Couch: True freshmen will help decide MSU's football season
EAST LANSING – The final minutes of Michigan State’s 30-6 loss to Wisconsin were telling, the implications lasting.
Redshirts were flying off the shelves. Careers were being changed. The depth chart stirred.
Three more true freshmen took the field, forgoing redshirt seasons — receiver Trishton Jackson and defensive ends Josh King and Auston Robertson. Offensive tackle Thiyo Lukusa played for the first time Saturday, too, joining wideout Donnie Corley and defensive tackle Mike Panasiuk, who have been playing all season.
Now that they’ve played, they’ll keep playing, likely taking on bigger and bigger roles. MSU is banking on it.
“We’ve got to use them,” MSU coach Mark Dantonio said. “Because I think when you’re sitting there saying, ‘Do we redshirt? Do we not redshirt?’ You’re sort of the crossing that bridge. Once you cross the bridge, you got to use them.
“There may be a couple more that have to play as we go. But we’ve got a deep football team. That’s reality.”
Depth, good young talent and a fair share of uncertainty — that’s MSU’s reality three games in. The Badgers exposed the Spartans as less than contenders right now.
The pass rush, the offensive line, the return game — MSU’s struggles Saturday weren’t just at quarterback. And the coaches have seen enough of this season, against varying levels of competition, to know where they stand isn’t where they want to wind up.
There are no midseason trades in college football. True freshman are the only farm system. Six of them are now part of MSU’s plan for this season.
MSU played six last year, too — running back LJ Scott, receiver Felton Davis III, linebacker Andrew Dowell and defensive backs Tyson Smith, Grayson Miller and Khari Willis. Scott and Dowell played from the get-go. Davis, Miller and Willis saw the field early, too. Smith began playing midseason.
MSU used three true freshman in 2014, four in 2013 and three in 2012. The names are familiar: juniors Malik McDowell and Montae Nicholson; seniors R.J. Shelton, Michael Geiger, Delton Williams and Darian Hicks; and could-have-been fifth-year seniors Aaron Burbridge, Macgarrett Kings Jr. and Taybor Pepper — though Burbridge likely would have left for the NFL and Pepper was brought in to long-snap immediately.
Playing true freshmen is a sign of one of two things — you’re either shaky in the upperclass ranks at a few positions or your latest class is really strong. Or at least really intriguing.
Both are true for MSU. Scott last year, Corley this year — these two were always going to play right away. Scott led the Spartans in rushing as a freshman last season. Corley has 10 catches for 189 yards through three games year. If the Spartans’ passing attack is going to scare anyone, Corley is going to become a more frequent target.
The question, though, is what now for Jackson, Lukusa, Panasiuk, Kings and Robertson, especially the three that took the field late Saturday?
Jackson entered the game for MSU’s final possession. He was immediately flagged for illegal formation and then dropped a pass.
“Oh yeah, I think about it. That’s why I stayed after practice (Tuesday) catching balls,” said Jackson, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound four-star prospect out of West Bloomfield. “I think it’s going to be a big memory of mine, dropping my first catch. But it’s going to be alright.”
Will he be part of the regular rotation at wideout?
Jackson isn’t likely to move ahead of Shelton, Corley or Monty Madaris. He’s too limited. When asked about his ability to read defenses — an essential part of playing receiver effectively in a pro-style offense — he replied bluntly, “I’m not very comfortable.”
Perhaps MSU will use him to spice up a lagging return game. MSU ranks second-to-last in the Big Ten in kick-return average. The Spartans haven’t been much of a threat on returns since Keshawn Martin left campus five years ago.
“I don’t have a sense of that yet,” Jackson continued Tuesday. “But I know my role is getting bigger on the team, stepping up under R.J. (at the slot position) and that’s all I know for now.”
Co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner was also uncertain about Jackson’s role in the kicking game, but expected him to have one.
“We don’t want to put these guys in a game, burn a redshirt but not get them quality playing time,” Warner said. “So hopefully we have opportunities to see those guys (Lukusa included) more and more as the season goes on.
“You can see (Jackson’s) athletic ability. He’s built, not that he can’t play multiple positions, but he’s built as a slot guy in our offense. (We have) high expectations for him down the road.”
Defensively, King and Robertson were big gets — four-star kids, built to play now, at a position that usually doesn’t take kindly to youth.
The Spartans are near the bottom of the Big Ten in sacks per game at 1.7. And only 1.5 of their five sacks through three games have come from defensive ends.
“They’re strong enough and big enough, and they’ve shown the ability to work against good people,” defensive line coach Ron Burton said.
Now MSU is looking for them to produce on Saturdays against good people.
“If you’re out there, you’ve got to contribute,” junior defensive tackle Malik McDowell said. “They’re nice players. They’re young, so they’re still trying to figure it all out.
“This past week, I’ve seen them get a lot better than the week before, especially with Josh, he’s not doing the same stuff he was doing a week before.”
And therein lies the advantage of playing a true freshman — the possibility of rapid progress.
After last week, that’s exactly what MSU needs.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.