Michigan State football rookies’ Madden ratings are questionable

Michigan State football’s two drafted rookies, Justin Layne and Khari Willis, got their first Madden ratings — and they’re questionable.

There’s a word that gets associated with Michigan State football quite often, and embraced by head coach Mark Dantonio: disrespect.

That word has been tossed around left and right when talking Spartan football and it’s because Michigan State just never seems to get the respect it deserves. Whether it’s preseason rankings, All-Big Ten selections, draft picks or, in the most recent case, Madden 2020 ratings.

Michigan State’s two drafted rookies have been handed their first Madden ratings, according to Stephen Brooks of 247Sports, and they were questionable — to say the least.

According to Brooks, Layne, a third-round selection by the Steelers, was given a 69 overall rating with 89 speed, 89 acceleration, 89 jumping and 87 agility but only 66 awareness, 69 catching, 56 tackling, 71 man coverage, 69 zone coverage, 77 for press, 64 play recognition and 75 pursuit.

What has to stand out is his low tackling rating as well as catching, play recognition and man coverage. All seemed to be strengths of his while at Michigan State.

As for Willis, a fourth-round pick by the Colts, he earned a 66 overall with 86 speed, 86 acceleration, 83 agility, 70 strength, 64 catching, 65 man coverage, 63 press coverage, 63 play recognition and 77 pursuit.

The strength rating seems to be far too low along with his play recognition and pursuit, but he has room to improve his ratings throughout his rookie year.

At least we can say both players have room to prove themselves to the Madden development and ratings teams because they apparently didn’t watch these two guys closely enough.