A Look at Next Year: Offensive Line

So my original post on next year’s offensive line was accidentally deleted when I tried to fix some things.  Blogger has some seriously upsetting bugs.  Anyway, here’s a much less ambitious look at the Spartans’ offensive line next year.

Here’s a list of all current offensive linemen.

66           Jack Allen               C            6-1          291         FR            Hinsdale, Ill. - Hinsdale Central

63           Travis Jackson        C            6-3          275         RS FR      New Albany, Ohio - St. Francis DeSales

68           Ethan Ruhland        C            6-5          290         JR            Lake Orion, Mich. - Lake Orion

64           Blake Treadwell      C/OG    6-3          295         JR            East Lansing, Mich. - East Lansing

71           John Deyo               OG        6-6          300         JR            Battle Creek, Mich. - Gull Lake

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

53           Kyle Lints                 OG        6-3          275         FR            Traverse City, Mich. - St. Francis

62           Chris McDonald      OG        6-5          300         JR            Sterling Heights, Mich. - Henry Ford II

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

76           Donavon Clark        OL         6-3          294         FR            Cincinnati, Ohio - Finneytown

69           Shawn Kamm          OL         6-7          310         RS FR      Saginaw, Mich. - Nouvel Catholic Central

72           Nate Klatt                 OL         6-4          290         SO           Clinton, Ohio - Northwest

54           Connor Kruse         OL         6-5          300         RS FR      Lowell, Mich. - Lowell

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

70           Skyler Burkland      OT         6-7          305         RS FR      Sunbury, Ohio - Big Walnut

73           Henry Conway        OT         6-6          318         SO           Shaker Heights, Ohio - Shaker Heights

65           Michael Dennis      OT         6-7          307         RS FR      Carey, Ohio - Carey

51           Fou Fonoti               OT         6-4          300         JR            Lakewood, Calif. - Cerritos College

59           Dan France              OT         6-6          315         SO           North Royalton, Ohio - North Royalton

60           Micajah Reynolds  OT          6-5          320         SO           Lansing, Mich. – Sexton

As we can see, the Spartans have 19 o-linemen and they are only graduating 3 of them.  That means the Spartans should have excellent talent and depth for next year.  The coaches must think so, too, because they have so far only recruited 3 offensive linemen in the class of 2012, and I don’t expect them to recruit any others -- except perhaps if a 5-star like Jordan Diamond expressed interest in becoming a Spartan (more on that in a later post).

Every position along the offensive line looks to be in good shape.  One of the strongest should be center.  Next year, Travis Jackson will be back.  He has the chance to be a really good center, especially if he gets a little bigger and stronger.  He will be backed up by Blake Treadwell and Jack Allen.  Don’t be surprised to see Allen emerge as the next Travis Jackson.  Anyway, the center position is talented, deep, and young.  The Spartans are set there for next year and beyond.

The Spartans are also set at right tackle.  Fou Fonoti and Skyler Burkland will be back and they will wage an epic battle for the starting spot.  On the one hand, you hate to see two great players battle for a starting spot because it means one of them won’t get to start.  On the other hand, it means MSU is talented and deep at right tackle.

At left tackle the Spartans are not as strong as at right tackle, but they should still be solid.  Current starter, Dan France, will be back.  This year, France made a frustrating but ultimately successful transition from defensive lineman to left tackle.  His backup, Micajah Reynolds will also be back and will also be a junior.  If both France and Reynolds go down or falter, don’t be surprised to see Fonoti move over, or hopefully, we will see one of the other young tackles emerge – perhaps someone like Michael Dennis.  So the position should be talented and experienced. 

At right guard, the Spartans should be all set, again.  Chris McDonald will be a senior and looks set to start for his third year at the position.  He should provide great skill and leadership.  His backup, Ethan Ruhland will also be back as a senior.

Left guard will be the position of greatest concern.  The Spartans are losing All Big Ten guard, Joel Foreman.  His skill and leadership will without doubt be missed.  But the Spartans will have as many as 9 guys vying for the position, including Ruhland, Treadwell, and Donovan Clark.  Clark is probably the highest-rated of all the guard recruits, but he will only be a redshirt freshman.  Clark was a 4-star recruit and recruiting sites raved about his run-blocking.  Thus, left guard is the position of least certainty.  MSU will have talented players ready to take over, but they will be relatively inexperienced.

The upshot, then, is that MSU will have one of the best o-lines in the Big Ten.  That fact should turn MSU’s running game from one of the worst (statistically) in the Big Ten, this year, to one of the best, next year.   All of that should also ease Andrew Maxwell’s takeover of the QB position.  One last exciting point that I want to make is that the o-line will probably be peaking in 2013.  Le’Veon Bell, Maxwell and the receivers should also be peaking at that time.  So if the Spartans are ever going to make a run at the national championship under Dantonio, it will be in 2013.