Recruiting 2013: Gerald Holmes

Back in February, the Spartans received a commitment from Michigan running back Gerald Holmes.  Holmes is a consensus 3-star recruit whose only other offers are from CMU and Toledo.  He likely would have ended up with more offers if he hadn't committed so early.

Holmes will fill the role of big running back when he gets to MSU.  He is already 6' 1" and about 205 lbs, and he could put on some more mass throughout his senior year.  There's no info on his athleticism, so we need to take a look at his video.

Holmes is not a burner, but he has serviceable speed.  His best attributes are: good vision (he seems to be able to find the holes), some moves (he makes people miss when he needs to), he can be pretty physical (he goes after tacklers in a few plays and throws some good blocks), and he can catch the ball.

Upshot: I don't think he's as athletic as LeVeon Bell and Larry Caper, but it's always possible that he'll get faster and stronger by the time he gets to MSU.  If he doesn't become more athletic,  his vision and aggressive running style may still win him playing time, perhaps as the "thunder" of any "thunder and lightning" partnership, and he may even have the tools to become an every-down back.  At this point, Holmes looks like less of sure thing than other recruits I've looked at.  But I've also seen guys make dramatic improvements in their highlights from their junior to their senior years (e.g., Monty Madaris and MacGarrett Kings).  So let's wait 'til his senior year video comes out before making bold predictions about Holmes' future.

Will 2011 Recruiting Class Step Up?

Looks like these guys beat me to this topic, but I'll still go ahead and put in my two cents.

One of the big reasons the Spartans excelled last year is that the 2010 recruiting class stepped up in a major way.  Here's a list of the biggest contributors from that class: Darqueze Dennard, Anthony Rashad White, LeVeon Bell, Skyler Burkland, Kurtis Drummond, Mike Sadler, Marcus Rush, Isaiah Lewis, Travis Jackson, Nick Hill, William Gholston, Tony Lippett, and Max Bullough.  Several of these guys became starters - star starters - and those that didn't become starters played important roles.

So the question is: will we see the class of 2011 make similar contributions?  I'm going to go with . . . no.  It's not that the class of 2011 isn't talented, but it's more that the Spartans have become a very deep squad.  They're loaded at all positions to the point that even Lawrence Thomas, 5-star recruit, will have to completely excel to see the field.

So which guys might step up from the 2011 class?  Well, Fou Fonoti is already contributing as the starter at right tackle.  Of course, he has the advantage of being a junior college transfer and being a senior this year.  I'm expecting big things from Fonoti, hoping that he ends up doing well enough to get drafted in the first 4 rounds of the NFL draft.

After Fonoti we have a lot of talented guys that probably could start for many other teams but that probably won't start at MSU until guys ahead of them graduate or (heaven forbid) get injured.  Nonetheless, the following guys could still make important contributions:

- Lawrence Thomas - probably won't start this year at defensive end unless William Golston goes down.  But I'm hoping to at least see signs this year that LT could become the next Golston, especially if Golston is leaving early for the NFL.

- Jack Allen - won't beat out Travis Jackson at center but could end up beating out Blake Treadwell for a guard spot.  In any case, since he can probably play at three spots on the O-line, he will likely end up playing quite a bit this year.

- Shilique Calhoun - probably won't start at defensive end, but I'm hoping to see signs that he could become the next Julian Peterson, as Mark Dantonio suggests.

- Andre Sims - could end up playing a lot at receiver.  Of course, the Spartans are thin at receiver, but more importantly, Sims may have been the most effective receiver in the Spring game (though several of the top guys were injured).

- Roger Williamson - is in a battle for a starting safety spot with Kurtis Drummond.  He may still win the starting job, though there is talk that both of them could be pushed by true freshman Demetrious Cox.

- Darien Harris - had a good Spring and appears to have become the backup for Chris Norman.  He won't start, unless there is an injury, but maybe we'll see flashes of brilliance.

- Paul Lang - I haven't heard much about Lang, but since he plays tight end, a position where the Spartans are thin, he should have a better opportunity than most to contribute.  We'll see if he can take advantage.

MSU Could Consolidate Its Eliteness Over the Next 2 Years

Folks, I don't have to tell you that we are currently living through one of the greatest epochs in MSU football history.  But how did we get here?  Of course, the coaches and talented players have a lot to do with it.  But if you think about long enough, you also start to see what seems like a little divine intervention (or a fortunate series of events).  You also start to see how this divine intervention could carry MSU to even greater heights.

