Pat White transferring
John Lewandowski confirmed tonight that redshirt freshman safety Pat White has requested a transfer.
White was passed in camp by true freshman Isaiah Lewis and was not in the two deep at the end of camp. He has not yet chosen a destination. This is a hit to MSU's depth, and from watching drills going back to last season, I always thought White looked like a future player. Someone will get a good one. And someone is starting to feel like a jinx (Quote from this blog on Aug. 9: "I'll make a call right now: Patrick White earns some kind of role on the defense this season.")
Which, somehow, brings me to our MSU preview section. It comes out Wednesday. Pick it up if you're in the Lansing area, I'll link the heck out of it here in the morning as well. When putting these together, I always look back at last season's, to see how we did things and to remind myself of what we thought of MSU football one year ago. This year I was both amused and aghast at my 2009 defensive backs preview. Check it out and let's laugh together!
DEFENSIVE BACKS
The skinny: Welcome to the stockpile. Mark Dantonio had some very good defensive backfields as MSU’s secondary coach from 1995-2000, but did he ever have this many good players? It’s doubtful.
MSU has four starting-quality cornerbacks in junior Chris L. Rucker, senior Jeremy Ware, senior Ross Weaver and sophomore Johnny Adams. Plus a senior with plenty of experience in Ashton Henderson and a pair of rankings-friendly freshmen in Patrick White and Dana Dixon.
Safety is actually deeper, even with four-year mainstay Otis Wiley departing. Five players are good enough to start. Senior Dan Fortener and junior Marcus Hyde nosed ahead at the end of camp, but sophomore Trenton Robinson, senior Kendell Davis-Clark – who is the designated nickel back – and junior Roderick Jenrette will play.
Jenrette is back after a year away from the program for personal reasons – and he was the projected starter opposite Wiley a year ago.
Oh, and true freshmen Jairus Jones and Denicos Allen pass the “eyeball test” with ease. Secondary coach Harlon Barnett’s group is virtually injury proof.
And it’s steadily improving. In this staff’s first season, touchdown passes dropped to 22 from an obscene 32 the year before. Last season, they fell to 18, while yardage allowed dropped to 213.4 a game. There’s reason to believe the declines will continue.
The star: Rucker starting and playing during key moments is the only personnel certainty. The 6-2, 195-pound junior is approaching “lockdown corner” status after an honorable mention All-Big Ten sophomore season that saw him silence a lot of good receivers. He also showed toughness, missing just two games with an elbow dislocation suffered against Iowa that was too gruesome to watch more than once.
The concern: The surplus of quality players is expected to raise everyone’s game. But is it possible that all the shuffling and flip-flopping of players could hurt MSU’s chemistry and communication? Sure. Is it possible we’re reaching here? Sure.
Potential surprise: It’s more than a mild surprise that Jenrette is back with the team, considering the way things unfolded with his departure last August. He’s a big, fast, hard-hitting athlete who must make up for a year of missed time. At some point this season, it may turn out that he’s too talented to keep off the field.
Did you know: Detroit Lions fans – whoever’s left – will probably feel old when they realize that MSU freshman safety Jairus Jones is the son of former Lions star James Jones. Jones was a Lions fullback from 1983-88 who became the featured back after Billy Sims was hurt in 1985. The younger Jones, from Tampa, Fla., was ranked the No. 37 prep safety in the nation by Scouts, Inc.
On a scale of 1-10: 9. Defending the pass may be the thing this MSU football team does best in 2009.
-- Joe Rexrode
Yep, it's really that bad. And that good. But don't worry. This year's preview section will be extremely accurate, I'm sure.
UPDATE: Mark Dantonio's radio show will be Wednesday for this week only, Thursday every other week. It's from 7-8 p.m. at Reno's East, on WMMQ 94.9-FM and WJIM 1240-AM.
