Michigan State University Athletics
Dantonio Previews Spring Practice
3/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 28, 2011
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EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State head football coach Mark Dantonio met with the media Monday to preview spring practice, which begins Tuesday (March 29) for the defending Big Ten Champion Spartans.
In addition, the spring depth chart, spring roster and practice schedule were released during the press conference.
The following is a transcript of Monday's press conference:
COACH DANTONIO: To begin with, we came here in 2007, so going into our fifth year here is pretty amazing. For some of us it really seems like it's been a very short time, others maybe a long time.
Our goal when we came here was to become Big Ten Champs. That was our number one goal and to go to the Rose Bowl. We've been able to accomplish one of those goals this past year. Aside from that, we wanted to become a consistent winner, and again, win in this state. I think it's obvious that we've put an emphasis on that aspect of it.
So going into year five we've accomplished at least the one goal of a Big Ten Championship, four straight bowl games. We've been in the top 25 at the end of the year two of the (last) three (years).
But this continues to be a process in the things that we're trying to do here. That process begins, and I don't know if there is even an ending point in the process.
So publicly, before I do anything else, I want to thank the players and the people that have been responsible or helped be responsible for all the success we have had. And we've lost a tremendous group of players this past year. Even going back to 2007, '08 and '09, some very good players have gone through here and we've within fortunate to have those guys. They've helped us to get to where we are at this point.
Now we begin to prepare for the Rose Bowl. That's where we're at. I think the foundation has been laid. We've had enough success to be able to go into every single game thinking that we're going to win this football game or these are the things we have to do to be able to win.
When you look at our overall statistics and all the people that we've played against in the past four years and you look at certain aspects and certain players and teams that have been prominent in this league, I think our win/loss record with those people have been pretty good. So we'll start with that and build on that and move forward.
Winter conditioning is really the first phase of every football new year, I guess. So we've just completed that. I think in that (conditioning) period you look to, first of all, critique what you've done from a coaching standpoint. Visit other places, look to improve your program.
You want to rehab certain players that have had injuries, and you want to condition players. So we've had 14 of those (conditioning workouts), and I feel very, very good where we're at as a program coming out of that.
Spring ball is the next phase here, and really, to me, what you emphasize in spring football is technique, fundamentals. Obviously, we put a premium around here on effort, and toughness, and knowledge of the football game and what your specific responsibilities are.
So we want to gain experience with our young players, experiment with certain players offensively and defensively, and then execute. That execution should take place over the course of 15 practices.
When I played way back, my college coach always talked about getting 3 percent better each practice, and that's what we'll try to do. If we can operate at 3 percent better, we've got a chance to improve as players and as a football team. And that's what we've tried to do every spring. This is our fifth one, and it will be no different than that.
When you look at our football program last year, I think, why did we have success? What are we missing? Where are we losing some players? We have to look at the three elements. We start with special teams. We lose Aaron Bates.
But when you look at us as a special teams program, we were number one in the conference in punting, and we were number one in punt returns. If you say punting is the most important play of football, you can look at that dynamic and say we won two games specifically because of that. And that's again where we'll start.
Mike Sadler, and Kyle Selden battled for that position. Sadler was an outstanding punter in (high) school, and an outstanding recruit last year. We'll look for that competition to begin.
We need to find a snapper and a holder. Dan Conroy returns as our kicker. Again, another young man who was first team all-conference in his place kicking abilities; so, again, another aspect of special teams where we did very, very well.
You look around them, and we'll surround them with good, young players and really the nucleus of our return game and kickoff game and all the specialty players will be intact. So from that standpoint I think we're focused and ready to go.
Offensively, we return our quarterback Kirk Cousins for his third straight year as a starter. He's already MSU's career passing leader in efficiency. We look for him to lead this football team. And Andrew Maxwell has game experience under his belt, and will be an outstanding quarterback as well. Then Keith Nichol will play into that, as well as a third, while also being a wide receiver. So we have a good nucleus there of quarterbacks returning.
Offensive line, we'll rebuild a couple of positions there. But I think we have a nucleus of some outstanding players, and we have depth at that position. We have numbers at that position which is always so crucial. So the numbers are there to practice two, two and a half to three deep throughout the spring, and we're bringing in some outstanding players as well.
Wide receiver position we lose really one player in Mark Dell, and we return all the rest as well as getting some young players back who we red shirted Keith Mumphery, Tony Lippett in particular, and Bennie Fowler had an outstanding year, coupled with B.J. Cunningham, Keith Nichol (and Keshawn Martin).
