Pledge Week: Wide Receivers

The week draws to a sweet, merciful close with our star position group in this class, the Wide Receivers. This was Mark Dantonio's most impressive recruiting haul. DeAnthony Arnett write up will be very brief.

DeAnthony Arnett

Arnett transferred to MSU a few weeks ago from Tennessee. He is currently seeking a hardship waiver from the NCAA which would allow him to skip the customary transfer year. Arnett is very talented and provided the aforementioned waiver works out, will see the field in 2012. He'll play out of the slot quite a bit as his "shake and bake" is his main claim to fame.


Aaron Burbridge

Burbridge committed to MSU on 7/28/2011 over offers from OSU, ND, UM and pretty much any other school you can think of. He was ranked a four star recruit by all three recruiting services. At 6'1" and 175 lbs, he is basically the spitting image of former Farmington Hills Harrison standout Mark Dell. Burbridge appears to have all of the physical tools to dominate the college game at catching and running with the football. Doesn't look to be an elite blocker yet.


To the YouTubes!

Well, he's faster than every one else on the field. There's a disgusting one handed catch about two minutes in, not to mention a pretty nice grab on an endzone corner route. There's a reason he was nationally recruited and it's because his milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

2012 Prognostication: Barring injury will be a four year contributor, perhaps even a four year starter.

Kyle Kerrick

Kerrick committed to MSU on 6/23/2011 over offers from Illinois, Pitt, WVa and the MAC. He's ranked a three-star prospect by all three recruiting services. Kerrick figures to be auditioning for the BJ Cunningham role vs his main competition Monty Madaris. An advantage that Kerrick possesses is that he is MSU's only early enrollee for 2012 so he will participate in Spring Ball which means that when Madaris comes to town Kerrick will already have an extra 15 practices under his belt.



To The YouTubes!

He's more shifty than I imagined. When I hear a "big-bodied" wide receiver, I always imagine Derrick Nix with in pillow armor catching passes. This kid looks quick and shifty for a few steps but in a foot race his speed is pretty pedestrian. Perfect for a BJ Cunningham replacement.

2012 Prognostication: If you're a WR, you're in the mix to play this year. He'll be on the field no later than next year at least situationally.

MacGarrett Kings Jr.

Kings committed to MSU on 7/13/2011 over offers from Auburn, Georgia and Wisconsin. All three services have him ranked as a three-star WR recruit. So, in short, are you worried you might miss Keshawn Martin? You should be. Kings, can be a reasonable facsimile therein(I'm not going to say replacement). Unlike Martin, Kings has played WR and RB in HS and will not have to "learn to catch the ball". He could fit into the Keshawn position immediately.


To The YouTubes!

Just my suspicion, but Mr. Hill is going to have to work to keep the #1 KR job at a minimum. Kings shows nice hands on a catch around 1:35. Good adjustment to the ball and good hands to make the catch. It won't take him 2 seasons to learn to be a good wide receiver like the recently departed Keshawn. Excellent pick-up. What's not to love? His top end speed is not elite but his first few steps are as quick as anyone that I remember having seen. That's a nitpicking criticism though.

2012 Prognostication: Will return punts, kicks or both this year. Will see the field as a WR if Arnett's waiver is not granted.

Monty Madaris

Madaris committed to MSU on well today when he sent in his NLI. He committed earlier this week, but then there was much drama. All water under the bridge now. Madaris had functional offers at this point probably from just MSU and Cincy, although at one time had offers from Florida State, Nebraska and a disputable offer with Michigan. At some point, he could serve as a cautionary tale of holding out for an offer you're not going to get(I still think he wanted to play at OSU). He's ranked a four star recruit by Scout and 247. Rivals was stingier and only gave him very high three.

To The YouTubes!

Madaris senior year highlights are outstanding. He doesn't slow down to catch the ball, his routes look really fluid, he gets up to speed quickly and doesn't get caught from behind, and best of all, he comes from Archbishop Moeller High School who has brought us such players as Greg Jones and Marcus Rush. Monty Madaris looks like he could be worth the wait and a nice compliment to Burbridge.


2012 Prognostication: Will compete with Kerrick to be the next BJ Cunningham. Kerrick has a head start, Madaris has more physical tools. One will redshirt this year unless the other is injured.

