Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Have Skill Level to Reload at Wide Receiver
4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist | @GrinzOnGreen
EAST LANSING, Mich. â€" When Felton Davis III made the finest catch of his young Michigan State career, in the opening quarter of the College Football Playoff Semifinal against Alabama, a positive thought crossed his mind.
"My confidence got rolling real early â€" they were going to be in big trouble," he said of the 28-yarder that moved MSU to the Crimson Tide 38-yard line.
The result of the game, a 38-0 defeat at the hands of the eventual National Champions, has done nothing to change Davis' way of thinking about opposing defenses in 2016 even though the receiving corps is undergoing a significant makeover during spring practice.
Wide receivers coach Terrence Samuel has what could be considered a daunting task: replace the Big Ten Receiver of the Year and the conference's most productive pass-catcher for the second-straight season.
In 2014, Tony Lippett emerged to lead the league with 65 catches for 1,198 yards (18.4 per catch, 92.2 per game) and 11 touchdowns, and last season, a finally healthy Aaron Burbridge topped the chart with a school-record 85 receptions for 1,258 yards (14.8, 89.9) and seven scores.
Macgarrett Kings Jr., who was second with 39.9 receiving yards per game (on 40 receptions), is gone from last season's Big Ten title team, as well. Furthermore, with three-year starting quarterback Connor Cook graduating to the NFL, the Spartans will also have a new passer throwing the ball downfield.
However, MSU appears to have more than enough material â€" though much of it largely untested â€" to have someone challenge for the league receiving crown for a third consecutive year.
Felton's only other catch of the season was a first down good for 22 yards in the Big Ten Championship Game victory over Iowa, but he got an invaluable feel for the level of competition in seven appearances as a true freshman.
"I'm going to try to fill Burb's shoes with what he did last year and make a lot of plays," Davis said. "There's a lot of talent here. People just don't know about it yet."
R.J. Shelton is MSU's leading returning receiver and the leader of the group heading into his senior season. He had significant clutch grabs among his 43, for 503 yards and four touchdowns, he made in '15.
"I'm the big brother to everybody in the wide receiver meeting room," Shelton said. "I have the most experience in big-time games, and I've played in pressure situations. I fully understand the expectations created by B.J. Cunningham, Tony Lippett and Aaron Burbridge, and I look forward to living up to the standards they set here. I'm up to the challenge, and I'm ready to go to work every day.
"I tend to lead by example, but in a small setting, like the wide receiver meeting room, I'll speak up about things. I'll share things that I've gone through, help critique their game and talk about our offensive concepts, so they can go out and ball. I'm comfortable in accepting a bigger leadership role. I'll deliver the message on the up-and-up because we compete at the highest level, and our goal is to go even farther than we did last year."
Senior R.J. Shelton set career highs for receptions (43), receiving yards (503) and touchdowns (4) in 2015.
Fifth-year-senior-to-be Monty Madaris had only two catches for 47 yards in 10 games but may be on the same route Burbridge took to stardom, Samuel said. Darrell Stewart Jr., a highly touted athlete coming out of Houston Nimitz High, redshirted last season and entered spring as the No. 1 "F" receiver. Samuel said Stewart has been MSU's most "aggressive" runner after making the catch.
And then there are the two wideouts vying to be freshman phenoms, Donnie Corley and Cam Chambers, who've been showing off their playmaking abilities as early enrollees.
"Amongst the receivers, we're a big brotherhood," Chambers said. "Everybody's working together."
Davis feels like he's part of a receiving trend that's been evolving since the Spartans' struggles in the receiving department four years ago.
"Those guys have just passed down their knowledge," Davis said. "Tony passed it down to Burbridge, Burb passed it down to R.J. and now R.J. is passing it down to us. It's basically a passing-of-the-torch right down the line, so when you're the go-to guy, you already have everything in your resume you need to know.
"Confidence is the biggest thing. As a young player, you're coming into a new game where it's faster and you're against bigger people, and if you don't play with confidence, you can't play at this level. We know that all of us can make the play at any given moment."
