The Blue Board

After looking over MSU's depth on the d-line, Dantonio really deserves a lot of credit for his ability to develop talent up front. It's really impressive.

suck?????

u been asleep the last decade?

save last yr, its been osu and only osu in the big 10

Yeah, they have good depth a lot of places on the D. I don't like it. I hope we're going to get past the days of extreme attrition which have plagued us the past few years. Actually build solid depth, and get to redshirt most players. Dantonio does deserve credit for building a solid team the 'right way'; makes for a more stable program.

That's exactly what the benefit is of having the same system in place for a number of years. UM will be more comfortable in their schemes this year, and even moreso in 2013. Things should be well established by 2014, when Hoke's first batch of true FR are true SRs.

GERG's 2nd year?

I think the defensive secondary and LB corps will be better. The question is really if someone in the middle can match Mike Martin's rush defense, and ability to get pressure. If they do half as well as he did, our D should be slightly improved overall. If not, all bets are off.

Didn't they go from a base 4-3 to a 3-3-5 in Gerg's second year?

Agreed. The BTN guys said that Michigan's back seven is the fastest they have seen, but they hype and pump and haven't seen everybody yet. Campbell, Washington, Black... will be the key to the defense though plugging up the middle.

I think there is a good chance once he gets on campus. The kid seems to be a solid player.

Here's MSU's spring roster

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/msu/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/SpringRoster2012.pdf

Couple of notables:

Denicos Allen is huge at 5'11 232. I hope he can move.

Lawrence Thomas had better get his weight under control, or play DT. He's listed at 6'3 280.

Max Bullough looks like your prototype Big 10 MIKE: 6'3 252.

Nick Hill is a freaking bowling ball at 5'8 190 .

Joel Heath is looking to take over for Gholston whenever he leaves: 6'6 277.

Going to be very interesting going forward. The OTs got huge: the smallest is Fonoti at 6'4 300. France is 6'5 316, Burkland 6'7 315, Conway 6'6 325 (!?), Dennis is 6'6 309. Those are border-line Wisconsin-sized guys (whether they have the same ability remains to be seen). Interior OL are smaller, most in the high 290s.

NT has a 3 possible 320 pounders in White, Reynolds and RS FR Ramondo. I assume only White and Reynolds have that as "good" weight. 3-tech is going to be in the 270-285 range thing year, as opposed to Worthy's 310 last season.

Remember, heights/weights are far from the whole story, so it'll be interesting going forward. What always makes me laugh are when people get taller; S RJ Williamson was listed as 6'2 in HS, then 5'10 on the roster last year, and is now listed at 6'0. Dude must be gumby or something.

Looks like Thomas is headed for the line. His story might end up being similar to Brandon Graham. Graham came in to school at 6 foot plus and 250 lbs. Evryone predicted more weight gain and a move to the line. It happened and it worked out well for UM. But, I still don't think he was as big as Thomas is reported to be. There is slim to no chance that Thomas remains at LB.

Will be interesting to see. He's his biggest proponent at LB, but if he doesn't get back to the 250-260 range (at the biggest), then LB is not at all likely. 245'ish is his ideal LB weight I think I remember hearing (correct me if I'm wrong Rocky).
Another thing to consider is MSU's plethora of talent at LB. With other high upside LB's considering or testing position changes, it is a position that might have the highest likelihood of players changing positions...

Haven't heard anything in awhile. Last I knew, he was a candidate to walk-on in the fall, but had to get accepted and some other NCAA things in order first.
I think they wanted him to lose some weight too, but I'm kinda hazy on it...

Similar things were said about graham. Both were very highly rated recruits who had a lot of speed for their size.

And, if I am reading your post right that the coaches wanted him under 250 and he is at 280....well, that makes me think that him playing (and having an impact) is not very likely at ANY spot. Coaches don't set unrealistic goals and people who blow up the coaches goals like that rarely see the field (maybe at the end of the year?). And, if they thought he could be 250, then the extra thirty pounds probably is not all good weight.

How bad are the chicken littles in a panic over this?

Nice to have football back, isn't it. Little over 2 weeks away and I will be at the Big House with my family watching some football.

Can't Wait!