Where I tend to see more divine intervention is in what happened to the top teams in the B1G during Dantonio's tenure at MSU.  We all know how Michigan faltered under Rich Rodriguez and how MSU was able to defeat the Rodriguez-led Wolverines three straight years.  That alone enhanced MSU's prestige throughout the state, but beyond that, Rodriguez' non-pro style allowed MSU to compete for recruits that may have typically gone to UM.  Guys like Edwin Baker and Larry Caper could have ended up at UM if Rodriguez was not there.

Ohio State experienced less of a collapse than UM when tattoo-gate brought Jim Tressel down.  But their stumble probably helped MSU defeat OSU in it's home stadium for the first time . . . in a long time.  The scandal also cost OSU a few scholarships, and while it's hard to quantify how that benefitted the Spartans, we can safely guess that it may have allowed MSU to pick up at least one more elite player than they normally would have - I'm thinking of someone like Ohio receiver Monty Madaris.

Now, UM and OSU do seem to be back on track.  Does that mean that the gods have stopped smiling on MSU.  I don't think so.  In fact, I think the gods have given MSU at least two more years to solidify their rise to the top.

Here's the deal.  I don't care what the preseason rankings say, the Spartans are going to be better this year than UM and OSU.  This year's Spartans are still more talented and farther along in their development than both UM and OSU, and OSU will likely experience some transition issues under Urban Meyer.  Thus, while MSU could still lose their game this year against either of those teams, I would say that if they played those teams 10 times, MSU would beat them 7 times.

We can start to get more worried in 2013.  That's when Brady Hoke's recruiting prowess will begin to pay off, and that's when OSU will likely have resolved all of its transition issues.  OSU in particular could be scary.  Braxton Miller will be a junior quarterback and the defensive line OSU will have that year could be monstrous.

So 2013 is when MSU will give way to the traditional powers?  Wrong.  Fortunately for us, MSU should be peaking in 2013 - depending on how many guys we lose to the NFL.  MSU should have a lot of seniors that year, and I'm talking star seniors, including: Andrew Maxwell, Le'Veon Bell, Dion Sims, William Golston, Max Bullough, Denicos Allen, Darqueze Dennard, and many more.  MSU will also certainly have it's wide receiver issues resolved.  Thus, I think that MSU could end up being stronger that year than both UM and OSU, and that should be Dantonio's best year to win a national championship.

So, in essence, I think the football gods have given MSU two more years to consolidate the eliteness of the football program.  During that time, MSU should be able to capitalize on its success and should be able to start competing for top recruits - not that the recruits MSU is getting now are chopped liver, but I mean that they should be able to win more recruiting battles.  By then, MSU should get several more guys drafted in the early rounds of the NFL.  We can already see how the success of guys like Jerel Worthy is starting to pay off on the recruiting trail - some top defensive tackles are looking at MSU.  That pay off should start to snowball over the next two years.

In short, if MSU does what I think it can do over the next two years, we don't need to worry about the rise of UM and OSU.  By 2015, MSU's status as an elite program could be pretty consolidated.

Recruiting 2013: Jon Reschke

Linebacker Jon Reschke (from Michigan) committed back in February, and he's generally regarded as the Spartan's top recruit, up to this point.  He's a consensus 4-star recruit to the all the recruiting services, and he has the highest score of all the Spartan recruits on 247's composite score (which combines the scores of all the recruiting sites).  He committed early and this likely explains why his only other offer at the recruiting sites is from Toledo.

Reschke has good size (6' 2" and over 220 lbs.) and athleticism (under 4.7 in the 40) for a linebacker.  His video pretty much confirms those numbers:

He shows pretty good instincts, speed, relentlessness, and the ability to shed blockers.  The obvious expectation is that Reschke will take over for Max Bullough in a couple of years.  I would say that looks very likely.  Check out what Bullough looked like in high school.  There are clearly a lot of physical similarities between these two.  I just hope Reschke has the same kind of leadership and intelligence.  And according to several things I've read about him, his intelligence is one of his best traits.

Upshot: Reschke looks set to keep the middle linebacker position solid for the Spartans, for years to come.  But as good as Reschke looks to  be, I really hope Bullough comes back for his senior year.  I don't see a clear replacement for Bullough on the current roster, and Reschke likely won't be ready to excel at middle linebacker until at least his sophomore year.

