Strength in size and numbers, through the prep ranks, starting to show up on the Michigan State offensive line
East Lansing, Mich. – A year removed from a shortage of offensive linemen in spring practice, Michigan State o-line coach and assistant head coach Chris Kapilovic was asked after Tuesday’s practice if he is starting to see the future of his group taking shape.
“100 percent,” he said. “It’s night and day (compared to last spring). Love it. It’s been great.”
At this time last year, Michigan State was awaiting the summer enrollment of four incoming freshmen – Gavin Broscious, Ashton Lepo, Kristian Phillips and Braden Miller, plus one grad transfer (Brian Greene from Washington State) and freshman walk-ons Jacob Merritt, Ben Nelson and Andy Hartman.
Those eight players made a difference in the number of bodies available to fill out a second team, a third team and a scout team.
This year, the Spartans signed two high school scholarship recuits (Stanton Ramil and Cole Dellinger) and one junior college transfer (Keyshawn Blackstock). All three enrolled in January and have been able to further bolster Michigan State’s offensive line room.
Those players have combined with the offensive line recruits from the 2021 “Zoom Baby” class – Geno VanDeMark, Ethan Boyd, Kevin Wigenton, Brandon Baldwin – to create population and competition in the trenches.
Michigan State has three times as many offensive line bodies dressed and in pads this spring than last spring – and several of them are taking shape toward becoming key contributors in the near future.
“That’s really where I want to be,” Kapilovic said. “I want to be where we’re bringing in high school kids and developing them and getting depth and then when one moves on, the next one comes in and he’s ready to go. If I have to get a transfer to fill a hole, I’ll do that. But I want to build the majority of my guys with high school kids and developing them. And we’re finally getting to that where we are seeing improvement from several kids and that’s what you want. That’s been a big part of this spring, just seeing those young guys start to progress.”
Kapilovic and head coach Mel Tucker set out to recruit taller, bigger bodies at all positions. That philosophy is having an impact on the offensive line.
The projected first string goes 6-7, 315 at left tackle (Baldwin), 6-4, 300 at left guard (J.D. Duplain), 6-4, 300 at center (Nick Samac), 6-5, 325 at right guard (VanDeMark) and 6-6, 315 at right tackle (Spencer Brown).
Duplain, Samac and Brown are holdovers from the Mark Dantonio era, as is second-string center Dallas Fincher (6-4, 300). Duplain and Samac are solid, dependable, valuable veterans. But only Brown from that group would likely meet the size standards of the current coaching staff as a high school prospect.
A few second-stringers are knocking on the door, competing for roles in the playing group. SpartanMag asked Kapilovic which of those players are knocking the loudest.
“That’s a good question,” Kapilovic said. “I will say this: Keyshawn Blackstock has run with the twos starting out here. He shows some flashes of being a really good player. Dallas Fincher has had his best spring since he’s been here. I have seen Kevin Wigenton really improve. I’ve seen Ethan Boyd really improve. That has been huge for those guys to show some improvement to where they can start pushing a little bit.
“Fincher can play all three positions inside. It’s about finding the best five. That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
SpartanMag projects the second string to go 6-5, 315 at left tackle (Blackstock), 6-5, 315 at left guard (Wigenton) and 6-7, 325 at right tackle (Boyd).
Phillips (6-4, 347) is getting reps as a second-string right guard. He isn’t a sky scraper, but he has massive girth.
Ramil (6-7, 310) has been a head-turner as a mid-year enrollee this spring at offensive tackle.
Of the Tucker-era scholarship offensive line recruits, only Dellinger (6-4, 290) is below 6-5 or 315. Dellinger has fit in nicely this spring at Michigan State.
“With those two freshmen (Dellinger and Ramil), it’s pretty impressive,” Kapilovic said. “They don’t miss a beat. They understand everything. They understand the scheme and the techniques that we’re doing and they are effective in there. TSo see the kids get in there and do what they’re doing. I’m pleased with that.”
Kapilovic was asked if the size of these athletes is starting to show up and make a difference.
“100 percent,” he said. “You can’t coach great size and length.”
You have to recruit it.
Kapilovic said sometimes there are big, long guys in college football who got by just on size in high school but aren’t athletic or strong enough to adapt in college.
“None of these guys are in that boat and they do have some athleticism,” Kapilovic said. “That was one of our focuses in this whole process is we needed to get bigger and longer on the edges and really we needed to get bigger everywhere.”
Last spring, Michigan State couldn’t field a second string in practice due in part to off-season medical procedures, the loss of two players to the transfer portal (Jacob Isaia, James Ohonba), the graduations of Luke Campbell, Matt Allen, Blake Bueter, AJ Arcuri and Dan VanOpstall, and the awaited arrival of the freshman class in the summer. This year, talented scholarship redshirt freshmen like Miller and Lepo are competing to get a spot in the two-deep.
“It helps the whole team because now you can get the twos, the threes and sometimes the fours on the field,” Kapilovic said. “It helps the drill work where we can really work and I’m not worried about saving them. And above all else, competition. That’s huge in all of this.”
Last year, the Spartans had to move walk-on defensive tackles Evan Brunning and Jacob Lafave to offensive line. Brunning is still with the o-line. Lafave is no longer on the roster.
“Last year, you have to imagine when you have two guys in there that are d-linemen paying o-line and you have a young kid in there (on the defensive line, going against us) and the competition is not great, it’s almost like if he wins, he didn’t accomplish anything,” Kapilovic said. “The old saying is iron sharpens iron.”
There is much more iron on the field this spring.
“The more we have, the more we’re coming after them, and the more they bring,” Kapilovic said. “It makes both of us better. It affects the whole team.”
The post Strength in size and numbers, through the prep ranks, starting to show up on the Michigan State offensive line appeared first on On3.