Pledge Week: Offensive Line

Offensive Line and Tackle in particular has been the Achilles Heel of recruiting at Michigan State since Dantonio arrived. So it's really important we get some good ones this year, right guys? Right? How about solid? Can we do solid?

Zach Higgins

Courtesy of MSU Scout

Higgins committed to Michigan State on 4/30/2011 over offers from Northwestern, Cincinnati, Virginia and the MAC. Ranked a three-star prospect by all three major recruiting services he projects as an OG/OT tweener. All three sites list him as being 6'5" and 305-310. If he's really 6'5" (always a question with recruiting services) he might be a bit tall to play the Offensive Guard spot, I guess it depends on how tall his QB would be.

Higgins shredded up his knee pretty well at the end of football season, which sucks. It sucks because you want him to succeed, it sucks because you don't want him to be hurt and it sucks because we can't keep our Offensive lineman healthy anyway. So on that happy note, to the film!


YOUtube Predicts Success

It's a short video, but here's what I like about the kid. When he blocks a kid out of the play he pivots to block them out of the play so he is always between his opponent and the ball. He only got out into space once but looked to be fast enough for a guard. I have to think after watching this tape that his home will be at guard when it's all said and done. A solid pickup if he can stay healthy.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: Redshirts in 2012. Starts seeing the field in the 2015 area. Any sooner and it's probably an injury issue.

Kodi Kieler

MSU Spartans

Kodi Kieler committed to Michigan State on 8/8/2011 over offers from Minnesota, Purdue and the MAC. Kieler was ranked a three-star prospect by all three major recruiting services despite a ho-hum offer sheet. Kieler is the only true Offensive Tackle taken in this class which to be honest scares the crap out of me a bit. Dantonio said on Kieler yesterday: "Kodi is a big athlete who excelled on both offense and defense. He has great running ability and change of direction. We saw him play in 2011. He shows toughness, explosiveness, and the ability to run and change direction." So he shows the ability to run and change direction!


Can Kieler change direction? YOUtube be the judge!

Well, I was really hoping to see a little more of the Running! and the Changing of Direction! and the Toughness! I watched his stuff behind the pay wall. He moves much better in space than Higgins. Kieler hit a couple of guys so hard he fell down, which is a positive. There were one or two plays where he was blocking two kids out of a play, one with each arm. I think this kid will have a very Dan France like career, athletic enough to be a tall DE, but plays OT instead.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: Redshirts in 2012. Is in the mix to replace Dan France when France leaves after 2013. Must stay healthy.

Benny McGowan

Benny McGowan committed to MSU on 4/30/2011 over offers from UCLA, Iowa, Cincy and a host of MAC offers. McGowan was ranked a three-star OG/C prospect by all three recruiting services. He was the very first offensive lineman to ever score 100 on Nike's SPARQ rating, which means... really I'm not sure other than he's very good at taking test based on Strength, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness. He scored higher than Tebow!



YouTubin' the Grind!

What's to love? Good lord he's quick off the snap. Like the Anti-Jerel Worthy. He's into the second level before you even know what happened. What's not to like about him? Nothing. He'll be bolstering our interior line for a long time to come. I think he committed too early to really get the kind of offers he could have, we're lucky to have him.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: Redshirts in 2012. There's a logjam at Center right now. I think he could move into the role of starting guard as early as 2013. The one real drawback to his film was that it showed him almost exclusively getting out into the second level so we didn't get to see a lot of him holding his blocks.

2013 Needs: 2 OTs, 2 OGs, a great center if he comes along.

Pledge Week: Defensive Line

MSU took one defensive line recruit in this class. Our defensive line was what made our defense so damned good last year and we needs us some good defensive line. I will say despite how short we are of total recruits we're completely making up for it with the "motion of the ocean".

David Fennell

MSU Spartans

David Fennell committed to Michigan State on January 23rd over offers from no one else. He played his senior year in Portland, Oregon. He is Canadian so I cannot wait to see how evil he gets as a Defensive Tackle once he learns to be an impolite jerk like the rest of us Americans. Fennell was ranked a three star prospect by 247 Sports and two-stars by Rivals and Scout. At 1.905 Meters and and 124.73 kilos he's got the frame to grow, but the size to play already.

