The 3-2-1 from Michigan State training camp as the pads are about to go on
East Lansing, Mich. – Three things we learned during Monday’s interview sessions with Michigan State’s offensive coordinator Jay Johnson and assorted players, two questions and one prediction.
1. THERE ARE SOME REFRESHING NEGATIVES
We (media) aren’t allowed to watch scrimmaging or extended portions of August camp. We can watch some individual drills, once a week. For the most part, we rely on coaches and players to tell us what’s going on. Of course, almost all of what they tell us is going to be positive.
I’m sure there is credibility behind all of the positives. But we won’t have a feeling for the level of the positives until Michigan State’s positives are matched up with every other team’s positives when the season begins.
In the meantime, I found it refreshing when offensive coordinator Jay Johnson told us that Monday morning’s practice was less than spectacular.
“Today wasn’t as good as it needed to be and I think the guys sensed that,” Johnson said. “It’s really only the second day in (shoulder) pads and we are really, really early into things but as you go in camp, you begin to add more things, and the defense begins to add more things and that multiplicity effect we have to be able to handle.”
He didn’t say it was an issue. He didn’t say it was a negative. He presented it as a normal part of the growing process of August camp. Instead of coming to the podium and telling us that everyone was great, he said Monday’s performance fell a bit short.
No problem. More will be installed on Tuesday.
“I think we’re off to a solid start in camp,” Johnson said. “A solid start and (I’m) really excited about the depth and how the guys are working.”
That’s camp. It can’t all be positive. That’s work. That’s refreshing.
Johnson is looking forward to testing his competing quarterbacks – redshirt junior Noah Kim and redshirt freshman Katin Houser. True freshman Sam Leavitt is also getting a look.
Johnson expects progress in many areas, but it’s part of the process to set these guys up to be tripped a little bit. Starting today or tomorrow.
“Now you have to start dealing with different things from the o-line and d-line perspective,” Johnson said. “You are trying to install things for your offense, and the defense is doing the same thing. By the time you get to day five or six, there are probably more things in than you will ever have in a game and they (the defense) probably has more things in than they will ever have in a game. Something that is just a part of fall camp. So what I’m looking to see is when they get that volume, how do they handle it? So that’s coming here in the next couple of weeks.
“We don’t want to have paralysis by analysis. We don’t want to be paralyzed by what we’re doing but I think it’s going to put them in a situation where they are going to show where they are at and how they are handling things and that will be positive for us.”
It’s informative and useful to hear about this player or that player who is showing improvement at a position of need. But as the Spartans get ready to get into full pads for the first time on Tuesday, it was nice to hear Johnson acknowledge that there are ups and downs to August camp. This is training camp. Not a fairy tale.
Do we need to know what the specific areas were that fell short on Monday? Do we need to know if there are players that are struggling, and who? Nah. I mean, that would be interesting. But Johnson is paid to help Michigan State win games, not give away a scouting report of weaknesses to the Spartans’ opening opponents.
2. AT LEAST ONE TIGHT END IS TAKING IT UP A NOTCH
I’ve been critical of Michigan State’s tight end development over the past two or three years. The Spartans haven’t been able to develop high school recruits fast enough, and last year’s transfer – Daniel Barker – was skilled and talented but inconsistent as a blocker, route runner and overall it was hard to rely on him.
Barker and Tyler Hunt, Michigan State’s top two pass catchers from the tight end position, are gone.
Malik Carr is ascending as the new first-string tight end. He’s been occasionally explosive as a receiver through his first two years at Michigan State. No one doubts his hands and athleticism.
The Spartans need Carr (6-5, 255, R-Jr., Inkster, Mich./Oak Park High) to morph into a well-rounded tight end who can do some blocking. Run game coordinator Chris Kapilovic told me in April that Carr was making strides in that area. On Monday, Johnson further affirmed that development.
“The person that has really improved his game is Malik Carr,” Johnson said.
