Spartans Headed To The League

As many of you are already aware, this could be the Spartans' best draft performance in recent memory.  So I have decided to begin providing a weekly update on ABDFF of how various Spartans are doing in relation to the NFL draft.  Folks, these are exciting times.  The NFL draft process is young and there is already a lot of good news about the Spartans. Let's start with a list of Spartan seniors and early departures.

42            Todd Anderson        FB            6-2           265          SR            Napoleon, Mich. - Napoleon

85            Garrett Celek          TE            6-5           252          SR            Cincinnati, Ohio - LaSalle

8              Kirk Cousins             QB           6-3           205          SR            Holland, Mich. - Holland Christian

3              B.J. Cunningham     WR          6-2           215          SR            Westerville, Ohio - Westerville South

67            Joel Foreman          OG           6-4           315          SR            Highland, Mich. - Milford

88            Brian Linthicum      TE            6-5           245          SR            St. Louis, Mo. - Clemson

82            Keshawn Martin     WR          5-11         189          SR            Inkster, Mich. - John Glenn

75            Jared McGaha         OL            6-6           298          SR            Powell, Tenn. - Powell

7              Keith Nichol            WR          6-2           220          SR            Lowell, Mich. - Oklahoma

69            Blake Pacheco         DL            6-1           264          SR            Salinas, Calif. - Monterey (Calif.) Peninsula College

96            Kevin Pickelman      NT           6-4           288          SR            Marshall, Mich. - Marshall

73            Arthur Ray Jr.          OG           6-3           299          SR            Chicago, Ill. - Mount Carmel

39            Trenton Robinson   S              5-10         195          SR            Bay City, Mich. - Bay City Central

16            Chris D. Rucker        WR          5-9           178          SR            Detroit, Mich. - Detroit Country Day

20            Kyle Selden             P              6-5           199          SR            Waterford, Mich. - Our Lady of the Lakes

47            Adam Setterbo       FB            6-3           245          SR            Spring Lake, Mich. - Spring Lake Senior

81            Brad Sonntag          WR          5-8           176          SR            Saginaw, Mich. - Nouvel Catholic Central

57            Johnathan Strayhorn               DT            6-0           272          SR            Detroit, Mich. - Oak Park

4              Edwin Baker            RB           5-9           210          JR            Highland Park, Mich. - Oak Park

99            Jerel Worthy           DT            6-3           310          JR            Huber Heights, Ohio – Wayne

So far, most of the news is about the seniors.  And you would expect that since we have all these "senior-related" events going on: the Senior Bowl, the East-West Shrine game, and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

Nevertheless, let me just just briefly start with Jerel Worthy.  As everyone knows, Worthy has been considered a first-round pick most of the year.  He's still considered a first-rounder by most mock drafts.  But at one point, guys like ESPN's Todd McShay had him going in the top 15, and now most mock drafts seem to have him going in the bottom half of the first round.  I think that once the NFL Scouting Combines get going, Worthy will get his chance to impress and move up into the top 15.

Then we have Kirk Cousins, who seems to be making a big splash at the Senior Bowl camp.  About a week or two ago, Mel Kiper Jr. was suggesting that Cousins could go by about the 5th round of the NFL draft.  Now we're hearing people (like Sporting News' Russ Lande) talk about Cousins going as high as the 2nd round.  That's crazy!  Oh no it isn't.  I've said it before, Cousins has played at times like a first-rounder -- particularly during the B1G championship game -- and it was only a matter of time before others saw what Spartan fans saw this year.  If Cousins does end up going in the second round, don't be surprised to see a significant boost in MSU's quarterback recruiting, as soon as next year.

Then there's BJ Cunningham.  In case you missed his touchdown at the East-West Shrine game, here it is.  Other than that, there's not much else...except if you think it's a big deal that ESPN's Todd McShay was raving about Cunningham!  McShay thinks Cunningham was the best receiver at the practices and that he could end up going in the third round of the draft.

Finally, there's Brian Linthicum, who is playing in the Senior Bowl.  According to Tony Pauline at SI.com, Linthicum has been impressive at the Senior Bowl practices: "Brian Linthicum (TE/Michigan State) has really impressed all day. He looked very athletic during opening drills and has made several impressive catches in full scrimmage."

Worthy, Cousins, and Cunningham have garnered most of the early attention, but here's a quick list of some related items:

- Keith Nichol made a nice grab (video) at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
- Kirk Cousins, B.J. Cunningham, Keshawn Martin, Edwin Baker, and Trenton Robinson have all been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.

- Trenton Robinson was interviewed by the Detroit Lions.  

- Unfortunately, there's not much news on other guys I expect have a good chance to get drafted, guys like Kevin Pickelman (injured), Todd Anderson, and Joel Foreman.  But hopefully, these guys will get invited to the NFL Combines, soon.

Leonidas writes on his own blog What Is Your Profession?. In addition to asking what your profession is he has begun writing to cover recruiting for ABDFF in his spare time. You can hit him up at noble.leonidas@gmail.com.

Wednesday Weekly Wrecruiting Wrap

There are a few people who read this blog who aren't real familiar with the recruiting cycle, so I'm going to briefly walkthrough this. If you already know how the actual process of recruiting works, skip ahead a bit, if not I'll keep it brief.

Our example class is the class of 2012 and their timeline goes like this.

