Windsor: Freshman Donnie Corley may be Michigan State’s secret weapon

EAST LANSING – Receiver Donnie Corley has been the talk of Michigan State’s spring camp. He’ll be the talk of the fall, too, if he doesn’t get the ball.

Not because he will complain — by all accounts, the talented freshman from Detroit King doesn’t possess the diva qualities like so many of the most gifted at his position do. But because you will complain.

At least if Saturday’s spring game is any indication; Corley caught one pass for 18 yards. Either MSU’s coaches were keeping him under wraps — like a vintage Corvette is kept under a tarp — or MSU’s quarterbacks need a little work at getting the ball down the field.

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“Nah, we had big plans for him,” said quarterback Damion Terry, who led the White squad in the spring game, the team on which Corley played. “We just didn’t get the ball to him.”

That will be a central challenge this fall when the Spartans begin the season with a new quarterback and a revamped offensive line, because they haven’t had a receiver quite like Corley. Not during Mark Dantonio’s tenure, anyway.

“Oh, man,” Terry said of Corley. “He’s just a freak of nature. I know you guys just saw a little glimpse of him (Saturday), but that kid has all the potential in the world. He (should) still (be) a senior in high school, but he’s learned everything. Doesn’t make the same mistake twice. He’s just been making plays all over the field, flying around and using his speed.”

Have you seen a receiver at MSU with his size and speed, I asked?

“Not even close,” he said. “And we’ve had great receivers. But there is just something special about him.”

What’s tantalizing for Terry — and for Tyler O’Connor, the senior quarterback battling with Terry for the job this fall — is that Corley isn’t the only freshman receiver making plays this spring. Cam Chambers is, too.

“A dynamic duo,” Terry said.

Chambers caught a TD pass from O’Connor on Saturday. It was a fade route in the corner.

Of the two, Chambers might be the more polished route runner at the moment. Both are big — 6-foot-3 — and can go get the ball. And both can run, though Corley is the more explosive downfield threat.

“Every practice they are making plays, man,” said senior tight end Josiah Price, who has watched the incoming pair light up the practice field. “It hasn’t just been one or two times, where you might say, ‘OK, he’s got potential.’ ”

No, what they are doing is akin to an onslaught.

“It’s not hype,” said Jamal Lyles, the senior tight end who wants to play defensive end this fall. “It’s all true.”

Wait, let’s slow down here. Saturday was the spring game. Corley, as we said, had one catch, though he was open often. Plenty of players make plays this time of the year but can’t in the fall. Besides, receivers, more than any other position on the field, rely on every other spot on the field do to their job.

So much is beyond their control. Yet there is a reason Dantonio says Corley “factors in very heavily” to MSU’s plans this season. He is, fundamentally, the kind of player the Spartans didn’t have in the Cotton Bowl against Alabama.

MSU’s receivers struggled to get consistently open that evening. Aaron Burbridge was a gifted college player and had great ball skills. But he wasn’t 6-3. He didn’t have top-end speed down the sideline. In games against the best defenses, a team needs playmakers on the edge.

These receivers can be those players.

Now, will they be this fall?

That depends on the quarterback, and the protection he gets, and whether the running game can do enough to keep a defense guessing. It may take another season — and there are more receivers coming. MSU, after all, lost a lot of experience from last year.

But the talent pool is getting deeper in East Lansing. Corley and Chambers are the proof.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!