Locked On Spartans Podcast: Kenny Willekes joins to rewatch the 2017 win over Michigan

Kenny Willekes joins the show to talk about his NFL Draft prep and to rewatch MSU’s 2017 win over Michigan.

Wil and Matt are joined by Kenny Willekes as he preps for the NFL Draft. They talk bout Michigan State’s road win over No. 7 Michigan in 2017.

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

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A look at the potential timing for college football being played on time this season

If college football is to be played this season, here’s what the timeline could look like.

The COVID-19 pandemic has tossed a giant wrench into the entire world. Across Earth countries have been shuttering their doors and battening down the hatches to combat the deadly virus. With that, sports has fallen by the wayside in a big way, including here in America. Many fans, coaches, administrators, and analysts are now wondering whether the fall sports schedule could be in jeopardy. ESPN’s top college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit made headlines last week when he said he’d be “shocked” if there was a college football season. At this point it seems futile to predict anything, with how quickly numbers change relative to people infected, mortality rate, the economy, etc. But if college football is to return in any form this fall, time is of the essence. So that begs the question, what might a timeline look like for a plausible return? It will require an extended period of time in which the athletes are safely able to be on campus in larger groups, preferably before the end of summer.

Keep in mind as you read on, none of this is any sort of prediction, and–as has been said a billion times in the last month–this is a very fluid situation.

Today Michigan State announced that the first session of their summer classes would be held entirely online, as well as classes that run the full summer. For informational purposes, summer classes at Michigan State fall into two categories. Full summer classes are similar to fall and winter semester classes in that a student takes X amount of hours of schooling over an extended period of time. There are also shorter session classes. In the shorter session a student goes to classes for longer periods of time over a shorter time frame. Essentially a full semester class gets crammed into a six-week block. There are two summer sessions at Michigan State. The first starts May 11 and ends June 25. The second starts June 29 and ends August 13.

Why does this matter?

Well, football players need to be on campus, practicing and training, in order for there to be a season. It’s impossible for an all clear to be given in the middle of August and for games to kick off two weeks later.

The Athletic’s Audrey Snyder spoke with Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour about how much timing football players would need before games can be played. Barbour surmised that the athletes would need about two months.

This is obviously not a hard and fast rule. Would 50 days suffice? Probably. The fact of the matter is, there needs to be an extended period of all clear.

Let’s circle back to Michigan State’s academic calendar. With summer session one being entirely online, it’s fair to assume football players won’t be allowed back on campus to train in that time period. Could they if things improve drastically with COVID-19? Sure. I suppose there is a timeline in which two months from now athletes are allowed to begin training in groups on college campuses at the beginning of June. In the more likely scenario that athletes aren’t summoned back to campus prior to that, that brings us to June 25, when summer session one ends.

Summer session two begins just four days later on June 29. If that session were to be fully online as well, that would seemingly mean we are headed for a delay in college football. This is when the 60 days Barbour alludes to come into play, because 60 days from June 29 is August 28. The very first college football games in the 2020 season are scheduled for August 29. Michigan State starts its season on September 5–the day the majority of college football teams play their first games. That is a very tidy timeline and probably represents something close to a best-case scenario. However that doesn’t leave much time for error. Students would have to be welcomed back to campus for the start of the second summer session at the end of June. Whether that is even a remotely realistic scenario will be determined by health experts across the country over the next two months.

Now, there aren’t any hard and fast rules when it comes to any of this. Uncharted territory doesn’t begin to come close to describing where college sports are at the moment. Even if regular students aren’t permitted to be on campus, could an exemption be made for college athletes in revenue sports, understanding their importance to the fiscal maintenance of the university? Possibly, but that would require extensive safety measures and testing as a start. Is that worth the liability of players or coaches getting sick or dying in the name of having a football season? Obviously not, but how likely is it that a player or coach will get sick? How much can prevention keep them from getting sick? Is there a treatment for the disease by the summer? Does the summer heat slow the spread of the disease? These are all theoretical questions that are going to have to be answered if there’s any shot of football returning this fall.

Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel spoke with college athletic directors about this very issue. Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich told him,“With school not in session, I don’t believe it is practical or proper to have intercollegiate athletics.”