• Unofficial interest by a school can begin at anytime. Barry Sanders Jr. was receiving recruiting attention as early as the eighth grade.
• Throughout high school beginning at any time, students can attend summer camps put on by college football staffs.
• Unofficial offers can be made at anytime, typically no earlier than after sophmore year, even for the most talented prospects.
• Official written offers can go out September 1st of the prospects junior year. For the class of 2012, this was 9/1/2010.
• A prospect can "commit" anytime after receiving one of these written offers.The commitment must be accepted by the staff after being offered by the prospect. However the commitment is not binding by either party until National Signing Day. 
• An official visit is the one time a school is allowed to fly the prospect and the prospect's family into town to visit the campus. The number of official visits is limited for a school to I believe 56. Typically, regional prospects commit to a school and then take an official visit later. National recruits or VERY highly rated recruits use the Official Visits to make their decision. For the MSU staff, official visits almost always occur after the season prior to National Signing Day. For the 2012 class, this is the period between the Big Ten Title Game and February 1, 2012.
• National Signing Day is the first Wednesday in February. Commits receive a National Letter of Intent which they then sign and fax(LOL) back to the football offices.
• A commit can enroll early. This means they begin classes the Winter prior to the year their class. For example in the 2012 class, Ezra Robinson and DeAnthony Arnett(transfer) have begun classes, but will not see the field until 2012.

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Early Defections & Scholarship Count

With Edwin Baker and Jerel Worthy announcing their departure and Johnny Adams announcing he'll be back for his senior year, I think MSU is done with dealing with early defections for this year's recruiting cycle. Anyone looking to transfer probably would have done so by now.

Currently, MSU has 14 commitments for the 2012 class, I won't be counting Arnett because he is technically a transfer. I think they're looking to take 17 in this class. A team can have 85 scholarship players, unless they're Ohio State for the next couple of years. ZING! 17 is actually the ideal number of players to take in a class because if they all redshirt then you have 17 kids coming in all five years to total your 85 scholarships. Blame JLS for lots of things failure-oriented, this was a trend he started at MSU we should be grateful for.

Official Visits Lined Up For This Weekend

JP Holtz - Holtz was on my wish list I made a few weeks ago because he is another one of those 6'6", 240 lbs DE/TE types that schools like MSU, Iowa and Wisconsin love to stockpile. These kinds of athletes can play TE/DE/DT/OT/OG at the next level. They get brought in and find a position over the first couple years. Previously committed to Pitt, but with offers from Michigan, Arkansas and Penn State, Holtz is a guy you should be excited about if he comes to play at MSU.

Addressing the Other Positions of Need

WR - Seems deep in this class, but it is not deep overall in 2012. Monty Madaris is a player who seems close to making a decision and would fit the MSU offense very nicely. Coupled with our WR commit from over the summer, Kyle Kerrick both excel at WR and Safety. If Madaris commits to MSU expect him to go to WR and Kerrick to Safety.

DT- With the departure of Worthy, MSU is looking to find a big-bodied DT for 2012. I'm frankly skeptical that there is anyone on the radar that fits the bill of a 6'3", 300 Worthy Replacement. Maybe if there's a late decommitment?

OL - We could always use more OL, but again, I'm not seeing anyone who jumps out at me as a likely-to-have player at MSU.

Best Guess On Finishing Out The Class

TE - JP Holtz, WR - Monty Madaris, OL/DL to be named later.

Narduzzi Can Stay, But It'll Cost You a Baker

It was announced a few minutes ago that Pat Narduzzi has agreed to stay at MSU. This is good squishee for all of us. He got his players, he has his scheme, things are looking good for him. Good enough that he should stay and take the right Head Coaching job when he is ready to move on. I realize that in the end all MSU has done is retain a current coach while giving him a raise that'll pay for a few piano lessons for the kids, but this is probably the biggest win of the upcoming offseason.

Mark Hollis tweeted moments ago: "Great to have Coach Narduzzi at MSU. He is ready to be a head coach at a big time program. That will be his next move. He is all Spartan." Translation: He got paid and will only leave for the right HC gig. Glad you're back Pat, figure out how you plan to replace Jerel Worthy. Welcome home.

Edwin Baker


In terms of karma, there was a small correction in The Force immediately preceding the Duzzer press release. Edwin Baker announced he will forgo his senior season and pursue the NFL. This decision has been hinted at for a couple of days on message boards and twitter, but only tonight became official. I know what you're thinking, and I'm thinking it too.  This is like the Island on Lost or something, if one can stay, one must go. Survivor maybe? I don't know I'm getting my TV all mixed up.

Baker was replaced by Bell as the starter mid-season. The twittaz indicate Dantonio encouraged Baker to stay. Rexrode wrote that Baker did not consult with the NFL's Advisory Committee. In short, Baker was not coming back to MSU, whether it was because of diminished carries, the emergence of Bell, or something else. Baker's timer had gone off.

Vague Prediction-Like Substance

I said a few times this year I thought Baker was more physically gifted than Bell, that's still true. What Baker lacked and Bell had was vision. In the pros, I think it's more likely that when Baker runs to where the hole should be, that it will open up for him. However, I still think it's VERY unlikely he gets drafted and so he'd have a lot of work to do to get to the field in the first place. I hope I'm wrong and we're all laughing about how Baker broke Barry Sanders records in 2025.

Anyway, I'm really hoping for a very boring MSU football weekend. MSU has had a lot of ups and downs this week.