His father was "Dr. Death" of CFL fame, not of Kevorkian fame. The elder Fennell won the award of Most Outstanding Canadian in 1979*. So what does our new David Fennell know about playing football? To the Youtubes! 

*Most Outstanding Canadian of the CFL

How Many People Will Fennell Eat in the Big Ten?

Lots. He'll eat lots. I know this is high school ball, but I love his burst off the snap. Worthy-like burst against High School kids. He also does a nice job driving his blocker back and then getting of his blocks to take off after the ball carrier. Areas for improvement? Doesn't look like the surest tackler yet, but I'm really reaching.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: I think Fennell redshirts in 2012. There's a logjam at the three technique that needs the cable fixed and I don't think it gets sorted out until after this year. Fennell sees rotational duty beginning in 2013.

2013 Needs: 2 DE and 2 DT minimum.

Bonus: As many of you may already know, Monty Madaris has yet to fax in his letter of intent. There are theories ranging from that he's not sure he wants to move the six hours to MSU all the way to Urbz is hiding in the bushes outside his house with a kilo of coke and a gaggle of hookers ready to tattoo him in his new 370z. For my own part, I don't much care what the hold up is, Madaris needs to make the right choice for him. This is all no longer true, but the below is about the next recruiting blow-up.


I'd encourage you in this era of internet transparency to avoid getting worked up about what the kid is or isn't doing. A friend of mine says that people pick their noses more when they're in the car because they think they're alone despite the fact everyone can see you. This is true of the internet as well, if you dog on a kid when you think he can't see you, he can. It only depends on whether he's looking on that message board at the time. Let him be, if he doesn't want to come here that's his choice.

Less Preachy Bonus Links:

Vannini recaps Signing Day in about seven fewer posts.

Official Signing Day Recap

Orson Swindle's Fourth Part on Signing Day: Starring Bret Bielema

Pledge Week: Defensive Backs

Defensive back isn't a position of weakness for 2012, but particularly at corner MSU is a bit thin. This is probably as highly touted a class as we've had since 2010 at the position.

Demetrious Cox

Cox committed to MSU on 1/31/2012. He had a Single Redeemable Offer From Any School In The Country. For examples sake that includes Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin. For an extremely detailed write-up on Cox click here. For a more concise version of the write-up stay right here. Cox was ranked a four-star recruit by all three recruiting services and was ranked as the 8th - 18th best safety prospect in the country depending on your recruiting service of choice.

On Spartanmag they have an article about Cox 'hitting too hard' something I didn't know could be done with clean hits. I thought about dropping a Jeremy Ware/Colin Sandeman joke, but NSD is a happy day for all CFB fans.



YouTubin'!

What's to love about this kid? Well he's fast. With all due respect to Leo's breakdown, he's the fastest kid I've watched yet while doing all these write-ups.Tremendous athletes can do tremendous things in the safety position once there learn where and when to be, Cox has that athleticism. On a more jokey note, you would think for all the money Terrelle Pryor made and the fact they went to the same high school that they would have been able to put some arrows in here so people could have some idea what they're watching. 

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: Redshirt in 2012 unless he doesn't want to be. With Jairus Jones, Kurtis Drummond and RJ Williamson all competing for Trenton Robinson's vacated safety spot I don't see him getting significant minutes over Drummond in particular who played a lot in 2011. Good candidate to replace Lewis when he leaves in 2013 as a starter in 2014.

Jermaine Edmondson

Jermaine Edmondson committed to MSU on 10/21/2011 over offers from Nebraska, Purdue and the MAC. He took a full five months longer than his teammate Se'Von Pittman to decide to come to MSU. That's totally ok, because when Urban Meyer called him the day he was hired he told Urbz he was busy washing his hair. Pittman went on to take an arrow to the knee and go scarlet and grey. Ranked a three-star prospect by all three recruiting services he'll either be a corner according to Scout and 247 or a Safety according to rivals. I think he ends up at corner, he fits the Chris L Rucker mold of a big corner who's good in run support.


