“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once said. Yes, the real New Year begins once summer ends and this autumn is one that Michigan State football fans are really excited about. With 19/22 starters returning from a 10 win team, hopes are sky high in 2018.
Yet the preseason expectations for these Spartans is sort of a mixed bag. They’re a consensus top 15 team nationally, yet picked to only place third or fourth in their own division. Yes, the Big Ten east is the best division in college football, but it’s still quite strange to see prognostications like this.
“Obviously some people believe in us; some don’t,” said MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke. “We believe in ourselves and that’s all that matters. Whatever people want to predict in the preseason doesn’t matter. All that matters is what happens in the end.”
Michigan State football preview Offense:
QB:
The Spartans have to feel as good about their QB as any team in the country feels about their signal caller. We’ve chronicled all that Lewerke brings to the table and everything that he accomplished last season over at this link. Among all time MSU quarterbacks he often draws comparisons to Drew Stanton, the last true dual threat QB that we saw in East Lansing.
Lewerke agrees with those analogies, and you can hear that discussion in the segment below from when #14 was holding court at Big Ten Media Day:
RB:
The time has come for L.J. Scott to realize his potential. Either he’ll make the most of his final opportunity to be forever heralded among the best backs in MSU history, or he’ll just go through the motions and hope for the best on draft day. All the pieces are in place for him to assume the former scenario instead of the latter.
He’ll be pushed by rising sophomore Connor Heyward, son of the legendary former NFL running back Craig “Ironhead” Heyward. Freshman Weston Bridges will be in the mix too.
WR/TE:
Felton Davis is a NFL star in the making and Darrell Stewart is as fine a #2 receiver as it gets. Sophomore Cody White is up next, as all he did was set the Michigan State football record for catches by a freshman wideout last season. There’s depth and talent, but obviously something in the formula is definitely missing.
The Spartans finished 96th in scoring offense last season, and that’s primarily due to their ineffectiveness in the deep passing game. With the top five pass catchers in 2017 coming back, it would extremely unacceptable to end 2018 with scoring statistics that low again.
OL:
Seven proven experienced players, three at the tackle position, return and that’s great news. The bad news is Center Brian Allen needs to be replaced and that won’t be an easy task.
Dantonio on the center battle: “Right now Tyler (Higby) is the number one center I think, but Matt (Allen) is going to play. He’s a young player and he continues to improve, but he’s very capable. That’s probably a situation as we go forward two or three scrimmages in.”
On the right side, sophomores Kevin Jarvis and Jordan Reid are stars.
Michigan State football preview Defense:
DL:
Tackle Raequan Williams is coming off a season in which he accomplished a ton, both individually and with his position group. Last year he racked up 31 tackles, including 6.0 tackles for loss (23 yards) and 2.5 sacks (11 yards). He started all 13 games and was named honorable mention All-Big Ten by the media.
The Chicago native (West side, Garfield Park neighborhood) helped anchor the interior of the nation’s #2 run defense (behind only Alabama) last season. As good a player as he is, Williams is an even better human being. Go to this link to read all about everything he’s been through and all that he aspires to do.
Mike Panasiuk is very good and possibly headed towards great at the other tackle slot, with back-up Naquon Jones as solid and stellar as you’ll find on a second team in college football. Kenney Willekes is a fantastic rush end.
The talent and depth of your DL corps is a very underrated indicator of the overall health of your program, and we’ve seen Michigan State football ascend as the same time that the DL units improved and maintained that improvement.
LB:
If you’re a Michigan State football fan, then you know all about the “No Fly Zone” tradition when it comes to defending the pass. What the Spartans have now, where you can’t mount a ground assault is a “Road Closed?” “Restricted Access Road?” The linebackers are just as much a part of that #7 nationally in total defense last season as the DL.
They are led by the man in the middle, Joe Bachie, who is in many ways this team’s best player. Andrew Dowell, on one outside position has much leadership as anybody on this squad.
Leadership is of course impossible to measure or numerate, but it’s the primary reason we saw the Spartans completely flip the script from 2016 to 2017.
The other projected starter on the outside, Tyriq Thompson, has the pleasant surprise player of camp according Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio.
“I think Tyriq Thompson has had a good camp thus far, but with camp, two days is like a week ago in camp, so it’s really what you do on a daily basis,” said Coach D.
“I thought Brandon Randle had a very good scrimmage as well. We’ve got a good foundation who we know are going to play very well. Joe Bachie’s been tremendous. Some guys played very well, but you look at guys that are new guys, so I’m trying to find who’s had a good practice, who are newer players that are going to add to the mix.”
Don’t forget about backup MLB Byron Bullough, as the Bulloughs are to Michigan State football what the Watts are to Wisconsin and the Plumlees are to Duke basketball.
DB:
CBs Justin Layne and Josiah Scott are reminiscent of Darqueze Dennard and Trae Waynes. So enough said there.
Dantonio broke down the backup cornerback position in camp so far thusly: “Tre Person’s having a good summer camp, Josh Butler’s been very solid. I think that Shakur Brown is a guy that has made plays as well. So those three guys are really picking up the slack there. Kalon Gervin looked good as well.”
Strong Safety Khari Willis is good but not great on the field, but a tremendous, spectacular person off of it. Free safety David Dowell is hard hitting ball hawk coming off an all league season.
Preseason Michigan State football Rankings: AP #11, Athlon picks them 4th in the east but #12 nationally. The magazine sees State going 9-3 this season, 6-3 in league play and headed to the Citrus Bowl. Sparty ranks #11 in Street and Smith’s, who project them to the Outback Bowl.
Here is audio of Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio holding court at Big Ten Media Day (not televised session, this was from the podium, not the ballroom)
Michigan State Football Bottom Line/Expectations:
Given where this program is now, and where it has been, the Spartans must win double figures in 2018. Anything less than that would be a huge disappointment, given how almost everybody returns from a Holiday Bowl winning team. I think they’ll win 11, being fueled by the “chip on your shoulder” ethos that defines this program.
This may be the most MSU chip on the shoulder kind of preseason ever. They have all that talent and experience returning from a great team, yet people are talking about Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State instead.
Well, you know how this story goes. Do your thing this fall Sparty.
2018 College Football Season Previews
#12 Notre Dame Northern Illinois Northwestern Purdue #11 Michigan State
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his.