games Calhoun said: “Even though Michigan State is a 12 hour drive, I know my family will make the commitment to come out there…and make sure they see me play a couple of times.”

Those who know Shilique have compared his personality to that of Spartan legend Mateen Cleaves. The Spartan Nation can only hope that the same type of team success will follow Shilique Calhoun during his time at Michigan State.  And if Shilique's natural talent has anything to say about it, that success might not be too far away!