Junior Highlights and YOUtube

Did I just get lucky that the first half dozen of these videos were straightforward? This video looks like it was directed by Michael Bay when he replaced his ritalin with speed. Edmondson looks plenty athletic enough to play the part and a pretty hard hitter. That's all I can get out of this. I'm going to go sit in a quiet dark room now.


2012 Prognostication and Beyond:Will play corner in college. Will redshirt in 2012 barring Angry Hating God type injuries at the CB position. Will see the field in 2013 after the departure of Johnny Adams.

Mark Meyers

Meyers committed to Michigan State over offers from the MAC and heavy interest from Nebraska and Illinois. Previously a Toledo Rockets commit, Meyers was able to get his grades in order and earn an offer to a Big Ten school. Ranked a three-star prospect by Rivals and Scout and two stars by 247, Meyers looks to contribute at the Safety position for MSU.






A Future Predictor of Success is YOUtube(Jr Highlights)

In this video it looks like Meyers got left to play centerfield and did exactly that. Which means he should pick up the Safety thing pretty quick because he was playing "read and react". "Read and react, that's what we play, Walter." "Shut the Fuck Up Donny." He has a good read on where the ball is going and good closing speed to get there and make a play. He doesn't appear to have elite speed but you don't need that if you know where the ball is going. Ask Eric Smith. Solid pickup.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: There's kind of a safety logjam in progress for the next couple years. Certainly redshirts in 2012. Could see the field in 14 or 15.

Ezra Robinson

Robinson committed to MSU back in October over offers from Clemson, GT, Illinois, Duke and a host of Sun Belt offers. Ranked a three star prospect by all three major recruiting services Robinson will bring the patented SEC speed to the CB position for MSU. At 6'1 and 188 Robinson is another one of the big, physical corners that Dantonio likes to bring in and can lower the boomstick in run support. For an extremely detailed write-up check out Leo's stuff over at What Is Your Profession.


YOUtube

He has a 31 inch vertical. So that's nice.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: Redshirts in 2012. Plays in 2014 or 2015. Will be excited to see some actual video of him someday.

Sorry guys, the available video on this guys was nowhere near as good as some of the other Position Groups, but all in all it should be a pretty good class.

Pledge Week: Tight Ends

Here's what you need to know, for all of the bagging on Roushar, he runs a fairly similar offense to Scott Linehan of Detroit Lions fame. That involves frequent, early and wacky use of the Tight Ends. This year MSU lost two, Garrett Celek and Brian Linthicum. These are big shoes to fill and these two young men have their work cut out for them.

Josiah Price

Courtesy of Scout

Josiah Price committed to MSU on 6/23/2011 over offers from all of the MAC and Purdue, Minny, Illinois and Indiana. He was a recruit on the way up so I'm glad we snagged him when we did. Price was rated a three-star prospect by all three major recruiting services.

Price despite fitting the "Swiss Army Knife" profile (explained further below) he will certainly stick at TE. I remember Jim Comparoni reporting that Price had very, very soft hands and if there's anything MSU likes to do it's make sure their TE's are part of the passing game.




Success and YOUtube

What's to love about this guy? Well, he was the Keshawn Martin of his high school football team. He played in the slot, lined up at Split End, ran the zone read as the QB, but threw the ball as well as his Quarterback and he McGuffie'd a kid! He has great hands. What's not to love for all that athleticism his change of direction seemed a skosh unimpressive, but I'm really nitpicking. This is a great pickup.

2012 and Beyond Tea Leaves: Price will not redshirt in 2012. With Linthicum gone I think that Price has the best chance of stepping in and moving into that H-back role. This assumes no one from defense moves to TE in the Spring, I've got my eye on you Taiwan Jones.

Evan Jones

Courtesy of Scout

Evan Jones has a kingly beard. I am 32 and cannot grow facial hair so stately as the beard in this picture. Jones committed to MSU on 5/7/2011 over offers from WVa and a host of MAC schools. He is ranked a three-star prospect by all three major recruiting services and fits the bill of the Mark Dantonio Swiss Army Knife recruit.

The Swiss Army Knife recruit is typically recruited tall (6'4" - 6'6") and 240-250. They are recruited to be big, quick for their size and able to grow into a host of positions such as TE/DE/DT/OT. Ty's stony, rigid NFL mind is blown at the idea of recruiting someone of this size and seeing what he develops into. Yet, this is a specialty recruit of the more pro-style teams in the Big Ten, Ferentz and Bielema specifically.

