Michigan State Football: Who’ll be named All-Big Ten first-team in 2018?
By Justin Thind
Josiah Scott, CB
Josiah Scott came to Michigan State as a severely underrated three-star prospect. The 247Sports composite rankings had him slated at the 104th-best cornerback in the 2017 class and the 36th-best player in the state of Ohio. He enrolled early at Michigan State and got to work.
In one summer, Scott transformed himself from being a lightly-regarded recruit to a stud cornerback on the path to having as great of an MSU career as anyone.
Because of this quick development that Scott underwent, he started himself off with a strong base which he now has years to build upon. But don’t let all this talk about youth cloud the reality of his production, though. He wasn’t just “good for his age,” but was good — period.
In 2017, he had 12 pass deflections, two interceptions, a forced fumble and 30 total tackles. These numbers were good enough to get him named first-team Freshmen All-American by ESPN.
Moreover, these numbers should significantly increase in 2018, as many people believe that an college athlete undergoes their biggest developmental jump between years one and two in a program.
After this summer, he will have spent two full summers in coach Ken Mannie’s strength and conditioning program. Look to see his tackle count rise about the 30 total tackles he had in 2017. With that improvement added to his already exceptional coverage skills, Scott looks like a pretty solid, well-rounded candidate for one of the two cornerback spots on the All-Big Ten first-team in 2018.
In terms of what cornerbacks he will be in competition with across the conference, look for that to be detailed on the next page.