WATCH: Michigan State tight ends review quarterbacks’ Spotify playlist in the Battle of the Aux

The Battle of the Aux rages on.

The Battle of the Aux rages on within the (virtual) walls of Michigan State football.

Last week (and for a primer on what the hell I’m writing about) the offensive and defensive lines–dubbed “Juice Squad” and “A.W.O.L” (Animals Without a Leash) respectively–battled it out by putting together Spotify playlists to represent the position groups. Then they reviewed each others’ playlists and fans were able to vote on the winner. The defensive line won that first matchup going away.

This week the battle rages on with the “Gunslingers” going up against “The Arsenal.” Gunslingers are of course the QBs and The Arsenal is the tight end group. (I’m quite enjoying that each position group at MSU has its own nickname.)

Today the tight ends reviewed the QBs’ playlist and overall had pretty positive remarks.

A fan poll will be posted on Friday and that will decide which position group will take the win.

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Three-star safety Gabe Nealy de-commits from Michigan State

Michigan State’s 2021 recruiting class now sits at 11 players.

It’s going to be a really weird recruiting year, so strap in.

After a blazing month of April on the recruiting trail, Michigan State and Mel Tucker have their first setback with three-star defensive back Gabe Nealy rescinding his commitment to the Spartans.

Speculation had been abound in the last week regarding the Miami product, who was one of the more outspoken and excited member’s of MSU’s 2021 recruiting class. Nealy–as prospects sometimes do–changed his social media pictures away from him in Michigan State gear and started tweeting social media graphics from other schools.

Crootin’.

Michigan State’s class is now down to 11 players. Three of those 11 still defensive backs. Prior to Nealy’s removal the class was ranked 31st in the country.

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Michigan State football position group breakdown: running backs

What we know and don’t know about Michigan State’s running back room.

The point of this series of blog posts is pretty straight forward; to examine what we do and don’t know about each position group on the Michigan State football team.

It may seem hard to believe, but the college football season is–currently–scheduled to kick off in about three months. Time flies when you’re stuck inside. Whether or not Michigan State and the rest of the country play football this fall, or what that football looks like, is a conversation for another day. Today I want to start taking a deeper look at each position group on the team, broken down by what we know and what we don’t know. These will continue throughout the next couple of weeks until all of the positions are covered. Today: The running backs.

What we know

Elijah Collins is good at football. Bold, I know. After breaking out as a redshirt freshman, Collins’ job seems as safe as anybody’s on the team. A well-rounded runner, Collins should be prepared for another 200+ carry season. RB1 is a spot MSU fans should feel good about.

Anthony Williams Jr. can be an effective change-of-pace back. MSU fans should also feel pretty good about RB1B. That’s a confusing acronym. Anthony Williams Jr. should see plenty of touches this year. Weird injuries and ailments hampered Williams at the start of the 2019 season, but when used correctly he was effective. I think of the Pinstripe Bowl where he had seven touches for 42 yards. He was lined up in different spots and given the ball in ways other than a traditional handoff. He can catch and shake in the open field and is an excellent compliment to Collins.

Brandon Wright is still a mystery. Wright burned his redshirt last year somewhat controversially and ended up with only 18 carries in his six games. Now he’s aligned with Collins and Williams in terms of years of eligibility and sits third in the depth chart. We know he was a productive high school back and pretty well thought of as a recruit. We just don’t know much more than that.

Connor Heyward is back. After losing the starting running back job to Collins, Heyward announced his intention to transfer and left the team. Well, he has withdrawn from the portal and is back in the green and white. We know Heyward struggled at times as a traditional running back, but his abilities as a receiver mean he should be able to find a role on this team.

Jordon Simmons could play right away. MSU brings in two true freshmen at running back for 2020 and Simmons is the more highly-touted of the two. The Georgia running back had offers from Georgia, Florida, FSU, Arkansas, LSU, Michigan, and Oregon among many others. He’s a speed guy that could provide an explosive element the MSU offense has been missing for a long time.

Donovan Eaglin should take some time. Eaglin is kind of on the opposite end of the incoming freshmen spectrum when it comes to recruiting. Michigan State was his only FBS offer out of high school before Ok. Note, that’s not power five, that’s FBS. Eaglin chose MSU over offers from FCS Lamar and Eastern Illinois. Oklahoma State was also in the mix, but it isn’t clear if they offered him a scholarship.Still, there must have been something there for the previous regime to feel Eaglin deserved a Big Ten scholarship. A lot of people around Eaglin have very positive things to say about him. My best guess is that Eaglin will need some developing before we see him.

