Michigan State returns almost everyone from a 10-3 team that was among the Big Ten’s best a season ago. Can Sparty take the next step and elevate from conference elite to nationally elite in 2018?
2017 Record: 10-3 (Conf: 7-2)
2018 Returning Starters: 19/22 (Offense: 10/11 | Defense: 9/11)
Returning Leaders:
2018 Outlook
After an incredibly disappointing season in 2016, Mark Dantonio’s Spartans followed it with a nearly unprecedented bounce back season last year. They went from 3-9, the worst record of Dantonio’s 14-year head coaching career, to a top-15 ranking and 10-3 record that included wins over both Michigan and Penn State. The 180-degree turnaround was capped by a 42-17 Holiday Bowl win over Washington State. Loaded with returning starters on what is still a younger than average team, they’re looking to ride that momentum through the spring into the 2018 season.
Michigan State will be returning not only all but two starters from a top 20 defense but also 10 of eleven starters on offense, led by senior running back, LJ Scott. The 6’1″, 230-pound wrecking ball, is just 101 yards shy of surpassing 3,000 career yards from scrimmage at Michigan State.
Handing the ball off to Scott and running the offense, will be the junior quarterback, Brian Lewerke, who completed nearly 59 percent of his passes for just under 2,800 yards last season, his first as a starter. Lewerke also compliments Scott in the run game which he showed in 2017 by scrambling for 559 yards and five touchdowns.
In the passing game, Lewerke’s top three targets from a year ago are also back. Rising senior, Felton Davis III, and sophomore, Cody White, are both dangerous down-field threats and are complemented by a versatile slot receiver in junior, Darrell Stewart Jr.
The only three players Michigan State will be replacing on either side of the ball are center, Brian Allen, linebacker, Chris Frey, and defensive end, Demetrius Cooper.
Cooper and Frey were both above average players and team leaders but Allen, a three-year starter and three-time second-team All-Big Ten selection will be the most difficult to replace. He started 38 games as a Spartan at center and both guard positions anchoring the inside of the o-line as one of the most durable and versatile players in school history.
Even with 19 of 22 returning starters after a 10-3 season, Michigan State’s odds of making the playoff are still only good enough for fourth in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan.
And Mark Dantonio and company wouldn’t have it any other way.