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Michigan State Football: 5 reasons to be excited about 2019 after spring

By Connor Muldowney

COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 03: Brian Lewerke #14 of the Michigan State Spartans runs past Byron Cowart #9 of the Maryland Terrapins during the first half at Capital One Field on November 3, 2018 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 03: Brian Lewerke #14 of the Michigan State Spartans runs past Byron Cowart #9 of the Maryland Terrapins during the first half at Capital One Field on November 3, 2018 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) /
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The 2019 season is right around the corner and despite a rough 2018 campaign, Michigan State football fans should be excited, and here’s why.

Sometimes Spartan fans have a tendency to look through green glasses and not realize their bias, and I think everyone is guilty of that within their own fandom, but there hasn’t been quite enough optimism surrounding the Michigan State football program after a disappointing 2018 season.

The Spartans finished just 7-6 with a Redbox Bowl loss to Oregon, 7-6. It was an ugly game and a rough end to a season that started rather promising with an offense that looked poised to put up big numbers.

Brian Lewerke suffered a shoulder injury early on and was never the same and the offense suffered even more when Felton Davis III went down with an injury. It was an all-around poor season for the Spartan offense and the defense was left carrying the slack.

Despite all the negativity surrounding the impending 2019 season, we are going to bring some positivity to the situation with some reasons for optimism.

5. Offensive line has bulked up

Watching the offensive line fail to live up to expectations and act as Swiss cheese, allowing defenders to get free shots at Brian Lewerke and Rocky Lombardi while providing no push in the run game last season was nauseating. No unit on the team was more disappointing.

Yes, that includes the quarterbacks.

The run game failed to get going because the line couldn’t open holes and quarterbacks never had time to throw the ball. Everyone in the trenches seemed to get overpowered rather quickly and many believed it was the lack of girth on the line. There were multiple guys in the 270-280 range, which isn’t ideal.

That has all changed this offseason with each lineman bulking up and you’d be hard-pressed to find one under 300 pounds. This can only benefit the offense as that means they’ll be able to handle bigger defenders and have their way with smaller, yet quicker, opponents.

The line looked much more effective in the spring game, even against a top-10 defense.

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