Running backs we don't lose one player there. So we return all five of those guys, but the headline guys are obviously Edwin Baker, Larry Caper, and Le'Veon Bell. So we work with that.
Tight end situation should be also a position of depth for us as we return Garrett Celek in that position, along with some other players with experience.
Defensively, when you look at our defense, we lose our linebackers and two outstanding players. When you look at Greg (Jones), and you look at (Eric) ordon as well, you lose two outstanding players.
Then in our secondary, Marcus Hyde and Chris L. Rucker leave as well. But the nucleus of our front and our players in the linebacking group other than those individuals I just named, we really returned, and we should move forward on the defensive side of the ball as well.
So where we're at right now with (Brian) Linthicum and (Max) Bullough because I know that question will come up they will not practice the first two days of spring practice here. We have taken internal action as well, and they have missed time in addition to that.
So I'll leave it up for questions and that is probably the best way to go about these things and we'll move from there.
Q. I don't see Joel Foreman on the depth chart?
COACH DANTONIO: We've had, much like many programs, had some injuries that took place during the season, so Joel had wrist surgery, so he'll be out for the spring.
Q. Do you have specific things you want to accomplish? ... I'm thinking offensive line primarily.
COACH DANTONIO: We have to retool that position. We lose three players there. But I do think we have some guys that can play a variety of positions. We've moved Dan France over there, we've moved Blake Treadwell over there as well. Both those guys figure into the mix.
Where they end up and how they end up, will they play on the defensive side of the ball or offensive side of the ball remains to be seen. It will be determined as spring progresses.
But we'll give them at least two weeks into it to see if they're offensive linemen. We've got a couple of guys that are vying for the guard position. Ethan Ruhland is in there, Micajah Reynolds is in there a little bit.
We're going to see where some of our players who have been injured a little bit. Zach Hueter, we missed him last season, so we'll see how he comes this spring. So we've got some guys with some athletic ability that are playing into that guard, center box area. But we'll have to see how they're going to handle the situation.
I think that Chris McDonald is going to be solid in there. I think our right tackle right now is a little bit of how we're going to go about that will be a little bit of an experiment as well, as well as our left tackle.
But Skyler Schofner heads up that area (right tackle). He's a very, very talented young freshman. So we've got good pieces and we've got good players there. But we lack experience at that position. McGaha heads over to left tackle a little bit, see what he does. We'll have to see what happens on that.
Q. Is Henry Conway done playing then?
COACH DANTONIO: No, Henry Conway continues to move forward with his prognosis. But he's not able to practice this spring as of yet. So he'll not be here this spring, but hopefully he'll be able to play in August, and at that point in time we'll have to make probably the final determination.
But there is progress in his vertebrae. There is healing taking place. So that's a positive. He would be, I think, at risk at this point to play right now.
Q. I want to ask you about Dion Sims. He's on the depth chart. You've decided to reinstate him. Can you talk about that?
COACH DANTONIO: Yes, Dion we reinstated for spring ball, and based on what happens here in the future, much like many of our other players he'll remain in contention whether he's on this football team or not based on the future.
But at this point in time he's done everything we've asked him to do. He's had an excellent semester in school academically, and he's been compliant in every respect both in house and out of house.
Q. What would you like to see moving forward here in the future in the football program's relationship with the Downtown Coaches Club?
COACH DANTONIO: I think the Downtown Coaches have always had a positive relationship with our football department going back to when I was here before. So I know a lot of those people there, lot of good people.
But I think Mark Hollis has answered that question in detail last week, and I'll just stand by what he mentioned in his statement.
Q. Coming off of 11 wins and a record number of wins last year, do you notice a different attitude this year maybe with higher expectations with the success you've had?
COACH DANTONIO: I think higher expectations would be one notice. I think we also have to recognize that we're a young football team. When you look at our seniors across the board, we're more of really a sophomore, red shirt freshmen, than incoming freshmen team.
Our junior class is relatively small. Our senior class is relatively small. But we have good players and great leadership from those players, so that's a positive. But I think, as I said earlier, I think the foundation here has been set. And I think we need to rise and continue to rise the level of play.
I'm very excited about winning 11 games last year. Not too excited about the way we lost the two.
When you look at it, every program, I think, has the things that they weigh and can look at as positives and every program has things they need to continue to improve on. I think it needs to get to the point where we play against anybody, any place, and compete. We're very, very close to being able to do that.
Q. Can you go into how healthy B.J. Cunningham is, and how much you expect him to participate this spring?
COACH DANTONIO: He was one of the guys that rehabbed throughout the winter workout. Part of the phase of our program. This past week he was able to run a little bit. I think he'll be limited the first week, and then the second week he'll probably be able to go full go. That is our intention. So as long as that progress is moving forward, that's what we intend to do.
