Michigan State Football: Top 10 players of the Mark Dantonio era
Although Mark Dantonio wasn’t responsible for bringing Javon Ringer to MSU and he played only two seasons for the head coach. Dantonio got to campus in 2007 when Ringer was already a junior, but that didn’t stop the running back from having one heck of a finish to his career with the help of Coach D.
The season prior to Dantonio’s MSU debut, Ringer had a down-year, recording just 497 rushing yards and one touchdown in eight games.
Ringer can probably thank Dantonio for the overwhelming success he had as a junior and senior at Michigan State because the head coach gave him the reigns of the offense, basically, and let him run wild, recording over 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns in his final two seasons.
At one point in time, the Spartan running back was a Heisman-hopeful and had a string of 200-plus yard rushing games as a senior. In fact, he became the third player in Michigan State history to record over 2,000 all-purpose yards during that season and he opened the eyes of college football fans everywhere.
Ringer led the Big Ten in all-purpose yards and was named a Doak Walker Award finalist — the nation’s top running back award.
During his career at Michigan State, he recorded 4,398 rushing yards, 34 rushing scores, 719 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. He will go down as one of the best running backs in school history, but is he the best to ever play under head coach Mark Dantonio? Two more spots and you will find out.
Next: 2. Kirk Cousins, QB