MSU Captain Sam Edwards' Value to the Spartans
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Captains come in all different forms. Some are the best player on the team or at their position. Then there are some who don't get a whole lot of snaps but are leaders in other ways.
Sixth-year graduate senior linebacker Sam Edwards was recently elected a captain by his teammates. Each of the other four captains -- Aidan Chiles, Matt Gulbin, Jordan Hall, and Quindarius Dunnigan -- is expected to have a significant role on game days. And while Edwards won't see the same extent of snaps, his role goes beyond what will be shown on Saturdays.
That much was evident in the fact that he received the most captain votes on the team.
"He's (Edwards) a service leader," said defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, Edwards' position coach. "So, he cares about his teammates. He's always looking to help people. No one works harder than him. He understands the game. I'm trying to convince him to coach, but his mom and dad are very against that. But I think he'd be an all-star football coach if he wanted to be a football coach.
"So, it's just, I think guys look at him and say, 'Hey, this guy knows offense, defense, special teams. He helps where needed, he helps me if I'm struggling.' And they just think he's a really good teammate. So, he's a consummate leader."
Edwards, who joined Michigan State in 2020, had the option to move on from his career as a football player when the Spartans' new regime came in. But the staff felt it was necessary to bring him back.
"When I got here, the linebacker room was a little bit up in the air," Rossi said. "There was all these guys in the transfer portal, we got rid of a couple guys, a couple guys were unsure if they were coming back. Sam was one that they were like, 'We're not sure if he's going to come back; he can graduate, he might move on, but he played a lot on special teams.'
"But we just got on the phone and talked and spent some time and sat down and was like, 'We want you back.' I've been at this long enough -- those are like glue guys. Those make the team, they pull the team together. And when you have guys like that, like I said, they're invaluable."
Edwards said that call "meant a lot." He did his homework on what Rossi had done as Minnesota's defense coordinator and was already familiar with the product he put on the field.
"I had done a little bit of research," Edwards said. "Obviously, we played them (Minnesota) in our most recent matchup against them in Spartan Stadium. Defensively, they dominated that game. And so, I knew he was a smart coach, I knew he knew what he was doing. They've always been putting guys in the league, they've always been one of the better, tougher Big Ten defenses over there on the western part of the conference.
"And so, I trusted his stuff. I sat down with him, talked scheme just a little bit. He hadn't had the playbook fully shored up yet before that little winter break we had, but I sat down with him and just said, 'I'm all in, and I want to be a part of this deal, and whatever you need from me, I'm ready.'"
Every player on a football roster has a role, no matter how big or small. And Edwards' leadership is the kind that doesn't come around often.
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