Chat at noon
I'm about to head over for round-table interviews with coaches and players, then we'll have our first chat of the season at noon Eastern. I'd say we have plenty to discuss.
In the meantime, the Big Ten is changing like never before. We've got some MSU tidbits. The Spartans bolstered their 2012 class. And Meet the Spartans has a date and time.
A few more comments from Dantonio:
On Jairus Jones:
“Jairus continues to improve. I don’t know that he’s gonna be able to go through August and scrimmage and everything, but I think he will be running and everything by September. And hopefully we’ll have him back end of September, early October for the Big Ten season.”
Is that extraordinarily fast?
“Yes it is. But he told me the day that he got the Achilles’ (tear), as I sat and talked with him afterward he said, ‘You know what, coach, I’m a fast healer. I’ll be back.’ And he is. He is way ahead of schedule.
“The doctor has to clear him and I think it’s something he gradually has to be able to prove to himself, first of all, that he can do these different movements. Especially as a defensive back, or as a point guard, like Kalin Lucas had to do. So I think it’s something he has to work through. But certainly you can’t put him on the field until he’s able to play at a high level.”
On being an "old" guy in the league now: “That pretty much says it all right there. If I’m one of the old guys … I’ll have to go home and tell my wife that. But I am 55 now. So I had to go into Denny’s and look at the back menu.”
On the Capital One Bowl loss: “I think it sends a message to everyone that you’re only as good as your last game. That you define yourself every game. And that there’s always gonna be somebody you have to measure up against. And we need to get to the point where we can measure up with anybody, anywhere in this country. And until we get to that point, we have not arrived to everything I want us to arrive to. I think we’re closer. I think we’re far closer than when we came here. Our expectations are getting bigger, and that’s a good thing. But we define ourself every game in every year.”