For Further Examination We Turn To YOUtube

He has no youtube video. Here is Evan Jones the Singer/Songwriter singing Before That Bloody War.

I would expect a song called Before That Bloody War to be a bit more either light-hearted or more nostalgic. This just sounds tired, it could be that way because it's a tired war hero singing about better days, but that's not what I got out of it. He's got some hella-effects on that guitar and I don't think I've ever heard a song with a bass, accordion and acoustic guitar rigout only. So dap to him for not just going straight ahead on the typical folk rock stuff with just him and a guitar without some jazzing up.

2012 and Beyond Tea Leaves: MSU's Evan Jones will likely redshirt in 2012. It is my belief one Tight End will redshirt and it may be him or Price, but am going with Price based off his existent youtube video. This assumes that Dion Sims stays healthy which is a bit of a long shot(he hasn't yet). He will play significant minutes as early as 2013. What happens to singer/songwriter Evan Jones is that I suspect he will not see the field for MSU ever.

Pledge Week: Linebackers

Our continuing series on the 2012 Pledges, today we look at Linebackers. Have you wondered how MSU seemed so much better on third down defense this year? Better linebacker pass coverage sure helps. The linebackers job is to come up and fill the gaps created by the Defensive Line in the running game and provide man coverage on TE's in the passing game and zone on WRs.

Riley Bullough

Courtesy of MSU Scout

The Bullough lineage is starting to read like that bit out of the bible. Hank the Spartan and NFL Coach begat Shane and Chuck. Shane and Chuck played linebacker at Michigan State in the 80's. Shane begat Max, Riley and Byron. Max and Riley will play linebacker at Michigan State. I'll betcha a dollar we have some idea what Byron will do. A recently projected depth chart for 2085 featured 11 Bulloughs on Defense all playing Mike in some sort of weird A11 variant defense.

Riley committed to Michigan State on 4/30/2011. He had offers from MSU, Iowa and Wisconsin as well as a handful of MAC schools. He was a three-star prospect  according to all three recruiting services. All three services also project him as an Outside Linebacker. Bullough sat out most of his senior year hurt. So obviously his senior year highlights are going to be non-existent. Very short.


A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube 

What's to love about this kid? Well, after he hits someone all that's left of them is a puddle of teeth. Completely independent of the Bullough lineage a kid who's played QB in HS is going to understand the development of pass routes early on, which would make him a good candidate for early playing time if there was any to be had. What else? Oh yeah, my brain hurts from how hard he was hitting kids. 

What's not to like? Hm. He seems about as fast as his brother, who was 20 lbs heavier at the same age, so a bit slower, but if he can put on 15-20 lbs without losing any speed he'll be more than fast enough to play Sam.

2012 and Beyond Tea Leaves: Redshirt in 2012. Sees the field in 2014 regularly. Sees the field in 2013 situationally and certainly on Senior Day so he and Max can have playing time together.

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Jamal Lyles

Courtesy 247 Sports

Jamal Lyles committed to on 6/23/2011. His offer sheet included MSU, Pitt, Vandy, the Cuse and Iowa. Which is better than Indiana and a slew of MAC schools like a low three-star, but not really the offer sheet accompanies a dude who is ranked a four-star prospect by Rivals and Scout and a three-star by 247 Sports. Lyles was not offered by Michigan and I have a strong feeling this one will come back to bite them despite what I just finished writing above.

See, like so many of the people Dantonio has brought in the last two recruiting classes, Lyles has the frame to bulk up quite a bit and his likely future is on the Defensive Line. So much so that I projected him there in the divination based 2012-2015 two deeps I did for the Only Colors a few weeks ago. Can you ever have too many talented pass rushers in College Football? Can you ever have too many supercars? No. Having more only makes things better.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

What's to love? Kid played WR/LB in High school. So athleticism is no issue this film is really kind of grainy and that makes it hard to read out how the kid plays a little more technically.

