March 12, 2008

Listen to Coach Narduzzi Interview

Michigan State Offensive Coordinator Don Treadwell

On winter workouts...
The one thing that you are always looking for is that they are working hard. (Strength & Conditioning Coach) Ken Mannie, of course, initiates the process of beginning winter conditioning so you get a lot of insight from him. We've been very pleased with the work ethic and the competitiveness, so we're going full speed ahead.

On Mark Dell...
The thing that was exciting about Mark last year is that he was a true freshman, so I think he was just scratching the surface as a true freshman. Now that he has that experience under his belt I think he will just continue to develop into a very productive receiver for us. He certainly has the chance to productive for us. He showed some signs last year, making some big catches for us.

On Michigan State's offensive system...
I think that as long as we are under Coach Dantonio's leadership we are always going to be a balanced offense, so you are always going to feature those guys within your offense that can run the ball. When you can run the ball, typically, it's going to open up lanes for the passing game. Last year, Devin (Thomas) just ended up emerging as a tremendous receiver for us. Like most offenses, we're going to try and tap into those receivers that are most productive for us.

On Deon Curry...
Curry's one of the leaders. He's a very sharp football player. He understands the system, and he's one the leaders out there because he can help line up guys. He can play multiple positions so that's a bonus for him and for us.

On the offensive line...
We've lost three or four guys that we would rotate in there as starters. Everything starts up front, there's no question about that. We were also very excited about the guys that were behind them last year that got a little playing time. Certainly we feel we've got a couple of the best offensive line coaches around in Coach Roushar and Coach Staten. Right now though, the system is in place, so now it's just a matter of developing.

We've basically lost two starters on our left side, so we've got to come in and look at some guys there. Rocco Cironi is a guy that played a little bit in a backup role last year. We look to incorporate him a little bit more in there.

At the guard position, Brandon Moss was a guy that got in somewhat last year, but certainly his role and his opportunity right now would be a little bit greater.

Jesse Miller and Roland Martin have been a mainstay for us on the right side. We expect them to continue to be a force at what they do.

On the running backs...
We know that we've got a special player in Javon Ringer, that's a no-brainer. I thought that Coach Enos did a tremendous job in his rotation of Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick last year. One nice thing about spring football is that we're not going to put too much on Javon Ringer. He's going to get the reps that he needs, but we're really going to work on getting a feel for the younger guys that have been in the shadows.

On Brian Hoyer...
Like all guys, when it's your first year within a new system there's going to be a learning curve to a degree. Like most good quarterbacks though, Brian is a student of the game. That's one of his strengths. Sometimes you have to teach a quarterback to be that and some come already made like that, and he came like that. Now it's just a matter of him fine tuning some things. He'll be much more experienced. Some things will come second nature to him that didn't at the beginning. We're excited because his upside is still in front of him. He has the work ethic and a lot times those things are going to overcome other things.

Michigan State Defensive Coordinator Pat Narduzzi

On what coaches look for during the spring...
We'll see how much our kids have picked up what were doing defensively and how much better they know the offense from last year to this year. Mentally we should be so much better. Fundamentally and technique-wise we should be a lot better. We'll be younger at some positions so we'll be looking for young guys to step up at those positions. Our goal is to become a better football program, period.

On Trevor Anderson...
Trevor Anderson brings that high motor. He brings athletic ability to the defensive end position. He'll be somewhere in the range of an Ervin Baldwin or Jonal Saint-Dic at the defensive end position. We'll find out though when he gets going here. The only true measuring stick won't be spring ball, it will be game day. We'll find out exactly what he's got, but we know that he's a good football player. He'll bring a lot to the table and we're fired up to have him. We've been fired up for a year, but we haven't had a chance to experience it until now, so we'll see it on Tuesday.

Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi

On the defensive ends...
We're losing a lot. You look at how Saint-Dic was a playmaker. He made a lot of plays and had a great motor. He came to play on game days. Ervin Baldwin was a great football player, probably our best defensive end. He was smart, he did everything right, and he had a great motor. I sort of miss those guys a lot, but we believe Trevor Anderson will come in and have an immediate impact for us and at least take one of those guy's spots right now. Then we've got to find out who are other defensive end is going to be.

We've got Brandon Long who can compete for it. He started off last season as the starter at end and he'll start this spring off there. He's got a ton of potential, he's just got to continue to be consistent in his performance.

We've got Tyler Hoover who's an incoming freshman that we are very excited about. We're going from our workout phase, where you're just a workout guy and not necessarily a football player, to this phase where now you are a football player. He's a great athlete and he's exactly what we thought we recruited which isn't always the case, but if he plays football like he works out then we're going to be very happy with him after 15 days of spring ball.

The other guy there is Dwayne Holmes, who has made the transition from a tight end to a defensive end. Being a mid-year move from the tight end spot to the defensive end spot, it's tough to pick up mentally what you are doing and what Coach Gill is teaching, so you're always playing from behind. It's like getting switched from an algebra class to a geometry class, midway through school. So he's going to get a nice, fresh start at defensive end and we're happy we've got him on defense so we're excited for what he can bring to the table at defensive end.

Colin Neely is a guy that has been injured and will continue to work for us at defensive end. We're very excited about two defensive ends, Todd Anderson and Jonathon Strayhorn. They're two kids from Michigan that will play defensive end this spring and bring more athletic ability to that position so who knows what we'll find there.

