Michigan State pays tribute to former punter Mike Sadler (Photo)
By David Rouben
With Michigan State playing its first home game of the Big Ten season, they honored their former punter Mike Sadler in a beautiful way.
Given that they won the Big Ten, Michigan State should’ve come into this season with plenty to be excited about. But instead, tragedy struck during the offseason when punter Mike Sadler died in a car crash alongside Nebraska punter Sam Foltz.
Nebraska has already honored Foltz multiple times this season. In their opener, they intentionally took a delay of game penalty by not having a punter come on the field. Then in Week 3, Oregon left a bouquet of flowers on the 27-yard line before they took to the field against the Cornhuskers.
Since this is just Michigan State’s third game of the season, and first of the Big Ten season, they haven’t had many opportunities to honor Sadler. But when the two teams took to the field, they were treated to a big surprise. Courtesy of SportsCenter (h/t Saturday Blitz), the midfield logo was painted with a number 3, the same number Mike Sadler wore:
Michigan State honors late punter Mike Sadler, who wore No. 3, by painting his number on the midfield logo. pic.twitter.com/iJ75C7HDeT
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 24, 2016
That is just an outstanding gesture by Michigan State and one that was recognized by their opposition.
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While nobody recognizes the importance of punters, what matters is the tight-knit bond that teammates form. Both Nebraska and Michigan State have demonstrated that losing one player is like losing a family member. Seeing the fans recognize that bond is great, too.
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Beating Notre Dame on the road, but a loss next week would make it irrelevant. Michigan State needs to beat Wisconsin if they want to keep up with the Big Ten East. It’s a very tough division that will be competitive throughout, and just one slip-up, especially in the first week, could spell the end for their chances. If the Spartans do pull off the win, they’ll be sure to dedicate it to Mike Sadler.