2012 Tea Leaves and Beyond: Redshirt in 2012. He'll see the field, but I'm not sure when, where or how. It'll honestly depend on whether he sticks at LB or puts on weight and slides down to DL.  I suspect that choice will even be his.

2013 Needs: I'd say three and to continue our Defensive Domination, two need to be high quality recruits. This would let them redshirt in 13 and be ready to see the field in 2014 after the departure of Bullough and Denicos Allen.

Pledge Week: Kickers

In case you didn't know, MSU has a tradition of graduating top-flight kickers into the NFL such as  Paul Edinger, Dave Rayner and Morten Anderson.  This year MSU is taking a walk-on kicker, a local yokel by the name of Evan Fischer. No punters this year.

Evan Fischer

Courtesy of Detroit News

Evan Fischer committed to Michigan State on 11/2/2011. He is being brought in as a preferred walk-on at MSU. According to Rivals he had no college offers, but that's not terribly unusual for a kicker. Kickers often get offers the way Head Coaching Offers get made, you don't get an offer unless you're going to say yes. So in Fischer's case, MSU wanted him as a walk-on and he got no MAC offers because he wasn't going to go there. Clear as mud?

None of this is to say he's short on accomplishments, which you can find on his website. I won't link it here because his home address is on there and that would be super creepy of me. However, the short list are: MHSAA Single Season Field Goal Record Holder. A made 52 yarder this season. He was 11 of 20 on the season which sounds kind of blah until you consider two things. 1.) Brett Swenson, the "Half-Pint Hero and Goss Eraser" was 7 of 11 his senior year of high school. 2.) He was 1 of 7 from over 50 yards, including 0-5 from north of 55 yards. I assume these attempts from more than 55 yards came at the end of halves, right Holt coach? because it would be crazy to expect a 17 year old to make NFL long shot field goals. Anyway, so adjusted for reasonability he finishes 10 of 13 inside of 50.  Which works for me.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

Seems like a good kid, gets lots of loft on his kicks. Not really sure what else to say. He's a walk-on until he can Dan Conroy his way onto the field.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: He'll be sitting behind Conroy and Muma. I'm getting the feeling that Muma might always be a kickoff specialist. He will redshirt in 2012, no matter what. I think his first chance to see the field will be after Conroy graduates in 2013.

2013 Need at Kicker: 0
2013 Need at Punter: 0

Pledge Week: Running Backs

The Dantonio offense relies upon a powerful running game. Running the ball is used to chew up clock, rest the defense and set up playaction. This year MSU took two running backs to help bolster it's ability in these areas.

Nick Tompkins

Nick Tompkins committed to Michigan State on 6/26/2011 during the U2 concert. Not that I attended or anything. While I'm on the hypothetical subject, the east side upper deck of Spartan Stadium is kind of like 1980's Poland. If you are going to charge seat fees, feel free to raise some moneys to bring the east side of the stadium into the roaring 90s. Anyway, Tompkins was rated a three star prospect by Rivals, Scout and 247 Sports. He was ranked nationally by Scout as the #70 running back and by 247 as the 54th best RB. He was ranked as Rivals' number 11 all-purpose back, rivals has a separate rank for running backs.

His offer sheet is pretty stellar. At the time of his commitment he had offers from Wisconsin, California, Boston College, Georgia Tech and a host of other schools. By conference is a little more impressive, he had offers from five Big Ten schools, six ACC schools, two Big East schools, a Pac-12 school and three SEC schools. So this is a very solid pickup. Very solid.

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A Predictor Of Future Success Is YouTube

 

In this video, there are basically only things to love. Tompkins "one-cut" move is devastating. When he cuts upfield, that's it in both of these videos. He has the speed to outrun anyone on his high school field. He doesn't dance around a whole lot in the backfield, but it looks like he could if he needs to. The only thing I didn't see was a lot of him catching the ball, but that's not really a knock so much as an observation. This is a stellar pick-up and we will all be very excited about him when it's time for him to see the field.

Prognostication for 2012 and Beyond: If two of our three running backs go down in 2012 Tompkins might see the field. So again. Disaster only. He has a chance to crack the two-deep as early as 2013 when the battle to replace Larry Caper will take place between him and Nick Hill. Both are speed backs to compliment Bell's thunder. He will see the field in 2014 at the latest.

