Phall
Master
Since 2005, the Spartans have had 7, 5, 7, 10, 10, 10, 12, 8, 9, 8, 8, 10, 11, 11, 10, 11, and 11 white starters. The 2022 team projects to drop its tally to 7.
Mel Tucker is America’s newest hundred million dollar man, inking an absurd ten-year contract extension this offseason after going 11-2 in his first full season in the Big Ten. Michigan State overpaid in part to preserve some longevity, as Tucker is no stranger to one-year tenures and would surely parlayed his flash in the pan to a season’s worth of job offer calls. He definitely overachieved last season, so it will be interesting to see how his national reputation holds up over time for a team that is rarely picked to finish better than 4th in the Big Ten East.
Tucker’s white coordinators have also stuck around for Year Three. OC Jay Johnson was a Broyles Award nominee (top assistant), and Chris Kapilovic (assistant head coach, o-line coordinator, running game co-coordinator) made a Doak Walker award winner out of unheralded transfer Kenneth Walker III. The team overhauled quite a bit initially through the transfer portal but seemed to maintain the feisty underdog attitude from former coach Mark Dantonio’s era. The state of Michigan typically has a decent crop of high school recruits, including plenty of white players who are ranked accordingly. The Wolverines only offer scholarships to very elite white players (or invite them to walk on). This leaves Michigan State to chose from a healthy batch of three-star in-state recruits who arrive with a chip on their shoulder. Whether the blacks at Michigan are overrated or the Spartans’ motivation from their snubs becomes a tangible factor, MSU has beaten the Wolverines in ten out of the last fourteen confrontations. Mel Tucker starting 2-0 against his top rivals definitely helped his stock.
As far as the players, QB Payton Thorne will be the most prolific white athlete on the field. He’s a returning starter now on the Maxwell Award watch list. Thorne is a redshirt junior this year with two additional seasons of eligibility (via covid waiver) if he doesn’t get enough draft buzz to depart early.
Michigan State usually has some of the highest white starter totals in the Big Ten after perennial leaders Wisconsin and Iowa. However, I see a lot of black underclassmen and recruits at the offensive line positions and throughout the defense. The top two tight ends this year are black, although the team has a couple of freshman studs waiting in the wings (Nickel and Masunas). Tyler Hunt was once a nominal starter but has since dropped to third in the pecking order.
Cade McDonald is a former walk-on (I couldn’t tell if he’s since been given a scholarship) and the only white wide receiver on the roster. McDonald, a redshirt junior this season, has just two career catches. As a high school senior, he tallied 91 receptions, 1397 yards, and 18 touchdowns (as well as 4 return touchdowns). It’s common to see white players with gaudy stats and competitive physical metrics on championship teams get ignored at the next level. McDonald’s caveat is that he caught his high school balls from Payton Thorne. Hopefully, Thorne shows a bit of unconscious bias toward his former favorite receiver if McDonald gets his number called for an occasional package in the slot.
While I found eight defensive backups on the roster with the expectation of playing time, only Maverick Hansen is currently listed on the Ourlads two-deep chart (joining starters Slade and Pietrowski as D-line depth). Pietrowski had 5.5 sacks last year and ascends to the starting lineup as a true junior. DT Jacob Slade returns after earning AP all-conference second-team honors (conference first team from PFF) on the weight of 40 QB pressures and 2.5 sacks.
Overall, MSU under Mel Tucker seems to be trending toward a typical caste outfit plus a couple of regular defensive starters.