What we don’t know

What is Elijah Collins’ ceiling? Collins was definitely good as a redshirt freshman, but there is room for improvement. He can get better as a receiver and still has gains to make in his size, strength, and speed. Collins is a natural running back, but an offseason of improvement on his physical abilities could make him go from a good college back to the very best in the Big Ten. MSU will need him to carry additional weight this year as it breaks in a new quarterback in a new scheme.

Can Anthony Williams Jr. be consistent? Williams’ flashes are certainly exciting, but they were just that; flashes. The screen pass he caught in the 2019 spring game is still one of the standout plays from him at MSU and that’s not great after a full season of action. We know the ability is there, we just need to see if more often in games. Does MSU’s new scheme help bring that out of him?

Where does Brandon Wright fit in the running back room? It might be difficult for Wright to carve out a role with MSU. He’s got two sophomores above him on the depth chart and will have at least one freshman really pushing him in Simmons. We just don’t know much about him at this point and he really could have used spring ball to establish himself. Having his redshirt burned for 18 carries makes his path to success at MSU all the more difficult. Fall camp is going to be massive for his future in East Lansing.

Is Connor Heyward a running back? I’m of the belief that Connor Heyward can be a very effective football player when used correctly. I’m also of the belief that he wasn’t used correctly at all in 2019. Heyward has tremendous hands and his big frame and ability as a receiver can make him a matchup problem for smaller or slower defenders. His best spot might just be as a fullback/H-back/hybrid tight end and that is a spot MSU sorely needs some depth.

Is Jordon Simmons ready to take D1 snaps? Simmons certainly comes to MSU with some hype and seemingly a skill that the Spartans could really use in his long speed. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be immediately ready. Running back is the position that true freshmen most commonly can find success in college, but it’s far from a sure thing. Is Simmons ready to step on the field day one as a home run hitter out of the back field? He’s got the skill set, but until he gets out there and plays, we just won’t know. It’s also going to be difficult for him to find many opportunities early, so he’s going to have to make the best of the few shots he gets.

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Michigan State football position group breakdown: Quarterbacks

What we know and don’t know about Michigan State’s impending quarterback competition.

The point of this series of blog posts is pretty straight forward; to examine what we do and don’t know about each position group on the Michigan State football team.

It may seem hard to believe, but the college football season is–currently–scheduled to kick off in about three months. Time flies when you’re stuck inside. Whether or not Michigan State and the rest of the country play football this fall, or what that football looks like, is a conversation for another day. Today I want to start taking a deeper look at each position group on the team, broken down by what we know and what we don’t know. These will continue throughout the next couple of weeks until all of the positions are covered. Today we start with everyone’s favorite group: the quarterbacks.

What we know

Rocky Lombardi has the most game experience in the group, although those performances were up-and-down. Lombardi stepped in for an injured Brian Lewerke in 2018 and had a nice debut performance in a win over Purdue. After that it was a lot of shuffling between the clearly-injured Lewerke and the not-ready Lombardi. It certainly didn’t help that the rest of the offense was injured and the scheme was more likely to be laughed at than studied. Lombardi has seen plenty of game action and there’s certainly value to that, even if some of it was downright dreadful.

Theo Day was a highly-touted recruit and has yet to get a real opportunity. Day, a four-star recruit in the class of 2018, is going into his redshirt sophomore season with three meaningful snaps under his belt. On the third of those three–against Penn State in 2019–Day called the wrong play and was summarily benched. A victim of Mark Dantonio’s unwillingness to try something new unless legitimate trust had been built, Day is in desperate need of real reps. Sometimes the timing just doesn’t work out and quarterbacks have to wait longer to get on the field. Day has waited his turn and now he has his first real chance at a starting job.

Payton Thorne is a dual-threat quarterback that impressed on scout team in 2019. Thorne wasn’t super highly-touted, but was impressive enough as a recruit that Michigan State felt they needed to poach him away from Western Michigan prior to signing day in 2019. As a true freshman Thorne was relegated to scout team duties where he reportedly made a good impression. Thorne might be the biggest beneficiary of the regime change, as he would have been a distant third to start the QB competition had Dantonio stuck around for another year.