Q. I wanted to get your thoughts on the (Jim) Tressel matter at Ohio State right now as it pertains he's a good friend of yours. You have a Tressel (Mike) on your staff, and also the fact that one of the games he's suspended for involves you?
COACH DANTONIO: Like many people out there I was saddened by all of it. Again, I'm not qualified to speak on those things, really. But he remains a good friend of mine. He's a very good friend, and he's been very important in my life and in my progress as a coach and as a person. So we'll see what happens from there.
Q. Have you spoken to him?
COACH DANTONIO: Oh, yes, I have spoken to Coach Tressel.
Q. Are you surprised at how this whole thing came about? The fact that you know him as well as you do that he would put himself in this type of situation?
COACH DANTONIO: Well, I think that's why we have private conversations, really to be honest with you.
Q. How is William Gholston? How did he come through the winter and go into spring?
COACH DANTONIO: Another guy that's had to rehab. We took him off the field late fall so we could get him back for the spring. He will be functional throughout spring. I would say he's probably going to be at full strength probably the last three weeks of spring.
Initially we need to be careful with him, but he did go through winter conditioning, really probably 80 percent of it. So I think he's right where he needs to be, and right where we expected him to be at this point. But he's weighing 275 pounds. He should be a dominant player for us.
Q. You kind of touched on how many underclassmen you have. Particularly in the secondary you have a bunch of guys in the mix there. How much is that competition with all those guys there going to help them moving forward into the fall?
COACH DANTONIO: It should help. We returned Isaiah Lewis, Trenton Robinson comes back for (his) senior year. Johnny Adams will be in what amounts to his fourth year of playing for us. He started for us for three years. Darqueze Dennard's gotten a lot of play, as well as Isaiah. Jairus Jones played a lot of football for us, especially on special teams.
So those guys entered into it. I'm excited to watch some of our younger players, Mylan Hicks is one guy that will be interesting to watch. We redshirted him. Mitchell White had a good fall as well and played in and out of games and was a factor on special teams.
So we've got some guys coming. It will be very interesting to watch how some of our guys really handle this.
Tony Lippett I think is a guy that can play either side of the ball. And we'll play him on both sides of the ball this spring. I think he's too good of a football player to watch him as a wideout with our wideouts that are returning. If he can't get 50 plays a game or 40 plays a game, he's got to be playing some place that amount of time. So we'll work him both ways. Beginning with offense initially, but we'll work him on the defensive side of the ball probably the last three weeks of spring.
Q. How much of a bad taste with the bowl game was left in the kids' mouths? How much did you see that drive them here in the off season? Maybe not to rectify that right away, but the way the game ended and the way it drove them to get better in the off season?
COACH DANTONIO: Well, I think it certainly drives you. But at the same time I think our players want to also remember the success that we had, and the good things that are there and build on the good things as well.
In the back of their mind they want to make sure it doesn't happen again. But there are so many good things that happen in a football game. And sometimes it becomes an avalanche on you one way or the other.
I certainly think nobody forgets. But at the same time we want to focus on the positives and build it from the positive things as well. We'll focus on the things that allowed us to win the 11 games. Keep in mind that good things have happened. That we're not as far as we're going to come yet.
But we're sometimes sitting there saying we've come a long way, but how far have we come in reality because of the way things ended up as well? We can build on the things we've experienced this past year, no doubt about that.
Q. What are your feelings about playing at Nebraska this season?
COACH DANTONIO: I've had the opportunity to play there four times in my coaching year. Two times at the University of Kansas, I guess three times, and once here.
It's a great experience. I think they have a great environment, atmosphere to play in much like we do. It will be a challenge. They're out there, so you don't get a lot of visiting fans going out there as much. So basically the same thing will happen when they come here.
But it should be a great experience for our players. It's a great program, great tradition. Coach (Bo) Pelini is obviously a great coach, so it should be interesting.
Any time you enter into a situation for the first time, it's going to be very exciting, and that's what we expect. It will be a challenging October for us.
Q. Wanted to ask you about the fullback position and Todd Anderson. I know sometimes you do position switches and kind of try something out, but sometimes you think it's something that might stick. How do you look at him there? And also Hammock back on the other side (at linebacker)?
COACH DANTONIO: Well, first of all, Todd was a defensive end for us. Came here as a linebacker, had great ball skills. We moved him over there in the spring not the spring, in the winter during bowl practice -- just to experiment with him, anticipating a possible move this spring. We felt like he did a nice job, so we made that transition now to see where he's going to be at.