Starters:
QB: Payton Thorne
OL: Jarrett Horst, Nick Samac, J.D. Duplain, Brian Greene
DT: Jacob Slade
DE: Jeff Pietrowski
Backups to watch:
QB: Hamp Fay / Katin Houser (3rd/4th string)
Slot WR: Cade McDonald (not on depth chart)
TE: Tyler Hunt, Jack Nickel. Michael Masunas
OL: Matt Carrick, Geno VanDeMark, Jacob Lafave
DE: James Schott, Avery Dunn
DT: Maverick Hansen, Alex VanSumeren
LB: Ben VanSumeren, Sam Edwards, Carsten Casteel
S: Tate Hallock
Mel Tucker is America’s newest hundred million dollar man, inking an absurd ten-year contract extension this offseason after going 11-2 in his first full season in the Big Ten. Michigan State overpaid in part to preserve some longevity, as Tucker is no stranger to one-year tenures and would surely parlayed his flash in the pan to a season’s worth of job offer calls. He definitely overachieved last season, so it will be interesting to see how his national reputation holds up over time for a team that is rarely picked to finish better than 4th in the Big Ten East.
Tucker’s white coordinators have also stuck around for Year Three. OC Jay Johnson was a Broyles Award nominee (top assistant), and Chris Kapilovic (assistant head coach, o-line coordinator, running game co-coordinator) made a Doak Walker award winner out of unheralded transfer Kenneth Walker III. The team overhauled quite a bit initially through the transfer portal but seemed to maintain the feisty underdog attitude from former coach Mark Dantonio’s era. The state of Michigan typically has a decent crop of high school recruits, including plenty of white players who are ranked accordingly. The Wolverines only offer scholarships to very elite white players (or invite them to walk on). This leaves Michigan State to chose from a healthy batch of three-star in-state recruits who arrive with a chip on their shoulder. Whether the blacks at Michigan are overrated or the Spartans’ motivation from their snubs becomes a tangible factor, MSU has beaten the Wolverines in ten out of the last fourteen confrontations. Mel Tucker starting 2-0 against his top rivals definitely helped his stock.
As far as the players, QB Payton Thorne will be the most prolific white athlete on the field. He’s a returning starter now on the Maxwell Award watch list. Thorne is a redshirt junior this year with two additional seasons of eligibility (via covid waiver) if he doesn’t get enough draft buzz to depart early.
Michigan State usually has some of the highest white starter totals in the Big Ten after perennial leaders Wisconsin and Iowa. However, I see a lot of black underclassmen and recruits at the offensive line positions and throughout the defense. The top two tight ends this year are black, although the team has a couple of freshman studs waiting in the wings (Nickel and Masunas). Tyler Hunt was once a nominal starter but has since dropped to third in the pecking order.
Cade McDonald is a former walk-on (I couldn’t tell if he’s since been given a scholarship) and the only white wide receiver on the roster. McDonald, a redshirt junior this season, has just two career catches. As a high school senior, he tallied 91 receptions, 1397 yards, and 18 touchdowns (as well as 4 return touchdowns). It’s common to see white players with gaudy stats and competitive physical metrics on championship teams get ignored at the next level. McDonald’s caveat is that he caught his high school balls from Payton Thorne. Hopefully, Thorne shows a bit of unconscious bias toward his former favorite receiver if McDonald gets his number called for an occasional package in the slot.
While I found eight defensive backups on the roster with the expectation of playing time, only Maverick Hansen is currently listed on the Ourlads two-deep chart (joining starters Slade and Pietrowski as D-line depth). Pietrowski had 5.5 sacks last year and ascends to the starting lineup as a true junior. DT Jacob Slade returns after earning AP all-conference second-team honors (conference first team from PFF) on the weight of 40 QB pressures and 2.5 sacks.
Overall, MSU under Mel Tucker seems to be trending toward a typical caste outfit plus a couple of regular defensive starters.
Starters:
QB: Payton Thorne
OL: Jarrett Horst, Nick Samac, J.D. Duplain, Brian Greene
DT: Jacob Slade
DE: Jeff Pietrowski
Backups to watch:
QB: Hamp Fay / Katin Houser (3rd/4th string)
Slot WR: Cade McDonald (not on depth chart)
TE: Tyler Hunt, Jack Nickel. Michael Masunas
OL: Matt Carrick, Geno VanDeMark, Jacob Lafave
DE: James Schott, Avery Dunn
DT: Maverick Hansen, Alex VanSumeren
LB: Ben VanSumeren, Sam Edwards, Carsten Casteel
S: Tate Hallock