It would be best if society and its pillars were able to just press pause on the world in order to focus fully on combatting COVID-19, but that’s just not how the world works, especially the world of college athletics. Athletic departments are already dealing with budget issues due to the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament. Non-revenue programs have been put on hold, coaches and administrators have taken reductions in salaries or lost jobs altogether. Imagine the hit college athletic departments will take without football bringing in tens of millions (and in some cases more than $100 million) of dollars in revenue. Administrators will be doing whatever they can to get in a college football season. Full stop.

Add in that millions of us ordinary folks are going to be absolutely dying for college football to return and bring us any sense of normalcy. There will be a lot of pressure to get a season in.

As it sites right now, the next domino to fall–so to speak–is the start of summer session two. Does Michigan State allow students back on campus to begin classes on June 29? If they do, you can bet football players are going to be among the groups heading back to campus, with an extended fall camp leading up to kickoff by the end of August, just in time to save us all from and endless summer of boredom. But if that doesn’t happen, and Michigan State and other schools close their doors for the entire summer and hint towards reopening to start in the fall, then college football could be in major trouble.

There are many factors at play (fluid situation!!) and with new COVID-19 information changing opinions and strategies on a daily basis, who the hell really knows where we will be in two days let alone two months? But if college football is to be played on time this season, the athletes need to be cleared to return to campus for an extended period of time. Even though kickoff is not for five months, college football is in a race against time.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Michigan State football mishmash

Going through a bunch of random Michigan State football news

Matt is sick and tired of all these NCAA Tournament bracket simulations. Then he and Wil go through a bunch of MSU football news.

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

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WATCH: MSU football releases hype video aimed at high school recruits

“We are building the future. All that is needed is you.”

The new Michigan State football program has been defined by one word: Relentless.

Along with being the go-to hashtag for Mel Tucker and co. since the new head coach’s arrival in East Lansing, relentless also describes the programs new attitude towards recruiting and using social media in that way.

Today the MSU football Twitter account released a hype video geared towards potential recruits. Check it out.

While the Dantonio regime certainly was doing some of this type of thing, it has been evident from anyone following that times are different with Tucker at the helm and recruiting has been thrust into the forefront; a place it hasn’t been at in East Lansing in a very long time.

Will it pay dividends and ultimately lead to wins? Who knows. But if it doesn’t it certainly won’t be for lack of effort.

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Michigan State’s 1979 national title game to air three times on March 31 on Big Ten Network

Watch Magic’s Spartans defeat Larry Bird’s Sycamores on Tuesday, March 31

If you’ve never seen Michigan State win its first ever national championship in men’s basketball, now is your chance.

The Big Ten Network will be airing the 1979 National Championship game three times on Tuesday March 31. Magic Johnson’s squad taking down Larry Bird’s Indiana State team will be shown at Noon, 4 PM, and 8 PM, according to BTN.

The official Michigan State Basketball Twitter account will also be jumping into the rewatch, asking fans which game for everyone to watch together. So far 8 PM is leading the vote by a wide margin. It’s fair to guess the MSU hoops account will be posting some fun pictures and videos during the 8 PM airing of the game.

Michigan State beat Indiana State 75-64 to win the 1979 national title. It was the first of many Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird showdowns across the history of basketball. At the time it was the most-watched game in the history of basketball.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Sporting events draft, sad things to do during quarantine

Choosing our favorite sporting events of the year and taking some listener questions.

Wil and Matt draft their favorite sporting events then take some listener questions on the saddest things they’ve done during quarantine and Cassius Winston’s jersey retirement.

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

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Former Michigan State quarterback Brian Hoyer signs with the New England Patriots

Hoyer is back with New England for the third time in his NFL career.

Brian Hoyer is back where it all began . . . again.

The former Michigan State signal caller has signed with the New England Patriots according to Jim McBride of the Boston Globe.

It will be Hoyer’s third stint with the Patriots after signing with the franchise as an undrafted rookie in 2009. Hoyer previously served as backup to former Patriot quarterback Tom Brady from 2009-2011 and 2078-2018. Hoyer never started a game in New England during his time there.

Hoyer was released by the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday after spending just one year with the team. He has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Chicago Bears, and the San Francisco 49ers during his 11-year NFL career.

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Michigan State forward Xavier Tillman Sr. a first-rounder in latest SB Nation NBA mock draft

Tillman is projected to go 28th overall to the Toronto Raptors.

It’s offseason time in college basketball and that means–despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic–its mock draft season.

Michigan State junior Xavier Tillman Sr. has an NBA decision to make this offseason, and–by the looks of one mock draft–he might not really have much of a decision. Tillman is projected to get drafted 28th overall to the Toronto Raptors in SB Nation’s latest mock draft.

