{"id":15044,"date":"2023-08-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=15044"},"modified":"2023-08-29T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T14:00:00","slug":"michigan-states-montorie-foster-is-poised-to-re-emerge-as-a-star-on-the-rise-at-wide-receiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/michigan-states-montorie-foster-is-poised-to-re-emerge-as-a-star-on-the-rise-at-wide-receiver\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan State\u2019s Montorie Foster is poised to re-emerge as a star on the rise at wide receiver"},"content":{"rendered":"

East Lansing, Mich. <\/em>\u2013 It\u2019s time for a short Michigan State football history lesson, of recent wide receiver vintage.<\/p>\n

During spring football, 6-foot, 185-pound senior wide receiver Montorie Foster<\/a><\/strong> essentially bet on himself.<\/p>\n

With Jayden Reed<\/a><\/strong> having graduated to the NFL and Keon Coleman<\/a><\/strong> still expected to be around for the 2023 season, Foster called his shot. He wanted to be the next man up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be (the) deep ball threat,\u201d Foster said in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By all accounts, he\u2019s become precisely that in August camp, and is poised to finally have the type of breakout season in 2023 that seemed like his destiny four years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2020, as a true freshman, he played in all seven games of the COVID-shortened season, and started against Northwestern. This came in only his second year of organized football. He had previously focused on basketball and didn\u2019t play any high school football until his senior year at Cleveland St. Edward.<\/p>\n

His senior year in high school was so good that former Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio <\/a><\/strong>and his staff took a flier on Foster and made him a late addition to the 2019 recruiting class.<\/p>\n

When Mel Tucker <\/a><\/strong>became head coach in the spring of 2020, he and the new staff quickly saw the talent which had intrigued Dantonio.<\/p>\n

As a sophomore at Michigan State <\/a><\/strong>in 2021, he started three games when Jalen Nailor<\/a><\/strong> went down with an injury. Foster had 12 catches for 164 yards and one touchdown. Stardom seemed like a sure thing, and it figured to come soon.<\/p>\n

But he suffered a torn lisfranc in his foot during spring practice in 2022. Repairing the lisfranc joint, which is the \u201cbridge\u201d of the top of the foot where the metatarsal bones connect to the rest of the foot, required surgery and two screws.<\/p>\n

He played with the screws in his foot during the fall of 2022, and it hampered his performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt lingered the whole season,\u201d he said. \u201cJust imagine being cold and having those two screws in your foot the whole game and trying to get it loosened up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The screws were removed in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie, right after my surgery, I felt way better,\u201d he said. \u201cJust having those screws out, with more mobility in the joints of my foot, I mean I couldn\u2019t wait for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman entered the transfer portal shortly after the end of spring practice. That heightened Foster\u2019s desire, and Michigan State\u2019s need for him to rise as a top flight receiving threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel mentally and physically like I\u2019m definitely on another level right now,\u201d Foster said. \u201cJust knowing the playbook a lot more and just being more comfortable and more confident about stuff and myself. I\u2019m doing good right now.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

It seems that spring football proclamation has come full circle as the Spartans get closer to their season opener on Friday against Central Michigan.<\/p>\n

It couldn\u2019t come at a better time. Especially when you consider all of the production MSU lost in its wide receiver room with the departures of Reed and Coleman.<\/p>\n

Reed hauled in 55 catches for 636 yards and five touchdowns in 2022 and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. Coleman, who led MSU in receptions, touchdowns and yards last season, took his talents south, transferring to Florida State.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Foster, who recorded just seven catches for 98 yards and one TD during the screw-riddled season of 2022, has been steadily honing his craft as a wideout, just in time for the start of 2023\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n

Foster has become a top candidate to share starting duties with venerable Tre Mosley<\/a><\/strong> at wide receiver. Competition continues as Michigan State searches for a third starter, and key reserves.<\/p>\n

Foster hasn\u2019t been handed a first-string job. He\u2019s been involved in competition for playing time, like many other Spartans, up and down the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur coaches say every day, that the best man wins. The best man is going to start in the first game,\u2019\u2019 Foster said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ve all just been coming in with a chip on our shoulders. We just can\u2019t wait to prove people wrong.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Foster strengthened his candidacy to be a featured receiver when he was invited by quarterback Noah Kim<\/a><\/strong> to train for a few days in Kim\u2019s Virginia hometown along with fellow wide receivers Christian Fitzpatrick<\/a><\/strong> and Mosley earlier this summer.<\/p>\n

It has all translated to major progress from Foster during fall camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontorie Foster is coming up big every day,\u201d Tucker said, while offensive coordinator Jay Johnson<\/a><\/strong> added \u201cI\u2019m excited about Montorie Foster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster produced an eye-popping TD catch in the Spartans\u2019 first scrimmage of August camp when he went high over junior cornerback Marqui Lowery<\/a><\/strong> to pull down a pass in the corner of the endzone. The basketball skills showed up on that play as went above the rim to get that one.<\/p>\n

Foster\u2019s re-emergence began last spring when he turned in a noteworthy TD grab in the second scrimmage of April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had man-to-man coverage, had a good release, stacked the DB, ran a post and Noah put it right on the dot,\u201d Foster said. \u201cHe is definitely a great quarterback. There definitely should be eyes on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Foster can replicate catches like those this fall, Spartan fans and coaches will feel a little less anxiety about the production of MSU\u2019s passing game after losing its top two primary targets from 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there\u2019s no pressure for me, honestly,\u2019\u2019 Foster\u00a0said. \u201cBut I\u2019m kind of worried about what I\u2019m going to do here, still. I want to make my footprint here.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he is looking forward to doing it without those dang screws.<\/p>\n

Jim Comparoni contributed to this report. <\/em><\/p>\n

Montorie Foster makes a diving, 52-yard touchdown catch during Michigan State\u2019s 40-21 victory over Maryland on Nov. 13, 2021 at Spartan Stadium. (Photo by USA Today Images)<\/p>\n

The post Michigan State\u2019s Montorie Foster is poised to re-emerge as a star on the rise at wide receiver<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

East Lansing, Mich. \u2013 It\u2019s time for a short Michigan State football history lesson, of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}