Michigan State Football Spring Game
4/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 21, 2007
Head Coach Mark Dantonio
Opening Statement...
I thought it was a great crowd - I think there were about 25,000 which made for a great day. We split up our teams so they were a bit watered down, but every guy got to play - I think we had over 100 guys play today. I thought there was good hitting, but I was disappointed with the personal fouls; there were too many penalties. I liked what I saw in terms of Javon Ringer, though we only ran him for one quarter. We had some dropped passes, but I thought we executed well at other times against the run and had some nice individual efforts. There were also some good hits out there on the defensive side of the ball. I think we got accomplished what we wanted in the spring. We got out of the Spring Game with no injuries, and we were able to move forward. We set down concepts we wanted to use and just set down base stuff. We will concentrate on getting better in August, as well as getting ready for UAB.
On the offensive and defensive lines...
I think you have to come and play every single play, but you have to take it one play at a time. It is hard for me to say when I am standing behind the huddle watching things, but I thought pass protection was pretty efficient. I thought when we came on zone pressures we pressured the quarterback some, and eliminated some of the bad things. I thought the defensive line played hard, but I was disappointed we didn't play better on the White Team. I really felt that they had a little better personnel, but attitude is the difference and the Green Team came to play.
On if he accomplished what he wanted in the spring...
I think we are where we need to be. I think we have a good basis of what is going on, I think we have guys that are committed and are working on getting better. I think everyone has been part of the program and been able to show what they've got in the spring. Now we'll add 25 guys - our new freshmen - and give them the opportunity to show what they have. Then, we need to come together as a team for our first game.
On the play of the secondary and their adaptation to the press coverage...
We are playing well up there. We have four or five good cornerbacks; you didn't see any balls going over people's heads out there, so we competed. They are getting better and better each practice, and you only have 15 practices until you play your first game. We have a solid foundation, and we will move forward with that.
On the play ofredshirt freshman quarterback Connor Dixon...
I thought Connor played well today. So much of the quarterback position is game management, as well as taking a bad play and making it a good one. He handled the offense, he was good in the huddle, and he made some plays out there and I thought that was a positive. He showed a lot of poise playing in front of this crowd
On the penalties...
We have gone with referees every single day and I think this was the most penalties we've had. But, there are 25,000 people out here, and it is a little louder, and we are playing everybody, so there is more likelihood to take penalties. The biggest I was disappointed with was that we had a couple of personal foul penalties and we lost our composure. You have to be able to keep your poise and fight through adversity - that is what we have to do, and we will get there, we just have to continue to emphasize it.
On what he wanted to see out there that he didn't see today...
I don't think I can evaluate that right now, because I want to see us win a game and we haven't done that yet. I have seen us pass protect well, I have seen us pressure the passer, run the ball, seen us tackle well. I would like to see us be more consistent in the punting game, but out here today I though we did a good job in the punting game. I thought Ed Wagner did a great job. We put the clock on him, and allowed one guy to pressure every snap, which is more than most people do in a spring game. We tried to make it as realistic as we could. We didn't always do live kickoffs, but we have even done that this spring.
Junior Quarterback Brian Hoyer
On the team's attitude...
"Coach Dantonio has brought in a new kind of attitude, and everyone has kind of taken it in and embraced it. I feel like from an attitude standpoint this team has really turned around. Just people doing the right thing, and focusing on the little things. If you make one little mistake, they'll let you know about it. That's something I feel like we've missed here before. It's just a winning attitude - coming out expecting to compete and expecting to win."
On the team's progression through spring practice...
"I think we've made great strides forward, but we have a long way to go. This summer's going to be really big for us. It's about working hard, getting in shape, and getting focused."
Freshman Quarterback Connor Dixon
On how he helped himself during the game...
"I'm more comfortable in a game. It's kind of weird, but it's how I've always been, really. There's a long way to go for me to actually play here, but I'm still having fun today. I had a really good line today too, and that helps."
On the kind of spring he has had...
"I haven't been too pleased. I've been really hard on myself. I struggled a little bit - there were a lot of things thrown at me right away. Inconsistency was something I had, but hopefully it all comes together a little more like it did today."
Senior Tight End Kellen Davis...
On the game...
I think today was really good. It really tests you and we will watch this film and see how we play, which really matters for us.
The attitude change is big, because we're all about getting tough now, we're going to be aggressive, which I think should win us a lot of ball games. I also think people are working harder, people are doing a lot of different things for a lot of different reasons, and it feels better to work harder.
Junior safety Otis Wiley...
On the secondary...
We handled deep balls, and the short passes were handled well too. We did our part.
On the Defensive line...
They were `bringing it'. Both sides were going hard. The new defensive scheme felt good, and we were confident too. We were having fun, we were lining up, and were all doing our part today.
On defensive improvement...
Communication has been big. We weren't lacking communication, but we weren't doing it like we should. Today we were communicating in the back, getting our reads, and it felt really good as a team.
