Michigan State University Athletics
BTN Football Tour Visits East Lansing
8/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The BTN Football Tour hit East Lansing Tuesday on its seventh stop to shoot footage and interviews for Tuesday night's episode of BTN Live. The daily, 60-minute show, which airs weeknights from 6-7 p.m., will devote a majority of its programming on Tuesday with coverage from Michigan State's practice. The show will re-air at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The show will check in with reports on practice from Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith, who will provide on-the-field analysis of MSU's top newcomers, rising stars, important position battles and 2015 schedule.
The show will give an inside look at a Spartan practice and also includes interviews with head coach Mark Dantonio, assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett, co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Mike Tressel, co-offensive coordinator/running backs coach Dave Warner, senior quarterback Connor Cook and senior defensive end Shilique Calhoun. In addition, BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart caught up with co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Jim Bollman and junior offensive tackle Jack Conklin.
DiNardo came away impressed with the Spartans following practice.
"Well, it's one of the best teams in the country," he said. "I haven't seen all the teams in the country, but I couldn't imagine there are a lot that are this good or better. You know, for me, it's big picture. We are going into our ninth year at the network, (head coach) Mark (Dantonio) is going into his ninth year, and this is a template at how to build a program. If a coach wants to learn how to build a program, they need to come here and need to try and recreate what Coach Dantonio has done the last eight years. It is incredibly impressive."
Although it's day 12 of preseason camp, DiNardo liked what he saw on the teaching end of the game. "I said this to Coach (Mark Dantonio), (but I noticed the) new drills," DiNardo remarked. "This obviously means that they have addressed their issues from the past and have gone out and found their answers. To me it was very impressive. All of the drills were very impressive, but the new drills, which addressed the specific problems they had in the past, were in particular. I thought for the middle of camp, the tempo was really good. I don't know that you would say the tempo was really good if it was early in camp, but at this point in camp, I thought the tempo was perfect."
DiNardo also addressed the depth on display during practice.
"You always come here looking for the replacements, because that is what everyone wants to know," he said. "It is hard in one practice. It looks like they have depth in the secondary where they are missing starters and same at thing at tailback. At linebacker, obviously everybody knows that there has been an injury there (Ed Davis), but to me, you are better off saying we have one of the best offensive lines in the country, and we have one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Let's start there, and we will figure out all of the other pieces. On defense, we have one of the best defensive lines in the country. We have a talented secondary. Maybe we are not quite as deep at linebacker as we'd like to be, but we will have 11 guys out there that will compete with anybody."
Griffith was also impressed with what he saw from the Spartans on Tuesday.
"This team continues to get better and better and better," he said. "You talk about the consistency that they have had with the coaching staff, the consistency with the winning, it's evident that they're recruiting. The depth that they have on this team is nowhere where it was at first. To me, as a spectator who gets to watch a lot of practices, there is a lot of teaching and a lot of learning that is going on here. The assistant coaches are doing a tremendous job of really developing the players that are out there on the field."
Although the Spartans have won 24 games the past two seasons and are coming off back-to-back top-five finishes in the national polls, Griffith still sensed that the Spartans are extremely focused on the upcoming season.
"(The team) is hungry," he commented. "I think that this year, in particular, they are in a great position. Look at the teams that they lost to last year, I mean, they are still hungry. There is a lot left on the table. They want to be Big Ten Champions. They want to win that and the rest will take care of itself...They understand that there is still a lot on the table that they want to prove. As long as they can keep that hunger, that drive, this program is going to flourish."
For more coverage of Tuesday's BTN Tour stop, visit BTN.com.
