MSU's Jonathan Smith Gives Week 2 Injury Updates
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State has been fortunate to not be dealing with any truly serious injuries in this early going of the season.
Unlike last year, the Spartans enter Week 2 relatively healthy, which should be great for their confidence.
As far as some of the players who missed Friday's game, their status for Game 2 against Boston College is still up in the air.
"Knock on wood, coming out of the game, felt really pretty solid for playing a first-game opponent, live tackle for however many snaps," said coach Jonathan Smith when he addressed the media on Monday. "So, nothing lingering from the game that we think is going to hold anybody out. Optimistic on (redshirt junior guard) Luka (Vincic) being available, but we'll see at the end of the week. Same thing on (senior defensive back) Nikai (Martinez), we'll see what that looks like at the end of the week.
"On the kicking side, (redshirt freshman kicker) Martin (Connington) has a chance at the end of the week. We'll see again how he goes through it."
Smith said redshirt sophomore kicker Tarik Ahmetbasic's status will also be determined "at the end of the week."
With him and Connington having missed Game 1, the Spartans had to rely on redshirt senior kicker Blake Sislo. Sislo was not called on to kick Michigan State's only field-goal attempt of the game; instead, the Spartans leaned on redshirt junior punter Ryan Eckley, who missed it.
"We brought him (Sislo) out on the extra points," Smith said after the game on Friday. "He would have been our guy with the one field goal attempts that was a little bit longer, and so we felt like he (Eckley) gave us the best chance on that, but it would have been closer if Blake can go. The other two we're hoping to get healthy sooner than later."
Vincic's injury hadn't been revealed until after the game when Smith discussed the offensive line rotation.
"We knew the tackles were going to rotate, but the guards were a little bit separate," Smith said. "The other one was in that mix is Luka Vincic. He just has a slight foot thing earlier in the week, and so we kind of held him out tonight, but he's still going to be in this mix, rotating as well."
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