MSU and the Case of the Disappearing Fullback

Niko Palazeti committed to Michigan State as a fullback on 2/1/2010. This may have been the end of an era for Michigan State's football program. I think Palazeti will be the last four year scholarship fullback to come through the Duffy Daughtery building.

Nothing against the kid, I'm sure he'll do a fine job in the Green and White and looked very good in relief of Todd Anderson in FAU-type garbage time this year. It's just, the Fullback is an endangered species in football in general. Oh sure, they've found niche roles in the biocommunity of college football on teams like Michigan State, but I think even now they're starting to disappear from these teams as well.

Why, might you ask?

I'm so glad you did, even though you didn't really. First and foremost, the game of football has changed significantly since the 70s and 80s. The responsibility of the fullback is two fold. First on a run play, they are supposed to get out and hit a linebacker to provide blocking for the running back. Second, on a pass play, they are responsible for doing one of two things, they can either block for the Quarterback OR they can slide out into the flat and act as the QB safety valve.

Interesting Note: The first offensive play of the Dantonio era was a play action pass to the fullback, Andrew Hawken.

Since the 70s and 80s, the pass coverage responsibilities of the Linebackers have increased substantially since the advent of the West Coast Offense. In the West Coast Offense, it was discovered that more than two dudes can try to catch a pass at one time. So linebackers have gotten faster and smaller. This presents a problem for guys who play the slower and bulkier fullback position as they're responsible for putting a hit on these guys in the run game.

In the pass game, the fullback can still pass block, but again with the smaller linebackers, running backs have been asked to do more in pass blocking and as it concerns running out into the flat to catch a safety valve pass for the QBs you'd want the quicker, faster running backs catching those passes as well.

None of the reasons listed above are the most important though, not for MSU anyway


Running Example

MSU used this constantly in the MSU - Wisconsin Round 1 game.

MSU lines up in a single back, Two TE set.  Linthicum lines up left of France.

Linthicum goes in motion, this at the very least does one thing for Cousins. It lets him know whether Linthicum is in man coverage or a zone if the linebacker tries to stay with him or not.

A couple times Linthicum went right back to where he started out and Cousins jumped with glee knowing whether he was looking at zone or man.

Much more often, Linthicum lined up in the fullback spot and now the Single Back Two TE set became a strong I formation with lots of run blocking for the running back. The nice thing is that as soon as Linthicum was set Cousins would snap. This was a really nice way to set up strong run blocking for the RB without tipping our hand run until the last possible moment.

Off Bell or Baker would go for a few yards.

Passing Example

This happened more often as the season wore on, but typically it was Anderson(the FB) "playing" TE. It typically happened in 3rd and short to 3rd and short-medium. Think between 3rd and 3 and 3rd and 5.

MSU starts out in the strong I.

Anderson motions left and lines up just behind Cunningham or whoever.

MSU managed to conceal their 4 WR look out of the huddle up until a moment or two prior to the snap. This forces the opposing defense to adjust prior to the play.

The QB drops back into the shotgun and now a 3rd and 4 has changed from the look of a strong run play into a strong pass play.

So What Does This Mean?

Dan Roushar runs a misdirection offense that relies on concealing the true intent of a play until seconds before the snap. One of the easiest ways to play with the look of a play is to move a TE into the fullback spot a second or two prior to the snap or to move a fullback into a WR spot seconds prior to the snap.  The role of a traditional fullback has disappeared on any spread team and is even disappearing in a more traditional offense like MSU runs.

So for my own part, I wish Palazeti and any other fullback to come to MSU the best of luck at the position. I just found myself wondering if he would be the last four year scholarship recruit at the position. We'll see how much more time Roushar spends using this misdirection in 2012.

Update Now With H-Back!

