Langford & Lippett Come Full Circle In Final Game
12/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist | @GrinzOnGreen
DALLAS - It makes sense that Jeremy Langford and Tony Lippett's careers would be mirror images of one another.
After all, they've been sharing the same bathroom mirror for the last five years. The L&L combination formed for the first time when Langford and Lippett were teammates on the East squad in the 2010 Michigan High School All-Star Game. Langford was a running back out of Westland John Glenn and Lippett a wide receiver from Detroit Crockett.
While discussing each other's plans to attend Michigan State later that summer, they agreed to be roommates and have been ever since, as freshmen and sophomores at Case Hall and the last three years in an off-campus apartment.
Along the way, Langford and Lippett's relationship has followed a standard Hollywood plotline of one roommate assuming aspects of other's identity, except theirs isn't creepy - just eerily similar.
Both initially struggled to secure a position after redshirting as first-year players. Langford made it to the field in 2011 on special teams and as a defensive back, and in the spring of '12 was moved to wide receiver. Lippett began his Spartan career as a cornerback and earned honorable mention on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
Langford and Lippett settled in at their current positions, tailback and split end, as red-shirt sophomores in the fall of '12 and had breakout 1,422- and 613-yard performances, respectively, last season.
And going into the Goodyear Cotton Bowl against Baylor on New Year's Day, L&L boast one of nation's most productive households in college football as the Big Ten's only 1,000-yard run-and-catch tandem.
Langford has rushed for 1,360 yards and 19 touchdowns on 249 carries and Lippett has 1,124 yards and 11 TDs on 60 receptions. L&L are MSU's fifth 1,000-yard duo of all time and first since 2007 when Javon Ringer rushed for 1,447 and Devin Thomas caught for 1,260.
"I look at that and it's crazy how it turned out to be," Langford said at Monday's Cotton Bowl media session. "At one time we were both playing corner and now we're both having successful seasons. It's nice to look back at where we came from to where we are now and all the hard work we put in together, especially him.
"It's been great to watch how we grew over time from position changes to being the players we are today."
Michigan State's other 1,000-yard rushing-receiving pairs are: T.J. Duckett (1,420 rushing) and Charles Rogers (1,470 receiving) in 2001; Sedrick Irvin (1,167) and Plaxico Burress (1,013) in '98; and Blake Ezor (1,299) and Courtney Hawkins (1,080) in '89.
Meantime, only seven other schools in the nation feature like combos this season, although Baylor could join the list with running back Shock Linwood bringing 240 carries and 1,226 yards into the Cotton Bowl and wideout Corey Coleman needing just 31 receiving yards against the Spartans to reach 1,000.
Domestic tranquility in the L&L dwelling revolves around the fact that while fiercely competitive, Langford and Lippett are hardly an odd couple.
"I think we're both kind of the same," Lippett said. "We both like a clean environment so we both clean, but I think I clean a lot. He just cleans when something needs to be cleaned. But we've been cool since the East-West game before we got up here. We're co-kings of the apartment. We definitely push each other and we trash talk a lot because we're competitive with each other.
"Yesterday I saw him running the ball in practice. I was doing one-on-ones (receiving drill) and he ran up the middle. I was like, `OK, you've got a little burst, but you're still slow.' And we just kept going back and forth."
Because of the demands of being students and football players, neither spends much time in the kitchen. However, when they aren't eating meals at training table, Langford claims culinary superiority.
"I cook a lot and he can cook a little, but I don't remember what he cooks because it's been so long," Langford said. "I make spaghetti."
Reminded by an interviewer that just about anybody can prepare passable pasta, Langford said, "I also can make chicken parmigiana..., with spaghetti."
Their friendly rivalry spreads into other areas as well, especially while playing the Madden 2K video game.
"I think the whole team is competitive with that, but in our household we definitely go at it back and forth and will sit there and play 20 games of Madden," Lippett said. "He'll be thinking I'm just going to be passing the ball all the time because I'm a receiver, but my running backs are grinding out there. I keep it balanced, but he throws it, too."
Langford and Lippett also personify the balanced on-field attack that's been the bedrock of Mark Dantonio's offensive philosophy since he became Michigan State's head coach in 2007.
"It just says we have a versatile offense," Langford said. "You can't really key in on any one player because we have playmakers all over the field."
Lippett can tell how a defense hedges its scheme depending on whether the Spartans are moving the ball on the ground or through the air.
"We can run the ball and be a pound-green-pound team and we can throw the ball," Lippett said. "We have other receivers with touchdown catches and a lot of catches on the season so we've shown that we can spread the ball around, which means they can't target one person all the time.
"If they load the box to stop (Langford), I'll get one-on-one coverage more and not as many double-teams. He gets better as the game goes on and that's when I try to take advantage of what I'm facing and catch the ball. And when they bring out two or three players with eyes on me, that's two or three players not focused on the run game, which he loves. It feeds off each other. If they go this way, we'll go the other."
Michigan State's emergence this season as one of the Big Ten's most productive offenses in all three phases - rushing, passing and scoring - began with Lippett, Langford and quarterback Connor Cook a year earlier, recalled co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner.
With a home victory over Indiana in MSU's second conference game in hand, Lippett made a tough catch over the middle to signal an end to the receiving corps' epidemic of dropped passes that plagued them in '12. Meantime, Langford finished with 109 yards against the Hoosiers for his first of a school-record 15 consecutive 100-yard performances against Big Ten opponents.
"Looking back to the beginning of 2013 we weren't sure who our tailback was going to be," Warner said. "We went through the first three games rotating tailbacks and Langford was one of them, and through the first three games Lippett was just another guy out there and had some dropped balls.
"From that point on, we started catching everything. It started to become a confidence deal with Connor and our offensive line, and it snowballed."
While MSU strives for balance in every game, having two players reach grand milestones in the same season was more of a "happy development" than a stated goal, according to Warner.
"As we got this season going, it became obvious that Lippett was going to have a great year and we thought that 1,000-yard deal was within his reach," Warner said. "We didn't start playing for it, but we wanted to make sure he got it."
The accomplishment reflects on the program on and off the field.
"For our offense, it shows we're not a one-dimensional team and that we can spread the ball around," Warner said. "It certainly helps in recruiting because we can help people understand that we are a pro-style offense and we are going to be balanced. By having both of those guys out there, we've proven that."
Lippett has graced the apartment with his Big Ten Receiver of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten honors while Langford has had to settle with honorable mention accolades. But, he's satisfied with knowing he and his roommate have something no other league team, or more than 100 others nationally, were able to do this season.
"I guess after the season we'll look back on it as a great season for both of us," Langford said. "I feel it's hard to do for a receiver and a running back in the same season, so it will be a great accomplishment."