On the linebackers...
Looking at our SAM linebacker, obviously Greg Jones is a very good football player for us. He's got to be a lot sounder. There were games last year where (the media) probably thought he was good but we graded him as bad, but he still made plays. We know he's going to be a great football player, but he's still got a lot of learning to do. Jon Misch will back him up, he's about 205 pounds right now and we've been trying to put some weight on him. The third guy you'll see at that spot is Ryan Allison, a guy that we've moved. He's been through the circuit there, as a receiver a year ago. He was a safety mid-season as well and now we think he has gotten big enough and we think he's tough enough to play outside linebacker. We're just trying to get as much speed on the field as we can and there's a safety now maybe playing linebacker. We'll find out what he's got but we know nothing about what he'll have at that position. Those are the three guys that are going to fight for that spot.

At WILL linebacker, Eric Gordon is probably our best linebacker coming into spring ball I would say. He's probably the soundest guy and he had a very nice season there for us last year. (Gordon and Jones) were good players for us last year, but they can be so much better. We're trying to achieve perfection at outside linebacker there I guess. Brandon Denson is another guy that we're looking to get a lot of good play out of. He's athletic, he's exactly what we want out of an outside linebacker. He's physical and he's got a great motor. He's a guy that will be learning the defense, right now I'd say he's about halfway there. Marcus Webb is a walk-on safety. He's, again, another guy that we don't know an awful lot about because he's moved to linebacker.

At MIKE linebacker, Adam Decker will be the guy that starts out at starter; it'll be his to lose. I think he's made a lot of strides from last year to this year. He's gotten more athletic and we've got to keep him healthy. We think he can take over Kaleb Thornhill's job and do a sound job at it. Josh Rouse will be his backup, both of them will get a lot of playing time. Those two were kind of neck-and-neck last year, then Decker got hurt and kind of lost it to Rouse. Behind them we've got two guys in Kyle Smith and Andrew Pendy, they're two guys who have got to continue to work so we can find out what they've got. Kyle Smith is a senior and is a very good football player so it will be very interesting to see.

On the defensive tackles...
Justin Kershaw right now is 278 pounds, right now I'm sure he'll walk out there on Tuesday at 280 pounds, he played last year at 260. That guy is going to be a force on our defensive line. He'll be the leader of our defensive line, without a question. He's a smart guy that I think is going to get better and better. He is a guy that gets off the ball and causes all kinds of havoc in the backfield. We're excited about what he is going to bring to our defense next year because it all starts up inside.

His backup right now is Kevin Pickelman. He's been a defensive end and could be a defensive end in the next day, but we think he's got enough toughness to play inside so that is where we kind of feel that he could be almost a young Kershaw. He's 250 pounds right now, I'd hope he'd be a 280-pound guy someday. We're just kind of grooming him to be Justin's backup right now and his future replacement because he's got the toughness and the ability that we want inside.

Ryan Wheat is a guy that is either going to play defensive tackle or nose tackle. He'll be the backup at either spot and not necessarily a three at this point. After the starters they're all fighting for the backup position and Ryan is right in the mix. We're expecting good things of him. We wanted to cut down a bit of his weight, and he's struggled to do that at 310. That looks good on a piece of paper, but we want guys that can run on the field so I'd like to see him at 295.

Oren Wilson, I think, has a lot of potential. He's got to be better than he was last year to be a starter for us and to take as many snaps as Ogemdi Nwagbuo did for us last year. We're expecting a lot of good things out of him and he's projected at that starting nose position right now.

Then "Big Daddy" Antonio Jeremiah is the other guy, that again, is a nose tackle because he's 324 pounds. He's another guy that we are trying to cut down. He's moving pretty good, and he still moves pretty good for 324 pounds. We'd like to see him a little lighter than that.

On the secondary...
We're really going to miss Travis Key and Nehemiah Warrick at the back end, but we hope we have some guys that will know what they are doing and fill those shoes back there.

Looking at the boundary corner, Kendell Davis-Clark is a guy that has as much ability as any corner does. Our corners, as a whole, have got to make a lot more plays on the ball. Last year we saw 72 fades, so it's not like we don't know we're going to see fades. That's why we're in the stance that we're in. When we're in coverage we need to make plays on the ball. I think the goal for our corners is to use our hands better and make plays on the ball in the deep part of the field. We should have more interceptions at corner, and let them run those fades but they should be afraid to throw the ball up there.

Chris L. Rucker has got to become a better football player for us. He was great for a freshman but he's not a freshman anymore. He's got to become a sounder, better football player for us. We're excited about what he's got there.

Ross Weaver will not start out in the spring (shoulder). He may get into some seven-on-seven. He'll be out there but he won't necessarily be on the depth chart here. He got better as the season went on last year.

Ashton Henderson is probably our soundest corner. He's not the fastest corner that we have but he plays with great technique. If everybody played with as good technique as Ashton did last year at corner we'd have been in great shape. Ashton will be the guy starting at the field corner.

We've got Jeremy Ware, who will be fighting for reps there. A kid that will be starting from square one is Johnny Adams. He's a guy that's got great athletic ability and will be a punt returner. He's got great feet, and we're very excited about what he's done in workouts.