We lost a couple guys last year. We felt like we needed to do that to ensure that position a little bit from a depth perspective. TyQuan moves back over to linebacker. We asked him to move (to fullback) in the fall. He was 255 pounds at that time. He's got his weight back down to 230, 235. He's moving very well. If you look at a number of guys that have had great winter conditioning programs, I would say TyQuan Hammock did that. He is moving effectively. He was an outstanding player on special teams and shows the ability to strike people.
So we're looking forward to watching him this spring to see how he handles any one of the two linebacker positions because he's moving very, very effectively.
...
Q. In the broader scope of how important spring football is in shaping a season, does the season start now? How much was last year's spring responsible for the success you did have? I just wondered how important you think this month is?
COACH DANTONIO: I think every phase that you have is very, very important. Our winter conditioning phase is very important when you look back at '07, for example, also that ability to critique what you have as a coach.
Look at what you did, why you were successful, why you aren't successful. Look at each player as an individual, and each position group as a group. So all of these things are very, very important.
Spring practice gives you a chance to take some of those things and put them make it active. The next phase after that is really (our) Bottom Line conditioning program, which gets you ready in the summer. Fall camp is obviously very important, because you take your younger players and you're getting ready and fine tuning getting ready for games. Then you have your non conference games and your conference games.
So it's all very, very important. But spring practice, I think, is actually where you get to play the game. You get young players involved. And it gives people a chance to get ahead of the incoming freshmen.
I think it's very important that red-shirt freshmen guys that were behind a little bit to catch up and see where they're at. It breathes new life into a program. And everybody at this point in time spring ball all over America, they've got a positive outlook on it. They start to build things and build momentum. I think that's what we did last year.
But it came out of winter conditioning last year and that ball kept rolling and gathering momentum in practice. I think that's what we were able to do.
Q. I've heard from some of the fans that were disappointed in the headlines that came out of Colorado, and some of those players. Do you have anything you'd like to say to the fans regarding situations like that? I know there are players that should get good headlines off season as well. Is there anybody you'd like to mention in that vein?
COACH DANTONIO: Well, the fans were disappointed...much like myself, disappointed as well. But also you have to look deeper into the situation and evaluate the situation. I'm sure not all those fans were packed into Aspen.
So the only people that know what went on there were the individuals that were there, and the investigation that was after that. We've done the very best we can to look into this situation. But this is real life, real life situations. And you can't control other people sometimes, whether it be players or non players, and the actions they take as well.
Disappointed with it in as far as how we handled ourselves, beyond that scope I think we did the best we can. We challenged our players to react morally. We're doing good things in the community. We're constantly challenging our players to make good choices as individuals, whether that's academically, on the football field or off the football field.
We'll continue to do that and try to impact this community in a positive way. I know sometimes it seems like two players or one player out of 100 get in a problem, but we also want to focus on the 98 or 97 others that do an outstanding job here.
But just like society, there are going to be problems, and we recognize the fact that things are going to happen to you.
Q. In regards to the spring roster, the move to Blake Treadwell, is that something that will be re-evaluated at the end of spring or is that a permanent move?
COACH DANTONIO: We've got to continue to re-evaluate that as we go. We've had Micajah Reynolds on defense at one point. We've had Blake there for two years. He's been a starter for us. I would anticipate him being in the mix. If he's not in the mix, he'll probably play on the defensive side of the ball.
But he was an outstanding offensive lineman coming out of high school. We need to make sure we have guys that are athletic enough to play center, offensive guard. So we want to give that opportunity for him to get in that mix.
The same could be said for Dan France. He's a young man that's 305 pounds. He's athletic. He has three years of eligibility left. He played as well. So I think these are times that we need to experiment. So that's what we're trying to do here and see where we're at.
I think Blake will bring a tremendous amount of toughness and effort to our offensive line. So we'll see what happens, and now's the time to do that.
Q. Following up on your opening comments about the Rose Bowl. Because you have stressed that and put up carpet and signs of the Rose Bowl and that sort of thing. How is it different this time around because you guys were so close. Is there a change of emphasis?
COACH DANTONIO: You always anticipate winning every football game you play against. If you do that, you get to the Rose Bowl, hopefully. At least unless you get in a lot of ties, I don't know.
But I think the emphasis now is how much are we believing these things? Are we trying to put into action the words that we're talking about? We were very, very close last year, and some could put a question out there should we have gone, should we not have gone (to the Rose Bowl)? Didn't play well enough in our bowl game to warrant that question to be out there.