Recruiting 2013: Jalyn Powell

I have a lot of catching up to do, including reports on 2013 commits.  I'll get to them in the order they committed.  Safety Jalyn Powell was the first commit, so I'll start with him.

Powell is considered a 3-star recruit by all the recruiting services except ESPN, which has him at 4 stars.  His only other significant offer was from West Virginia, but this likely is a reflection of his early commitment.  He is listed as a safety recruit and he has good size (6' 1" and 185 lbs) for that position.  As for his athleticism, there is a little uncertainty.  Only ESPN has a time for him in the 40-meter run, listing him at 4.82.  That would pretty slow for a safety.  His highlight video, however, suggests he's much faster than that.

The quality of the video is pretty shoddy, but there are some moments where he makes some Forrest Gump kind of plays, where he looks like the fastest guy on the field, by far.  That tells me that he's way faster than 4.82 in the 40.  You can also see that he is a solid tackler.  He finds the ball well, delivers some solid hits, and even sheds blockers pretty well.  These things make me think that Powell could end up as a linebacker, eventually.  He would need to gain about 25 pounds, but he should have plenty of time to do that.  Otherwise, you don't get to see him do much in the secondary, so we can't really see what kind of instincts he has for that position.

Upshot: Powell has the potential to play several positions.  He has the athleticism to be a safety or a receiver.  He also shows the instincts and ability to play linebacker - man, he could be a really athletic linebacker (perhaps even more athletic than Denicos Allen).  Whatever he ends up playing, Powell looks like an excellent pickup for MSU.

New Roster, Good News

The new roster is out, and it includes the 2012 recruits.  It looks like there are 26 freshmen, including all 21 of the scholarship recruits.  Of particular interest, it looks like star receiver Aaron Burbridge and Jr. College tight end Jamare Mills were able to address their academic issues.  Now we can talk about their potential contributions without qualifications.  This does show that Dantonio and the coaches do an excellent job of finding talented guys that will make it to campus.  Many of the programs that rank high in recruiting actually end up losing some recruits.

Thoughts on Depth Chart

Of course, the depth chart came out last week.  Many things have already been written about it, so I'll keep my thoughts short.  Here are some things that stood out to me:

- Tyler Hoover got bigger!  He is now listed as weighing 310, which I think is at least 20 pounds heavier than he was for the Spring game.  I'm excited to see if Hoover and Kittredge will be an improvement over last year's defensive tackles: Pickelman and Strayhorn.

- Keith Mumphery is listed as a starter at receiver.  At the end of last year I thought Bennie Fowler and Tony Lippett would have the first crack at starting.  

- Andre Sims is "tied" with DeAnthony Arnett.  Sims could turn out to be one of those diamonds in the rough.  He was the only receiver at the Spring game that was consistently getting open, and he caught just about everything thrown his way.

- Skyler Burkland is a backup.  Burkland could still be recovering from his leg injury or France and Fonoti could just be very good.  We'll see if he can crack the starting lineup in camp.  In any case, the OT position looks good for the Spartans.

- Taiwan Jones received a lot of hype last year, but he is now listed as third for STAR linebacker, behind Chris Norman and Darrien Harris.  I'm hoping that's because Harris is so good, rather than because Jones regressed.  Could Harris be another one of Dantonio's great finds?

- Will the arrival of the true freshmen change the depth chart?  On defense, I suspect the answer is no.  The Spartans are way too deep on D.  Maybe the highly rated safety, Demetrious Cox, will have a shot as the season progresses.  On offense, as Dantonio has mentioned, the freshmen receivers and tight ends will have a good shot at earning some playing time.  I would put my money on Aaron Burbridge and Jamare Mills.  I also wouldn't be surprised if some of the speedsters (guys like MacGarrett Kings and Nick Tompkins) got to run some plays to the outside of the tackles.  I think offensive coordinator Dan Roushar has a preference for running to the outside.  That preference actually cost them the Nebraska game, in my opinion, because MSU didn't quite have the speed to run outside the tackles against Nebraska (particularly against their outside linebacker Levonte David).  Kings and Tompkins may actually have the speed to successfully run to the outside against speedier defenses and thus I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches decided not to redshirt them.