Noah Kim is a true freshman that was a plan C option for MSU in 2019. He’ll need some time. Kim has talent, but there are reasons he only had three division one offers coming out of high school. He’s still very slight and has to work on some of the finer points of playing quarterback. But he’s a good, playmaking athlete with a strong arm and that’s a pretty good base. He’ll need to develop physically and from a technical standpoint before he sees the field and that’s totally fine and expected. True freshman QBs don’t often see the field in college and the ones who do are usually top-tier prospects. Kim isn’t that, so I don’t anticipate seeing him in 2020.

What we don’t know

A lot. I don’t have much to add here, other than quarterback is one of the position groups with the most uncertainty surrounding it going into 2020. That’s less than ideal. However, if a team is going to be figuring stuff out at QB for a season, the first year of a new coaching staff is probably the best time to do that. The team–and its quarterbacks–will probably be taking some lumps in 2020 and that’s just fine.

Has Rocky Lombardi improved as a passer? I’ve said before that a smart coach could build a really good college football offense around Rocky Lombardi’s abilities as a runner. He’s a big, powerful kid in the mold–“IN THE MOLD” IS NOT MAKING A DIRECT COMPARISON–of Tim Tebow. I want to repeat and clarify even more . . . Rocky Lombardi’s running style is similar to Tim Tebow’s. They’re more fullback than tailback. I think Lombardi could be very successful with a lot of power read/inverted veer type plays. (These are option plays in which the QB either hands off to a fast guy running outside or keeps it himself to run up the middle, hence the “inverted” veer. On typical options the running back goes up the middle and the QB runs to the outside.) That type of offense built around Lombardi would interest me. The question then becomes can he throw any better than the last time we saw him? Lombardi has a very strong arm that was completely uncontrolled in 2018. His mechanics looked refined in spring of 2019, but we never got to see if that was a meaningful change because he didn’t really play in the fall. If Lombardi is a more capable passer, with more accuracy and the ability to throw passes at different speeds, he could be a very effective quarterback in Jay Johnson’s system.

Will Theo Day get a real shot and does he fit the system? Day should at the very least get a shot to compete for the job. That’s something he hasn’t had yet at MSU. I wonder how his skillset meshes with what MSU wants to do on offense moving forward. Day seems like a decent athlete, but that’s a far cry from the more dual-threat guys MSU seems to covet these days. Johnson catered his system to the stiff-as-hell Steven Montez in Colorado in 2019, so there’s evidence that can be done. Is Day good enough to warrant that? With Montez Colorado had a multi-year starter going into his senior season. He was the only option. That’s not the case here. However, Day could be promising enough that MSU wants to build around him for the next two or three years. He’ll only be a redshirt sophomore in 2020 and there’s plenty of talent in him. If it doesn’t work out in his favor, Day might be the betting favorite of which of these four QBs will transfer after the 2020 season.

Is Payton Thorne secretly the best option? There’s a groundswell growing behind Payton Thorne as QB1 for 2020. Part of that must be attributed to the unknown factor. It’s the same as a prospect in baseball. The excitement of what could be far outweighs what the actuality is. Fans are excited about Thorne because they haven’t seen him be bad. But still, there are reasons to be enthusiastic about his potential. As mentioned above, he impressed in scout team work in 2019. His teammates and former coaches noted his ability to make plays with both his feet and arm. New offensive coordinator Jay Johnson said there were positives to take from his 2019 practice film. He’s also a redshirt freshman, which means he has the chance to learn on the fly for a season, take some lumps with the rest of the team, and then be ready to take off in 2021, not that anyone on the MSU staff would classify 2020 as a rebuilding year. Buuuut it is. Thorne may not be the best QB among the group once the season rolls around, but he may have the highest upside and that could be enough to win him the job.

