Welcome, for lack of a better place to begin our introductory piece on the 2011 Spartans we shall begin at the
Punter
In 2010, the best quarterback on our team was none other than the pride of New Concord, Ohio, Aaron Bates. He wasn't too shabby a punter either. With a punting average of 45.0 yards Bates finished 14th nationally at the position. Mr. Bates will be replaced by Redshirt Freshman Mike Sadler from Grand Rapids or as my 2 year old calls it, Grand Rabbits. Mr. Sadler had offers from the likes of Alabama, LSU, USC, Northwestern, Purdue and Air Force. Despite Air Force's strong recruiting push, Mike selected MSU over LSU. He was a top 10 punter in 2010 by all three recruiting services(Scout, Rivals and MaxPrep). Mr. Sadler averaged 39.9 yards on 32 kicks in his senior year and converted a 58 yard field goal against Belding(pretty town, I thought anyway). He graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA.
2011 Prediction: I have no reason to think that Sadler will not be a great punter by the time he leaves MSU. MSU has put more than their fair share of kickers into the league. That said, we will miss Aaron Bates this year from a leadership perspective. Sadler looks to develop into a heady punter like bates over the years, but he's green and will need time. Back-up punter Kyle Selden is not expected to be a factor at this time.
Placekicking
Coming into 2010 this was a two-way race between Dan Conroy and Kevin Muma. Conroy as a preferred walk-on won the job from Kevin Muma and went 14 of 15 on the year including this miraculous game-tying kick against Notre Dame in our night game last year.
Oh, uh Conroy didn't make the kick? Well, maybe next time.
Conroy's kicking percentage was good for 5th overall. He was 4 of 4 from more than 40 yards with his single miss coming at Northwestern.
2011 Prediction: My big concern with Mr. Conroy would be avoiding the sophomore slump, literally. To finish 5th overall in the NCAA kicking percentage as a freshman sets the bar at damn high for the remainder of his MSU career. To extrapolate that year forward means he would finish 56 of 60 for his career at MSU, that doesn't sound difficult to me, that sounds nearly impossible. Kevin Muma will continue to handle kick-off duties for the forseeable future.
Expect placekicking to remain a strong point for the Spartans, but don't expect 14 of 15 again.
Punt and Kick Return Duties:
Luckily for us, those duties fall to one very talented Keshawn Martin. Martin has scored five different ways in a Spartan uniform(caught, throw and ran a touchdown pass. Returned both a punt and a kick for a touchdown), he's a dropkick and a field goal short of scoring every way a person can on offense. In 2010 he continued to perform at a high-level in this position.
2011 Prediction: Martin will continue to perform at a high-level this year although I suspect if the coaching staff can find an 90 percent as good option at either position they'll take it over Martin. Martin is too important to the offense as the x-factor to take an unnecessary risk in injury. There are a host of young talents who have lots of speed but have had trouble finding the field in other areas to back up Mr. Martin.
Nick Hill has lots of speed but is stuck behind the Baker/Caper/Bell logjam. Jeremy Langford is another speedster without a country, he can't crack the positions at RB or WR right now, IIRC he's not quite quick enough for CB. Tony Lippett has shown outstanding athleticism but looks to be slated for the Chris Gamble role of yore. There are lots of quick, shifty, bursty guys who could play either kick return position in lieu of Martin. But Martin is simply put the most exciting Spartan on the field with apologies to LeVeon Bell. You just do not know what's coming next with him.
As an aside, Martin still had moments last year where he'd do something that made you facepalm, it'd be rad if he could knock that off this year.
Overall Assessment: In 2010, Special Teams was an area of strength for the Spartans. In an old version of NCAAF, if you were an A++ your team's bar broke the end on the team strengths page. I think the Special Teams were that good for MSU last year. This year, an improvement would basically be more of the same, holding steady would be a slight decrease in quality and a huge step backwards would be Special Teams costing us a game or two. I think this particular group is in a position to "hold steady" meaning we lose some specialties in the punting game for this year and hold steady at placekicking and kick returns. The development of Sadler is the expected storyline for this group this year.
Worst Case Scenario: Sadler struggles to replace Bates in terms of kick quality and distance. Conroy struggles mightily with the sophomore slump and Muma can kick a country mile but can't hit the broadside of a barn. Keshawn cedes the kick return duties to a Nick Hill or Jeremy Langford due to injury or we're not receiving many kicks because our D isn't stopping anyone. I don't know, I just don't see a healthy Keshawn ever being "bad" at this.
Best Case Scenario: Sadler is an immediate replacement for Bates in terms of kick quality and being the best QB on the MSU Spartan team. Conroy finds a way to go 15 for 15 or maybe even the elusive 16 for 15. Keshawn cedes the kick return duties to a Nick Hill or Jeremy Langford type and they are as good or better.
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