The tight end position is an important lynch pin to the offense – for blocking in the run game, and intermediate, chain-moving receptions in the pass game.
There is suddenly a deep pool of candidates at tight end (more on that later). I’m not saying they’re all capable of getting on the field and drive-blocking Big Ten defensive ends out of the back of the end zone.
But it’s positive to hear that Carr is making progress as a blocker. They need it. And they need it from more than one tight end. The quarterbacks need it, the running backs need it, Michigan State needs it.
3. COMPLIMENTS ARE GETTING JUICY FOR HOUSER
Much of Johnson’s question and answer session on Monday seemed to center around Noah Kim and his development.
When he was asked about Katin Houser, Johnson predictably had some warm compliments for the redshirt-freshman quarterback. But his kind words for Houser went beyond the ordinary. He used the word freakish.
“Katin has exceptional arm talent, I mean freakish arm talent,” Johnson said. “He is really gifted there. Since his arrival here there have been a couple of opportunities that he has done a good job running the ball and moving the ball with his feet.
“Katin is just going into his second fall. Where he has come mentally and the command that he has had is really, really good. I have been very pleased. You kind of get into that trust deal and I’m at the point with him that he is really, really locking in with that and doing a great job with all of that so I think that makes him very marketable.”
My sources tell me that Kim had an edge on Houser last fall and in the spring, not surprisingly. And Kim continues to show winning qualities. But Houser is progressing steadily and looks like someone who is going to give Michigan State two legitimate candidates at the position. If Kim wins the job, I am not expecting a steep dropff to No. 2. And it sounds like Johnson is anticipating having trust in both of them by the time the season starts.
TWO QUESTIONS
1. WHO ARE THE SECOND AND THIRD TIGHT ENDS?
Other than running back, no second-stringer on offense will see more playing time than the No. 2 tight end. And the No. 3 tight end will see time too. And it’s important time.
On too many occasions last year, Michigan State’s run game would get stuffed in an important situation, and I would rewind the video to look to see where the slippage occurred, and too often it was a tight end who missed the block.
If Michigan State wants to resurrect itself as a respectable running team, the tight ends can’t spring leaks.
Earlier, I mentioned that it was good news to hear that Carr is coming along as a blocker.
Michigan State needs more.
Johnson says there are eight or nine guys vying for a role. Are any of them on the cusp of becoming functional blockers? That remains to be seen, but I’m intrigued by former walk-on Evan Morris (6-5, 245, R-Sr., Elsie, Mich.).
Morris, like Hunt, came to Michigan State as a specialist. Hunt was a punter, who transitioned to tight end. Morris was a kickoff specialist.
Morris handled kickoffs for two games in 2019 as a true freshman during Mark Dantonio’s last season as head coach. He had five touchbacks on 11 kickoffs, and then shut it down to preserve redshirt status.
He moved to tight end in 2020, but didn’t get on the field.
In 2021, when the Spartans suddenly had a kicker crisis, he brought back the kicking shoe and had four kickoffs in the snow against Penn State.
Then he went back to focusing on tight end. And he’s starting to look capable. He continually shows up during reps as a guy who has a chance to be entrusted with second-string work at tight end. He repped with Carr in the spring game, and repped with him again on Thursday. And he was the first player Johnson mentioned when I asked him about reserve tight ends.
How are his hands? Well he had 37 career receptions in high school, way back in 2017 and ’18. He was a killer defensive end in high school too. But kickoff talent earned him a walk-on invitation, and that’s where he contributed until his love for the tight end position led him to ask for an expanded role.
What are the chances that Michigan State would get a former walk-on punter and a former walk-on kickoff specialist to develop into functional tight ends? Well, Hunt has already done it. And Morris looks like he is poised to do the same.
But he is getting strong competition from others, including a pair of transfers.
Wisconsin transfer Jaylan Franklin blocked well in the spring game. Boise State transfer Tyneil Hopper doesn’t have great size, but the guy shows some pretty good hands. Redshirt-freshman Michael Masunas had an eyebrow-raising catch in the spring game, and a few more in practice last Thursday.