Ok, so for a couple of year 

The Offseason Road Map

With yesterday's inebriatingly awesome win we set to the grimy, crappy part of college football. The off-season. In the off-season there will be scandal, there will be boredom, there will be a review of "Death to the BCS"(great book so far, btw).The MSU schedule of events is roughly thus, we'll take a look at the  recruiting things in this post.

• Recruiting and National Signing Day(Now - First Tuesday in Feb)
• Spring Ball(Late March- Late April)
• Fall Practice(Beginning of August - August 31st)
• 8/31 - Boise State and the Smurf Turf Parade comes to town.

Recruiting and National Signing Day

To truly capture what work is to be done here this effort needs to split into two pieces. Efforts to retain/recruit current college and JUCO players and then efforts to continue recruiting High School kids.

Current College Players And Their Odds of Wearing Green and White Against BSU on 8/31

• Jerel Worthy(25%)
• Johnny Adams(80%)
• DeAnthony Arnett(50%)

I think Worthy is gone. There seem to be two camps on him, one that thinks he's a devastating DT because he just manhandles the opposition and another that thinks he has a weird knack for timing the snap count and that's what makes him good. Whether or not his ability to blow up a play is based on a knack for the snap count doesn't really matter. He still does the work. Worthy is a sure top 10 pick barring injury if he stays another year, but we'll see.

Adams potential draft entry came out of nowhere. He's played well this year, but still has gotten an excessive number of penalties IMO. He's gotten them for talking mess to people, PI when he gets burned on a play and I believe penalties for hitting QBs out of bounds. The PI when getting burned on a play is ok in college, but in the pros it's a spot of the foul play instead of 15 yards. I really think he needs to stay another year and clean that up.

DeAnthony Arnett was granted an unconditional release from Tennessee about two hours ago. In his initial decision, MSU finished second to UT, but this was based at least in part because he said he didn't want to play in a spread. Well, UM at least pretends not to run a spread anymore. Arnett will transfer to either MSU or UM, hence the 50 percent, anyone telling you they know which of the two right now is straight lying.

Recruiting High School Kids

Most have calculated 18 spots available on scholly coming into the offseason, this includes the loss of Worthy but not Adams. MSU currently has commitments from fourteen students and if Arnett joins the class that leaves three remaining. I believe MSU looks to take one more in the secondary, one more WR (if no Arnett), one more DL type to replace Pittman and another OL/DL type if the opportunity presents itself.

The picture of who those kids are will change significantly between now and signing day. Be elated at Defcon 5 if those four kids are: Arnett, JP Holtz(DE/TE) prospect, Demetrious Cox(S) prospect and David Perkins(DE). Knock off one level of excitement for each of those kids MSU does not get.

The 2013 Class

So far MSU has zero commitments for the class of 2013, this is not atypical. Usually the first commitment comes between spring ball and summer camps so fear not. A couple of contenders for first commitment in the class of 2013 are Johnny Reschke(ILB), Riley Norman(OT) and Cameron Dillard(OG). All are Michigan prospects and all have shown good interest in MSU. Norman and Reschke already have MSU offers. 


To me, the 2013 class will represent just how far MSU has come under Dantonio in Michigan, Midwestern and National Recruiting. With a revived Michigan program, an OSU head coach from the $EC, Notre Dame looking respectable again and a Wisconsin team that has played in the Rose Bowl two years running, the Big Ten is as strong as ever. For MSU to continue it's success in the past two years, it will have to win some of these recruiting battles against the traditional powers. MSU will have continue to capture the high three star kids, but I think getting a Gholston type in this class is a must. One of the things that set MSU's defense apart this year were the two defensive lineman(Worthy and Gholston) who could blow a play up single-handed. Kirk Cousins put the team on his back several times this year. That playmaker is a must.

Enjoy the offseason folks. It should be a great run-up to the 2012 season. Also, if you don't have season tickets and can afford them, you want to get them next year. MSU plays OSU, ND, Iowa, BSU, NW and Nebraska at home. It should be a great season for a team attempting to get it's third consecutive 11-win season.