MSU Football recruiting

[Spartanmack]

No sarcasm here. I'm not sure you read my post.

my bad, was reading that in the context of next years schedule. The B1G has been so top heavy the last 5+ years, in order to do that they would have had to schedule tougher out of conference opponents.

 

[byco42]

my bad, was reading that in the context of next years schedule. The B1G has been so top heavy the last 5+ years, in order to do that they would have had to schedule tougher out of conference opponents.

I think it's a good schedule given the situation.

 

[Spartanmack]

Simeon Barrow enters the portal for the 4th time - yes, he's entered the portal literally every year he's been at MSU. So far he's come back every time but like I said after the 3rd time, my hope is that they don't take him back even if he is the only decent player we have on the defense. I'd almost rather watch Cal Halladay miss tackles or be lost in no man's land wondering what to do than have that prima donna back on the team. He either doesn't want to be here or just craves attention.

 

[Spartanmack]

Lots of football recruiting news for the Spartans lately. Makes me wonder if Johnny is ok - he's usually here a day or two after the headlines to talk about why the 39th ranked LB is our plan A guy or the 11th best CB in Rhode Island is a great fit for what Smith and the staff are trying to build along with insights about pad level and gap discipline, etc, etc.

I hope he's OK.

 

[byco42]

Lots of football recruiting news for the Spartans lately. Makes me wonder if Johnny is ok - he's usually here a day or two after the headlines to talk about why the 39th ranked LB is our plan A guy or the 11th best CB in Rhode Island is a great fit for what Smith and the staff are trying to build along with insights about pad level and gap discipline, etc, etc.

I hope he's OK.

Seems that the new format has perhaps discouraged some regulars from participation, in particular, your favorite poster here. Maybe J2X2 is out getting the papers, getting the papers.

 

[Spartanmack]

Hard to tell. Guys like him come and go and the site was already hemorrhaging users (at least in the forums I pay attention to) before the format change, which seems to have accelerated the decline in regular users. I come here a lot less frequently since the change.

Maybe we'll see a bounce back in the fall as the memory of last season fades and curiosity for the next one builds...

 

[Spartanmack]

We just beat out Alabama for the talents of Az St transfer DB Ed Woods and Johnny isn't here to tell us what a huge victory this is and that beating out the Kalen DeBoer Alabama is actually better than beating out the Nick Saban Alabama. I kinda expected him to have been here a day or two ago to regurgitate the article I read that said losing Bai Jobe was really no big deal since he's unproven and he doesn't fit the new coaches system since he hasn't shown an ability to cover like he'll have to do as a DE in the 5-2-2 scheme where rush ends have to be more like OLBs. Was hoping he'd throw in some extra crumbs about pad level and gap discipline, etc, etc.

This site has really lost it's mojo. Anyway, solid get from the portal after a string of disappointing portal departures. 123 days until kick off of the new look Spartans and the Jonathan Smith era.

According to google, no Spartan has ever worn number 123 (although a few might have used that as the code for the locks on their luggage) so the cool countdown thread will have to wait at least another day.

 

[Spartanmack]

Katin Hauser left MSU to be the backup at East Carolina behind 2x transfer Jake Garcia (Miami & Missouri). Ain’t that a bitch?

 

[byco42]

Katin Hauser left MSU to be the backup at East Carolina behind 2x transfer Jake Garcia (Miami & Missouri). Ain’t that a bitch?

This transfer comedy continues to bomb for these hopeful kids, who hop from team to team like fleas on dogs. This is a "global" observation.

 

[Spartanmack]

This transfer comedy continues to bomb for these hopeful kids, who hop from team to team like fleas on dogs. This is a "global" observation.

The portal is just one of many things that is causing me to lose interest in college sports. Before I was married and had kids I'd watch college football all day. After, I'd watch both MSU & ufom live if possible, and sometimes I'd watch an SEC or PAC12 game Sat night. Now I record both MSU & uofm and usually don't get to the uofm game.

Obviously having a young family and a program in the dumps is a big part of that but because of all the changes for the worse, I no longer care to make it a priority in the free time I have.

 

[Spartanmack]

Anyone remember the hype around Andrew DePaepe? I just read he transferred to IU, maybe not even the 3rd best program in a state not known for football.

 

[Spartanmack]

MSU transfer QB Sam Leavitt (apt last name) named QB1 at Arizona State...

 

[Spartanmack]

MSU transfer QB Noah Kim looks to have lost the QB battle at Coastal Carolina.

So Sam Leavitt transfers & wins a power 5 job in a battle against a 4yr starter while Houser and Kim who were ahead of Leavitt in the depth chart lose QB battles at group of 5 or worse schools. I'm not aware of any intentions to red shirt Leavitt last year and yes, it's a year later and guys develop differently but it still says a lot about Tucker and Barnett and the rest of the former staff's ability to evaluate talent.

 

[Spartanmack]

Payton Thorne benched at Auburn. I know Auburn has been pretty mediocre for awhile, but I was still surprised to see Thorne win the starting job, even more surprised when he kept it all of last year (as far as I know) and now after throwing 4 picks in a single game to bring his TD:INT ratio to 5:4 on the season he's finally been benched in favor of a red shirt freshman.

 

[gotime909]

Having a nfl rb and 3 nfl wrs surrounding you can apparently make you appear much better than you actually are. That team made Thorne and especially Tucker more money than they were worth.

Wonder if Auburn took back the truck....

 

[Spartanmack]

CB coach Demetrice Martin bolting for UCLA after one year with MSU. smith poached him from Oregon.

Not sure what the upside of going to UCLA is, seems like a lateral move at best. Also hard to say how much of a loss this is - the secondary is still an area of weakness but with all the injuries we had back their its kinda hard to put that on a first year coach.

Kinda puts us behind the 8 ball though needing a replacement in a hurry. And unless he was pushed out, what does that say about Smith if we’re losing an alum position coach to another shitty program.

 

[Spartanmack]

Noah Kim entering the portal again after mostly being a backup at Coastal Carolina.

 

[Spartanmack]

Charles White gets bump to 4 stars by 247. Normally that would be good news and on some level it is but it also increases the odds he’ll get flipped by a better program that wasn’t looking at him seriously before.

 

[Spartanmack]

Here’s a speculative list of possible candidates to replace Martin who apparently was the main recruiter for the backfield while Adams (Blue, not Johnny) was mostly an Xs and Os guy.

Personally I like former Spartan great Renaldo Hill but that’s a big long shot. I always get Renaldo and his brother Ray mixed but I think it was Ray Hill that as a true freshman, intercepted the Joe Germain pass late in the game in Ohio Stadium to preserve the massive upset win. It was a huge play that was almost a disaster as the young Hill intercepted the ball in the endzone and instead of taking a knee for the touchback, he instinctively tried to return it but ended up being forced out of bounds around the 3. Plaxico Burress had 3 drive ending drops in that game but we somehow managed to pull off the win.

 

[Spartanmack]

Not sure who this Mulroney guy is but he seems to think having the 58th ranked recruiting class is finishing strong. Seems more like an almost 4 TD loss to a shitty Rutgers team kind of finish to me.

He goes on to say he doesn’t expect top 20 or 30 recruiting classes until next year. Boy is he in for some disappointment. Other than 2016, which was an unmitigated disaster, how many times did Dantonio crack the top 40?