There are candidates. Franklin might be the best blocker of the bunch, but are his hands reliable? Does Michigan State have anyone in this tight end group who can block and catch the ball? That’s what the coaches are trying to find out.
My guess is that Morris will get the first crack at being the first tight end off the bench, and/or the guy who most frequently joins Carr in a two-TE formation.
2. WHAT IS THE PECKING ORDER AT RUNNING BACK?
The coaches don’t even know. Not yet. But they are pretty optimistic about the candidates.
Running backs coach Effrem Reed told returning starter Jalen Berger that he has re-earn playing time this year. Berger rushed for more than 600 yards last year, led the team, and improved as the season progressed.
Berger got the message that he needs to continue to improve. He added about seven strong pounds during the off-season and says he’s hungry to take his game up a level this year.
Nathan Carter, a transfer from UConn, has impressed coaches and teammates. Reed says he is explosive and elusive and “will give us a chance to get some home runs.”
Jaren Mangham, a transfer from South Florida, had 15 rushing touchdowns in 2021. He is down from 240 to 235 pounds. He’s a big back who can smell the goal line in short-yardage situations.
This is a good, healthy, competitive situation at running back. There might not be an All-Big Ten candidate in the group, but Reed has something to work with here
Reed has told the running backs that they need to be satisfied with contributing.
“One of our core values is being selfless,” he said. “As a former running back, I know you want to go out there and have 30 carries a game. But it’s all about what makes the team successful. You see Georgia and LSU run three or four running backs out there.
“If you are just a third-down back, you have to buy into that role. You have to be able to humble yourself and do it.
“I have had that conversation with the guys because they each want to be the guy. But at the end of the day, it’s all about getting the W in the column.
“Whoever has the hot hand, whoever is getting it done in practice, that’s who is going to play.”
I could see Carter or Berger getting hot on a specific drive, and helping the Spartans get inside the 5-yard line. Sometimes the hot back can become the fatigued back, especially in an uptempo drive.
In a situation like that, could Mangham come in and smell the goal line and push it over as a short-yardage tank? I think so. And Mangham will get some chances to tote the rock in regular situations too, and if he gets hot, it’s his rock.
Two-headed monsters at the running back position are common in today’s football. In fact, it’s necessary to have two feature backs. A third-head as a short-yardage guy could make for an exceedingly happy and productive room.
Reed was asked on Monday if the offense was in a Hail Mary situation and had to have good pass protection from one running back for one play, who would it be.
He mentioned Mangham and senior Jordon Simmons.
So the talent doesn’t end with those first three. Simmons led the team in rushing in 2020, fell to third string at times in 2021, started in the Peach Bowl, fell to fourth string last year, but never transferred. He became a reliable special teams contributor. And he’s still plugging away, competing with these other guys.
There isn’t a Kenneth Walker in the room, but the RB situation should be more consistent and reliable this year than last year.
ONE PREDICTION
1. BOTH QBs WILL PLAY VS CENTRAL MICHIGAN
I’m guessing that both quarterbacks – Noah Kim and Katin Houser – will play in the opener against Central Michigan. If it’s a blowout, the No. 2 guy will come in and play mop-up. If Michigan State’s offense struggles, the No. 2 guy will come in and get a look. Just a hunch.
Johnson and Tucker haven’t been big on using the second-stringer in the past, no matter how close the No. 2 guy is.
Payton Thorne narrowly lost the starting job to Rocky Lombardi in 2020, but Thorne didn’t get much playing time until the end of the season.
In 2021, Thorne barely beat out Temple transfer Anthony Russo for the QB job. But Russo got very little playing time during an 11-2 season.
If, theoretically, Kim narrowly beats out Houser for the starting job, I wouldn’t normally expect Houser to get much playing time as the No. 2 – citing the 2020 and 2021 examples. And it could play out that way for most of the season. However, I think we’re going to see both of them against the Chippewas.
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