Michigan State football to get glimpse of future when 'Showtime' returns
EAST LANSING – It’s not quite “Showtime” for Michigan State. That won’t begin for a few weeks.
And it has nothing to do with Magic Johnson. Or basketball. Or the Spartans’ upcoming bowl game.
In the football program’s version, “Showtime” is an opportunity for the freshmen and sophomores who have been relegated to the scout team and buried on the depth chart to showcase themselves in front of their older teammates and hopefully impress their coaches.
Game-like conditions. Full contact. Their futures on display.
“Gear up,” senior linebacker Chris Frey said with a huge grin. “I mean, get ready.”
That, like many other things, didn’t happen last year. The Spartans didn’t make a bowl game. That meant they didn’t get the extra practice time in December, when their “Showtime” occurs.
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None of that preparation and fun can begin until one more work week is complete. The regular season concludes Saturday when the Spartans (8-3, 6-2 Big Ten) travel to play Rutgers (4-7, 3-5) in a game MSU at one time hoped would be a gateway to the Big Ten Championship.
Alas, Ohio State happened. The Buckeyes blasted MSU’s hope for an East Division title, and they clinched a spot in Indianapolis on Saturday with another blowout of Illinois.
The Spartans? Well, coach Mark Dantonio described their 17-7 win over Maryland on Saturday as “workmanlike,” a fitting label in their resiliency and recovery after going 3-9 last season.
“If we had won the game the week before, we would be playing to represent the East (Saturday),” Dantonio said. “I didn’t know really how our guys were going to respond. What are they going to play for? What’s the reason now? Because playing for bowl games is a little bit of an intangible. You know you’re going to a bowl game, but what bowl game? You really don’t know, so it’s a little bit of an intangible-type thing."
MSU's recovery is a major reason why Dantonio is a candidate for three major national coach of the year awards; last week, he was named one of 16 semifinalists for the George Munger Award. He’s also on the Bobby Dodd Trophy and Paul “Bear” Bryant coach of the year awards watch lists.
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But there also are the small things inside a program that help a coach build his team. During this summer’s tumultuous offseason, when sexual assault allegations against four now former players left a dark cloud over the program, MSU went bowling almost weekly in what seemed like a symbolic move to get players thinking about their goal of returning to the postseason. Until 2016, MSU hadn't missed a bowl game since Dantonio took over the program in 2007.
“It’s gonna be a tough couple weeks in those bowl practices,” sophomore linebacker Joe Bachie said. “I’ve never been to a bowl game, never been to a Big Ten Championship (Game), so I don’t know what it’s actually about. Maybe after the whole bowl thing, then you can ask me that question again. … I can imagine we’re gonna get after it a little bit.”
Bachie is one of 59 players on the roster who either were rookies last fall or weren’t part of the program when MSU went to the College Football Playoff in 2015.
The veterans who have been through that extra month of football point to their growth and development during that time. Especially when they were in their younger years.
“A lot of them, they get here, they’re here for camp. And once we get close to the season, it’s scout team and technique stuff,” senior center Brian Allen said. “Guys who are with the scout team, they don’t really get to run our offense until now, and that’s when they start getting looks for spring ball and what leads into there.”
Allen never experienced “Showtime” because he already was in the offensive line rotation as a true freshman. Gerald Holmes, a senior, recalled his time during his redshirt season, the “constant hitting” and “flying around” that comes with guys trying to make their name after months of toiling in obscurity.
“That’s gonna be just a gritty session – offense vs. defense – for the young guys to kind of see what they’re about,” Holmes said. “ It’s live, definitely in the trenches. It’s fun to watch.”
And that’s what the veterans will be doing. Their playing days dwindling, the torch-passing already underway. They will be keeping an eye and motivating voice on their understudies as they get to experience what they missed a year ago.
Revisiting their own past while helping to revive the program’s future.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!