Michigan State Football: Connor Heyward is Big Ten’s most underrated, overused player

With the departure of Mark Dantonio, Connor Heyward will get a second chance to prove himself as a Michigan State football star.

I think everybody had the same thought when they first saw Connor Heyward lining up at running back: what is this tight end doing in the backfield? Oh, it’s a trick play. Of course. Classic Mark Dantonio.

But this trick play lasted through the entire 2018 season and we watched one of the slowest running backs in the Big Ten run up the middle 15 times a game behind an abysmal offensive line. The only logic that the Michigan State football coaches could have applied to using Heyward as a pure running back this much was that other coaches would think that the Spartans were too stupid to keep doing it.

Per sportsreference.com, MSU would finish with the 115th ranked rushing offense in the country in 2018, Heyward’s single season as the starting tailback. This was one of the lowest marks among Power Five teams, with toilet bowl teams like Rutgers and Kansas both finishing well ahead of the Spartans.

When Heyward entered the transfer portal, I looked back and felt bad for him. He deserved better. He trusted a strong D1 college football program to get the best out of him, and they did the opposite. But then Mark Dantonio suddenly resigned and was replaced by Mel Tucker, giving Heyward second chance.

I still can’t quite get over the mental hurdle that stood in front of me: Heyward doesn’t look like a running back. He doesn’t look like a tight end, he’s too short. He’s not a wide receiver because he’s too, um, muscular we’ll call it. He kind of looks like a linebacker or a defensive end.

This was just the beginning of the internal debate that I’ve been having for a long time. Obviously, Heyward is not a pure running back; you don’t need to be a football expert to see that. But every time I decided that he shouldn’t be in the game, he would do something to prove me wrong. An incredibly athletic one-handed catch, a 40-yard run, something that made me change my mind.

Heyward is a utility player. I want to say that he’s at the wrong position, but is he? Maybe he’s a running back in the traditional sense, but he’s built like his dad, “Ironhead” Heyward, and he would be one heck of a fullback if that were still a relevant position. I could see him playing tight end, but he’s a little small. He’s a great blocker — I think. He played quarterback in high school and has shown that he can throw the ball. But how does he fit into the offense?

The problem was never Heyward, rather the worst, least creative college football offensive coaching staff in recent memory.

Dave Warner and Brad Salem had him running as a pure running back too often. He’s overused. Yes, I know, that’s how Michigan State plays, but if you watch this type of running back play, they thrive when given a quick, speedy counterpart. As a Chicago Bears fan, the duo I have in mind is Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen.

At this point, Heyward won’t be the starting running back. That spot is obviously reserved for Elijah Collins, who sparked some excitement at that position for the first time since LJ Scott’s freshman season in 2015. Opposing teams will actually have to start game planning to defend against the run when they play Michigan State. Weird, I know.

The way I view Heyward as a player is this; take every single player off of any given football team and combine them all into one. Even though he wasn’t a good running back, he might be one of the best players on this Michigan State offense. Jay Johnson will find somewhere to plug him in. He might not have the best statistical output in 2020, but he’ll be a very important part of the offense moving forward.

We’ve seen him line up in the backfield, but I’d like to see him take less snaps at running back and more snaps anywhere else. You could even throw him in at quarterback every once in a while — he completed a pass in 2018 to Cam Chambers. Put him at tight end or wide out. He’s shown that he can catch the ball. He’s made multiple great catches and the man doesn’t even wear gloves.

I, for one, am extremely excited to see what these coaches can do with Heyward this coming season.