What we learned
The interview portion of Big Ten media days is complete. We found out...
* MSU coach Mark Dantonio feels very, very good about the freshman class and its future, both immediate and long-term. More on that in Wednesday's LSJ.
* Caulton Ray and Ashton Leggett are indeed the top running backs entering camp, although Dantonio said Andre Anderson "has got the ability to be a great player" but needs more consistency.
* The point of attack is where Dantonio believes MSU needs the most improvement, which is no surprise. He said right tackle J'Michael Deane "has a chance to be a great player."
* Brett Swenson wants to kick off and has been working on it, but Dantonio won't be afraid to take the red shirt off Kevin Muma if he is clearly the best option.
* Greg Jones doesn't like talking about Ohio State. He was pressed by a reporter who covers OSU to give a scouting report on Terrelle Pryor and didn't have much to say. Jones, Blair White and Dantonio all said they don't like the fact that OSU is off the schedule for the next two years. (I don't believe anyone has filed a petition to change it, though).
* As long as Joe Paterno is coaching, the first question he fields will always be a subtle dance-around number that translates to: "When the heck are you retiring?" I guess we already knew that. We also already knew that when he retires, this event will be a lot less fun.
* It's already a lot less fun without Joe Tiller, who had that ballroom in stitches every time he took the podium. His successor, Danny Hope, is about as stoic as Tiller was gregarious.
* Rich Rodriguez and his players seem very determined to atone for last season, and I leave here liking their chances to have a winning season better than I did a couple days ago.
* Darryll Clark is not happy that Terrelle Pryor was preseason offensive POY. And he shouldn't be.
* Tim Brewster really wants the Big Ten to expand and have a title game, but expansion and the push for a nine-game league schedule don't have much momentum right now. I don't expect anything significant to happen with the Big Ten schedule until a suitable 12th team is nabbed. And that looks distant.
* MSU has earned a lot of respect in two years under Dantonio, as evidenced by the third-place pick despite the loss of senior starters at QB and RB. So the pressure's up and the prove-you-wrong edge is gone.
* The Big Ten coaches are bothered by the league's poor bowl performance and determined to answer all of those (pretty much everyone) who say the SEC is far superior. My question is, why bother? The SEC is on its own level because no one else cares to be an academically questionable, ethically questionable, priorities-lacking NFL clone in which coaches routinely sacrifice their coordinators and fans make Raider Nation look civilized. Put them on ignore.