I think the reality is you're going into your fifth year. We've talked about this for four or five years, really from day one here. And you know, I think that's where we're at. I think that's where our program's at as a program.
We've tried to go to bowl games every year. The first year it was get to the bowl game. There was a great celebration at the end of that time. I don't know if you remember that, but, hey, we've been to a bowl game. At that point in time not many of our players had. The next step was going to the New Year's Day bowl game, which we did in '08.
Took a step back in '09. We had to deal with some issues and lost some close games. But I think we rebounded in '10, and there was a point when we were the number 5 rated team in the nation, warranted or not, that's where we were at.
So I think the thought process, as I said, we just continue with the process, whether we were 6 6 last year, whether we were 11 1 coming out of the season. I think the process has always been here and that we will always challenge ourselves to be the best as what we're doing, whether that's academically, athletically or off the field. We want to try to do our very best, and that's how we always set it up around here.
Q. Kevin Pickelman, is he another guy that's hurt?
COACH DANTONIO: Yeah, Kevin, we'll probably hold him out the majority of spring. He may practice near the end, but he has a neck injury right now, so we're holding him out. But he's an established player for us and an established starter.
Q. The other guy I want to ask about is Garrett Celek. How's he come being back from that shoulder injury?
COACH DANTONIO: Garrett's another young man, shoulder injury, lost him for the season. But he'll be back at full strength. While we didn't have him last year, we could have sort of hung in there with him, we made that decision that we'd rather have him now.
Q. I apologize if you already mentioned this, but Chris Norman, how's he doing? He's moving to sam linebacker and probably gives you some flexibility there?
COACH DANTONIO: Yeah, Chris is a young man rehabbing coming out of winter conditioning. He was able to go through the majority of it but from a conditioning standpoint and contact standpoint, he's going to be limited this spring as well because of his elbow surgery following the bowl game.
But he's a proven player, and he'll take some reps as spring progresses. I don't know if he'll be in the spring game, but it will depend on what the next four weeks or so look like for him in the rehab.
Q. How concerned are you at right tackle (Skyler Schofner and then Dan France on the depth chart)? And how has Schofner developed over the past year?
COACH DANTONIO: I think when you play young players, there's going to be a concern for you. We have young players slated in there, but we also have guys with experience that we can move around.
We need to get guys reps. Skyler Schofner had an outstanding freshman year, and he's everything you want as an offensive tackle. He's 6'6", 310 pounds, he's very active; he's got toughness; he's got great feet; he's extremely athletic. So we're going to give him the opportunity right from the outset and we'll build it from there.
There are going to be mistakes and we'll have to rebuild things. But I think Coach Roushar and our offensive staff will be prepared to do that. Coach Staten as well, our offensive line coach. And I think that he has a tremendous upside, so that's where we wanted to start with him.
Q. Like you said, (Jared) McGaha was playing over there. You could move him there. How close is (David) Barrent to him at left tackle at this point?
COACH DANTONIO: I would say relatively close, but David is a red shirt freshman going into his third year now of being here. So he's getting to a point where he should be ready to play. This will be a big spring for him. So he'll have to establish himself in the spring.
But as I said before, there are some other guys that can move out there. Reynolds can move out there. And for Travis Jackson to have a great spring, we've got four guys listed at center, really. When you look at that, somebody's going to fall out of there into a guard situation.
Nate Klatt's a very good football player. He could be a center or an offensive guard. He shows toughness. I think Travis Jackson, as I said a minute ago, has had a tremendous winter conditioning program as well as an outstanding fall camp as well. Very athletic, intelligent, tough. So we've got some guys in there that show the ability to play.
Zach Hueter, if can he stay healthy, figures to be in the mix as well, very good athlete, 320 pounds.
Q. Last year you had mentioned the possibility of playing in the spring game against another opponent. Have you thought anymore about that? Did you want to talk about that?
COACH DANTONIO: No, I haven't thought about it at all. But you can see you get a lot of guys injured, and things become very, very thin. At some point in time because it will be a money maker, it will happen. When people look at dollars and cents at some point in time 10 years from now or whatever.
But I just think that where most programs are, if you take 10 players out of the mix, and you lose your seniors, so you're dealing with 55 or 65 man roster. Say a 65 man roster through the spring (with) scholarship players, it becomes more difficult to have a spring game.
We've continued to have it, and we'll have it again. But you've got some guys who you're trying to figure out two teams to play against each other, so it gets watered down a little bit.
But I'm sure that people would like to gain experience for young freshmen who have never played in a game environment. But that's not for me to make those decisions. I see it happening at some point. I think coaches would be in favor of it, because for some people it would generate a lot of money for their program.
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