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Marcus Horne

Marcus Horne committed to MSU on 1/29/2012. He was a two-star prospect according to rivals and had an offer Redeemable At Any MAC School. He has accepted his commitment as a greyshirt. A greyshirt means that they have been offered a scholarship in the future, but that you will pay some portion of your college on your own.

A good basketball analog recruiting-wise is Austin Thornton. He wants to be a part of a Big Ten team, but would not get a Big Ten offer for a full ride. Anyway, football-wise these are the kind of kids you need to lean on, one or two of these walk-on/greyshirt guys make valuable contributions to their team each year.

Horne looks like Tompkins minus the "one-cut devastation". I really like his vision and I think if he can put on 20 lbs without losing a lot of speed he could be a thunder back to Tompkins lightning. As one would expect of a greyshirt prospect, he's a bit of a project. The weight gain I think would be necessary for him to see significant playing time.

Prognostication for 2012 and Beyond: Will not play in 2012. Could see the field in the 2014-2015 area. Will depend on how he does in the weight room.

2013 Needs: 1 Thunder and maybe 1 Lightning back. The lightning back is a nice to have, the Thunder back is a necessity, after Bell, the next potential candidate at Thunder back is Horne, but as previously stated, he is a bit of a project.

Pledge Week: Quarterbacks

Meta: Pledge Week is going to be the series in which we meet the recruits for Signing Day. Position groups will be done in order of stability to avoid Signing Day fuss.

Writing this segment is going pretty easy most years because unless we're gonna party like it's 2007 and take Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles, MSU is only going to take one quarterback most years. This year MSU took one quarterback, Michael "Tyler" O' Connor.

Courtesy of MSU Scout

O'Connor, a QB from Lima Catholic Central(OH), committed to MSU on 6/6/2011. He chose MSU over offers from Northwestern, Boston College and West Virginia. O'Connor checks in as 5.7 3-star recruit from Rivals ranked as the 18th pro-style quarterback, a 3-star recruit from Scout and a 4-star recruit ranked 13th nationally by 247 Sports.

Not long after committing to Michigan State, O'Connor was invited to and attended the Elite 11 Quarterback camp. Calling it the Elite 11 is becoming a bit of a misnomer, they've regularly invited twelve to this camp for a while now, invited thirteen last year and then this year they opened it up to twenty-four. Then an elite 11 are selected. This isn't a knock on O'Connor, but it explains how he went to the Elite 11 and didn't finish in the Elite 11. He DID however, get a chance to work with Kirk Cousins, which is always encouraging to read. So anyway, the QB rankings of 13-23 are probably about accurate for him.

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A Predictor of Future Success Is YouTube

These are O'Connor's junior highlights. There are some things to love, he throws an excellent deep ball and is very mobile in the pocket. I really, really loved some of his throws into coverage, great throws into windows between 2-3 defenders. He really does a nice job throwing the ball in traffic. He reminds me a bit of every Northwestern QB you've ever hated. If he doesn't get the read he wants, he can and will take off which helps keep the pass coverages a little more friendly for him. He runs the zone read option pretty well and I suspect you'll see him run it occasionally as a gimmick play when he sees the field at MSU.

There are some things I'm a little tepid about in the above film he has a few throws where he puts some zip on them, but not many. To me this begs the question of whether he has to take zip off his throws so his guys can catch them. Further, while I love his mobility, I think at this point looking at fifteen month old film he's a little too "hoppy" in the pocket. This is a much more "fixable" issue than not putting enough zip on the ball.


All of O'Connor's Senior Highlights are behind the pay wall, so a junior to senior year comparison isn't happening.

Prognostication for 2012 and Beyond: O'Connor barring disaster will not see the field in 2012. He and class of 2011 Quarterback Connor Cook will compete for the starting QB job in 2014. While I like his mobility I suspect it will not be encouraged at MSU like it would at Northwestern. I look forward to seeing his Spring Ball in 2013 to see how he handles short throws(the highlight tape above had lots of deep balls, deep outs and over-the middle but very little in the way of quick slants, quick outs and drag routes). All in all, another solid quarterback pickup and I look forward to seeing him and Cook push each other behind Maxwell the next couple of years.

2013 Need: 1