What impact COVID-19 will have on the QB competition. Folks, I don’t know if you know this, but we’re in unprecedented times. Don’t believe me? Just turn on your TV and wait for the first set of commercials. CEO’s from Capital One, State Farm, and Burger King will be there to remind you just how unprecedented these times are. That said, COVID is obviously going to impact MSU’s QB competition. It already has with the cancelation of spring ball. The teams returning the most experience in 2020 will be the ones that can best withstand time apart due to the coronavirus. Michigan State lost a ton of experienced players, got a new head coach and most of a new coaching staff, and is breaking in a new quarterback this season. Big yikes. Does COVID cause the staff to be more conservative with their decision at QB? The thought pattern of “Well, Lombardi has at least played some college football so he should probably start,” is a plausible one. The other end of the spectrum is also plausible. “Hey, we’re going through a pandemic. This isn’t year one. This is year zero. Who the hell cares what happens this year? Let’s get all the young talent as many reps as we can and build for 2021,” could be the path forward as well. Given those two options, I think I prefer the second one. Is any reasonable Michigan State fan going to lose his or her mind if MSU plays a ton of young guys and goes 4-8 this season? The goal posts for success in Mel Tucker’s first season are going to be moving all over the place based on how COVID-19 plays out. Hell, there might not even be a season. I’d rather the new regime take some wild hacks hoping to hit a few home runs as opposed to aiming for singles and occasionally hitting a double. We will see if the QB competition reflects that.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Michigan State Football Director of Player Engagement Darien Harris joins the show

MSU Football’s Director of Player Engagement tells us about his new role and what it’s like around the program these days.

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Wil and Matt answer a couple of listener questions and then welcome in MSU football’s Director of Player Engagement Darien Harris to talk about his first couple of months working under Mel Tucker.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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Three Michigan State NBA Draft prospects ranked in CBS Sports top 100 prospects

Xavier Tillman, Cassius Winston, and Aaron Henry all appear in CBS Sports’ top 100 NBA Draft prospects rankings.

Michigan State has three current and former players entered in the NBA Draft right now and all of them are ranked in the top 100 of CBS Sports’ NBA prospects rankings.

Junior Xavier Tillman, who says he is 50/50 on whether to stay in the draft or return to school for his senior season, is the top-rated Spartan, coming in at No. 26 overall. This is right in line with many of Tillman’s projections, which usually have him slotted somewhere between Nos. 20 and 40 in the class.

Outgoing senior Cassius Winston is next on the list at No. 42. That would put Winston squarely in the middle of the second round and give him a good chance of making an NBA roster for the 2020-2021 season. Sophomore Aaron Henry is third among the Spartans coming in at No. 62. That would slot him just outside of the 60 players that get drafted, but would likely leave him as one of the top undrafted players.

Also of note to MSU fans is Karim Mane, who appears on the list at No. 77. The Canadian high schooler is MSU’s top recruit target left on the board and will be deciding between turning pro or going to college. If Mane goes to college, Michigan State is thought to be the leader in landing him.

The deadline for Tillman and Henry to withdraw from the draft and retain their eligibility to return to MSU was initially scheduled for June 3, but the NCAA moved back the deadline indefinitely amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Travis Trice on his MSU and professional career

The former MSU star dishes on his early years at MSU and the struggles of playing ball internationally

Wil is out. Matt is joined bu former MSU point guard Travis Trice to discuss some of his time at Michigan State and what it is like to play professionally overseas.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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Mel Tucker hosting Instagram live chat with former Jacksonville Jaguar Maurice Jones-Drew

MSU’s head coach is hosting his second live talk dubbed “Tucker Talks” today at 3 PM.

Tucker Talks is back.

Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker has been making steady use of social media since taking over in East Lansing. Two weeks ago he held a Q&A session on Instagram live entitled “Tucker Talks” and today will be round two of what looks like it could be a recurring event.

Tucker will be talking with former Jacksonville Jaguars running back and the 2011 NFL rushing leader Maurice Jones-Drew. The chat will start at 3 PM on Tucker’s Instagram page. Tucker was the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville from 2009-2012. He was also the interim head coach for five games in 2011–Jones-Drew’s best season.

Tucker has been a constant presence on Twitter and Instagram in his three months as head man of the MSU football program. He often interacts with fans, answers questions, and sends out behind the scenes pictures of him and his staff.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Biggest ‘What if?’ moments of the Tom Izzo era with Andy Isaac

UPROXX’s Andy Isaac joins the show to discuss turning points of MSU hoops the last two and a half decades.

Matt and Andy Isaac of UPROXX discuss their biggest “What if?” moments of the Tom Izzo era.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast – Karim Mane, Mac McClung, NBA Draft deadline

Wil is BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

Wil is BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK. He and Matt talk about the NCAA moving the deadline back for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA Draft, the latest on Karim Mane, and a hypothetical recruiting question.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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