Of Tillman, author Ricky O’Donnell writes, “Tillman might have been the most impactful player in college basketball over the last season and a half. Michigan State took off when he replaced Nick Ward in the Spartan lineup as a sophomore. In a full-time role as a junior, all Tillman did was lead college basketball in box score plus-minus by anchoring Tom Izzo’s defense and acting as an indispensable part of its offense. A 6’8, 245-pound center, Tillman is neither the biggest or the fastest frontcourt prospect in this draft, but he might be the smartest. He always seems to know where to be and never wastes his movement. Known for his shot-blocking and rebounding, Tillman also finished in the 88th percentile of points per possession on offense.”

As a borderline first-round prospect, getting picked in the top 30 would be huge for Tillman–who is married and has two children. The financial implications between a first round and second round pick in the NBA are quite large.

In the NBA first round picks get two-year deals guaranteed with team options for an additional two years. Last year’s 28th pick, Michigan’s Jordan Poole, will make $4 million over the next two years and two team options could bring his deal to more than $10 million. Usually teams will play out their team options and then determine whether or not to sign the player to an extension or risk losing them to free agency. For example, Pascal Siakam, the 27th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, played his first three years on his rookie deal. Toronto, to avoid him entering restricted free agency, signed Siakam to a four-year $130 million extension. Being a first round pick gives a player that leverage to get a deal done with the team that drafted him. Those guarantees and longer deals don’t exist for all second round picks. Some of the top second-round players will get guaranteed money, but they are not required to like first rounders.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA is still seeking applications for their Undergraduate Advisory Committee. This is the group that provides NBA feedback on an undergraduate college player’s professional potential. Tillman will almost certainly submit his name for advisory and I’d expect Aaron Henry and perhaps Joey Hauser to as well, just to get a feel for where their stock is. Cassius Winston did so last season, but opted to return to Michigan State for his senior season.

There is no word on what the NBA Draft process and timeline will be due to the coronavirus.

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March is for brackets: Picking our favorite Michigan State Spartans of all time

You nominated ’em, now it’s time to see the bracket for your favorite Michigan State Spartans of all time.

Putting non-college basketball items in a 64-team bracket around mid-March has for years been the most clichéd post in the world of writing on the internet. Think of a topic and it has surely already been breacketized a million different ways. Movies? Yup. TV shows? Yup. Saturday Night Live cast members. That was an eventful one. Fast food? Yep, and its always a disaster. Pop culture bracket posts lacks any sense of creativity. It is a concept worn so thin that it is practically translucent. A slight gust of wind risks ripping the genre apart.

But dammit this year is different. We need brackets. Oh, do we ever need brackets.

With the cancellation of all of sports for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus pandemic, we all need something sports in our lives. And we’ll take anything whether its professional darts or ninth division Argentinian soccer. (They call it fútbol) I, for one, clamored for a rumored NCAA Tournament bracket put together by the selection committee; a last bit of false hope in a cold, dark March. Alas, that bracket would never come to be and my false hope could not even muster the energy the get its face out of the March mud.

So we need sports. Or something like sports. For now, this is my offering, and it’ll have to do. It’s a 64-person bracket of some of the most beloved Michigan State Spartans of all time. The goal: To name our favorite Spartan ever. The nominees were solicited on social media. Everybody in this bracket comes from that nomination process. Ranking the names started with some obvious top seeds and funneled down based loosely upon number of nominations. At a certain point, probably the five seeds, there are very little margins between nominees. This is all to say; I don’t give a single damn about your complaints about the seeding. It almost couldn’t be more unscientific and good god we’ve got a pandemic going on outside quit complaining about stupid stuff! (Just kidding, you can get mad about this if it makes you feel better. Maybe that will lead to you staying inside and typing angry things at me instead of going out to a crowded bar or something. I’m happy to play my part in the pursuit of better public health.) And if your favorite Spartan get left off the list . . . I’m sorry. You should have followed me on Twitter and nominated them.

Today is the bracket reveal. Voting will start will individual regions tomorrow.

Without much further ado . . .  here is the bracket!

Locked On Spartans Podcast: This sucks, but we’re going to be OK

Reacting to the news that sports are shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic

Wil and Matt talk about sports shutting down amid the coronavirus pandemic. Plus, plans for the show over the next month.

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

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