Madaris, who's been hobbled by injuries throughout his career, has the longest history of any Spartan receiver. As a red-shirt freshman in 2012, Madaris worked behind Bennie Fowler, who caught Peyton Manning's final pass with the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50, Keith Mumphery, who played last season for the Houston Texans, and the multi-talented Lippett, who spent his rookie season as a defensive back with the Miami Dolphins.
"We know what the standard is beginning with guys like B.J. (Cunningham, 79 for 1,306 and 12 touchdowns in 2011), and R.J. goes back to playing with Bennie (in '13)," Madaris said. "We've seen them all succeed, so that's what's expected."
At 6-foot-4, Davis is a big target out of the Cunningham-Lippett mold, the 5-11 Shelton is a darting speedster, who is as dangerous taking handoffs on jet sweeps as he is running patterns, and at 6-1, Madaris is what Samuel called an "angry" receiver during last preseason camp.
"That's the way I play," Madaris said. "I go after people â€" I'll put it like that. I never take a play off, whether I'm running a route, catching or blocking."
So far, Corley and Chambers, who each stand 6-3, have measured up to their reputations as nationally coveted prep prospects.
Early enrollee Donnie Corley makes a leaping grab during a recent spring practice.
"I think we have great skill at the wide-receiver position," head coach Mark Dantonio said. "Donnie Corley has been really exceptional, and Cam Chambers has been solid, catching the ball extremely well, a big-bodied guy. We've got big athletes who can run."
The remarkable transformation made by MSU's receiving corps, on an individual basis and as a group, has been a powerful stimulant for Spartan wideouts since Samuel took over the position in '11.
"No, no, we're not rebuilding," Samuel said. "We reload now and there's comfort with me and the group and everything that's happening. You take my second year, I was trying to reach the guys and trying to get my style across. But you recruit these guys and bring them in, and personality-wise they fit. That chemistry right there bridges a lot of gaps.
"The key is communication. How are the players taking information and applying it? With the leadership we have with R.J. and Monty Madaris, who went through 2012 and saw all those things, it's easy to get these other guys in line and get these other guys ready to go into battle because they know â€" they're battle-tested and understand what it takes to win at this level. I've been more than blessed to be in this situation with the guys I've had here. They've made a lot of plays and made me really proud."
Michigan State's receiving situation will be discussed as an unknown, and possibly even as a major concern, in preseason preview magazines, but Samuel doesn't see it that way. Madaris alone could be a hidden gem.
"I think the media may have missed the diamond-in-the-rough out of all the wide receivers I've had in the past because you just haven't seen him," Samuel said. "I'm not saying he's going to be the same thing Burb was last year, but Burb was coming on. Maybe some in the media were surprised Burb had that kind of season, but it wasn't a surprise to me.
"And it wouldn't be a surprise to see Monty have that type of season this year because he knows the offense, he's playing aggressive, and I think he's going to have a great year. As long as he stays healthy, that kid can play."
Meantime, the level of competition for playing time could be at an all-time high at receiver.
"Donnie's gonna make everybody better with his competitive nature," Samuel said. "That's what I love about him. (But) it's too early to let all these praises sink in. Every last one of these guys in that group right now is aggressive and they're going to attack the practice and their technique and apply it to getting better.
"It's really great being in that room but the proof is in, do we make plays?"
Corley struck for a 60-yard run off a reverse in a practice two weeks ago and is just beginning to scratch the surface. He's assigned to the No. 2 offense but has also been taking repetitions with the ones.
"I'm really just doing all I can do to make the most of my opportunities," Corley said. "I've been making plays, but I'm not gonna say I out there just ballin.' When I first game in, (instinct) was all I was relying on. But now I that I see you've got to do the technique and can't just rely on talent is actually helping me out and slowing the game down.
"I feel like I'm making a good impression right now. Every day is about going out and giving 100 percent."
"All of those young guys are great athletes and great players, and they're willing to put in the time to improve," Shelton said. "I fully expect those early enrollees to play an important part in our offense this season, but what impresses me most is these guys come to work and they're eager to learn what to do.
"There's some experience in that meeting room too, with Monty, (Matt Macksood) Sood and (Edward) Barksdale. All of those guys know what it takes to play at a high level. There's a lot of talent in that meeting room, and we're all committed to getting 3 percent better in every practice this spring."
