GREEN & WHITE FOOTBALL

Dantonio: Cook fall 'disappointing' for MSU draft class

Coach still grades Spartans' weekend a "B-plus" and as his best NFL-bound group as a head coach

Chris Solari
Lansing State Journal
MSU coach Mark Dantonio points during a defensive line drill while talking to Balimore Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees, left, during MSU's Pro Day on March 16. Pees is a former Spartan assistant coach.

Five Michigan State players got selected in the NFL Draft. At least 10 more will be in rookie camps. A few others might still end up getting their pro football chance.

Still, Mark Dantonio only graded his Spartans’ draft weekend experience a B-plus.

“I think everything that they wanted when they came to Michigan State they've been able to accomplish,” Dantonio said Sunday night on a teleconference. “There is no perfect world out there, but I think that we are well-represented in the NFL and will continue to be so in the future.”

Dantonio considers his marks, however, the best of his career. He’s never had an A-grade class, which he’d consider like the vaunted 1967 NFL draft in which four of the top eight picks were Spartans. .

Yet despite an overall strong draft, the MSU coach said he felt “disappointed” in watching quarterback Connor Cook plummet into the fourth round after being projected as a potential first-round selection. The Spartans’ departing three-year starting quarterback lasted until the Oakland Raiders took him with the 100th pick of the draft early Saturday afternoon.

Raiders select QB Connor Cook in 4th round of NFL Draft

“I was probably living through the entire thing as well. Watched the entire draft. I was disappointed,” Dantonio said. “I think that Connor is an excellent football player. He's done a tremendous job for us here and for his football team, and a lot of that success that we've had can be credited to his play and his leadership on our football team. I think that speaks volumes.”

Cook was 34-5 as a college starter and led the Spartans to two Big Ten championships, victories in the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl and a berth in the College Football Playoff semifinals last season. He won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and was the Big Ten Quarterback of the Year in 2015, also earning first-team All-Big Ten honors.

However, a number of anonymous NFL scouts, coaches and executives assailed his character throughout the pre-draft process. Dantonio said he thought that criticism eventually wore on Cook and called things he heard about his former player “inaccurate.”

Couch: Connor Cook's draft slide shows NFL's uneasiness with MSU QB

Dantonio, entering his 10th season at MSU, also used both Brian Hoyer and Kirk Cousins as examples for Cook. Hoyer went undrafted in 2009 and has been a starter the past three seasons. In 2012, Cousins got taken in the same draft as No. 2 overall pick Robert Griffin III and eventually beat Griffin out for the starting job in Washington.

“You work hard, things are going to turn. Things are always going to move forward. … Work hard, learn your craft, be a professional, use it as an opportunity to grow, and not try, but move forward,” Dantonio said. “As I tell our players all the time, there's always a starting point for everything that we're going through. There's always a new starting point. For all of our players, they need to continue to dream big, and it truly does, it starts right now they begin to develop the reputation with their particular club.”

Cook joined defensive end Shilique Calhoun, a third-round pick, in Oakland’s draft class. Cook’s top target last fall, wide receiver Aaron Burbridge, went to San Francisco in the sixth round. Offensive lineman Donavon Clark was selected by San Diego in the seventh round.

And MSU had its first opening-day offensive lineman of the Dantonio era selected, when left tackle Jack Conklin went at No. 8 to Tennessee in Thursday’s first round. Conklin is the third MSU first-round pick in the past three years, joining cornerbacks Darqueze Dennard in 2014 and Trae Waynes in 2015.

Rexrode: Titans' pick Jack Conklin more than a 'mauler'

Along with Conklin and Clark, center Jack Allen reached a free-agent deal with the New Orleans. There, Allen will be matched with Saints offensive line coach Dan Roushar, MSU’s former offensive coordinator.

“It's another checkmark,” Dantonio said. “Certainly we've had great tailbacks, quarterbacks, wideouts, corners, safeties, linebackers, defensive linemen. And now we've got the opportunity to check off our offensive line with two guys being drafted, a third going as a free agent. You know, I think it sends a message that you come here, you're going to have opportunities at every position, just like anywhere else in America.”

A number of other players, like Allen, will get their chances to prove themselves in rookie camps as undrafted free agents: defensive end Lawrence Thomas (Jets), defensive tackle Joel Heath (Texans), linebacker Darien Harris (Bengals), cornerback Arjen Colquhoun (Cowboys), fullback Trevon Pendleton (Ravens), receiver DeAnthony Arnett (Seahawks), long snapper Taybor Pepper (Ravens), safety RJ Williamson (Packers) and receiver A.J. Troup (Chiefs).

49ers take Aaron Burbridge, Donavon Clark to Chargers

All of those opportunities, Dantonio said, should give the returning Spartans a belief that they, too, can attain their NFL aspirations. But Cook’s slide gives them a cautionary side of the dream.

“They know how successful they’ve been, both as a team and individually, and then they watch the draft and see how competitive it is,” Dantonio said. “It sends a number of messages to them: Nothing’s guaranteed, never forget where you came from, continue to work hard, and your next play is the most important play. If we can just keep those things in mind as we move forward, then we’re going to continue to have success.”