Michigan State Football: Quick thoughts, top performers from Miami win

Michigan State football plays its season in one of the most frigid regions of the United States. You won’t find many major college programs that are as far north as MSU. The Spartans were not supposed to travel down to the sweltering Florida heat to be the better-conditioned team over the course of 60 minutes of football.

The Spartans quieted the Hurricanes by burying them in the fourth quarter. Mel Tucker’s unit found an extra gear in the final period, when it mattered the most, by overwhelming Miami on their way to scoring three touchdowns while limiting their opponent to a single field goal.

Strength & Conditioning Coach Jason Novak should be proud.

Let’s take a look at some of the top achievers who have been the engines behind their undefeated start.

• Quarterback Payton Thorne continues to impress with his decision-making, leadership, and poise.

In guiding Michigan State to a 3-0 record, he has been ultra steady, throwing for 726 yards, nine touchdowns, and no interceptions. The key number there is the zero giveaway figure.

Against Miami, he took some shots, demonstrated loads of toughness, and completed several clutch passes under heavy pressure during crunch time. He’s emerging as one of the top sophomore signal-callers around. Many assumed Temple transfer Anthony Russo would win the starting job coming out of summer camp but Thorne has rewarded the Michigan State coaching staff’s belief in him with stellar quarterback play a few games into the 2021 campaign.

• The Michigan State defense was far from perfect on Saturday afternoon but they do deserve some credit for turning over Miami’s star quarterback D’Eriq King twice — snagging two interceptions and forcing (and recovering) two fumbles by him.

Considering King launched nearly 60 passes (59 to be exact), the fact that the Spartan defense didn’t let the Hurricanes’ offense crack 20 points speaks to their grit and opportunistic mindset.

For as poor as the pass rush was (roughly one sack per 20 pass attempts is an awful ratio) and for how surprisingly soft the coverage was (Spartan fans were spoiled for years with the Pat Narduzzi, Mark Dantonio bump and run press coverage that made life miserable for Big Ten receivers) they hung in there and when they had a shot at King, they hit him and hit him hard.

King’s leg and right shoulder were in a great deal of pain thanks to the physicality of Scottie Hazelton’s bunch. MSU’s defense also held Miami in check on the ground as the ‘Canes could only muster up 52 yards on 24 carries (which equates to 2.2 yards per rush).

• Safety Xavier Henderson has been the Spartan’s top tackler in each of their games.

He is the anchor on the back end of the Spartan defense and the unquestioned alpha dog in their secondary. He has been able to have a tremendous impact on each game thus far. He has NFL defensive back written all over him.

The odds are if he continues to flourish, so will Michigan State football as a whole.

• Kenneth Walker III continues to shine.

Walker has emerged as a true workhorse, evident by his 27-carry, 172-yard performance versus a Top 25 team. He also caught a touchdown pass and has shown the ability to pick up blitzes to buy Thorne a few extra seconds in the pocket to find an open wideout.

He has amassed 50 carries jointly in the first and third games of the season. Jay Johnson will have to find ways to preserve him for the most important games down the stretch as three of their final five contests are against Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State and they need a healthy Walker against their most powerful foes.

Jordon Simmons was excellent in Week 2, Elijah Collins has been banged up, Harold Joiner has been disappointing. It will be interesting to see how they fare the remainder of the season. So far though, the Wake Forest transfer has shown no signs that he can’t handle all of the touches he is being given. He’s been absolutely spectacular.

• Walker III has been phenomenal, there is no doubt about that but the offensive line has been outstanding.

They’re keeping Thorne’s jersey clean (they’ve only surrendered five sacks through three games) and creating gaping holes for Walker III to burst through for big chunks of yardage. This is a tough, nasty handful of maulers and this may be the best collective front five since the offensive line that Jack Allen and Jack Conklin were a part of back in 2015.

They’re deep, too. Often times the backups are inserted into the lineup and the offense doesn’t miss a beat. It’s refreshing to see Chris Kapolovic’s influence and his upperclassmen-loaded line drive people off the ball and dominate.

• How good has the duo of Spartan receivers Jalen Nailor and Jayden Reed been over the last two ballgames?

This electric pair of pass-catchers have combined for seven total touchdowns in Weeks 2 and 3. Neither junior is imposing as it pertains to their stature but they are both quick, savvy route runners, and smart football players. Thorne will continue to find these two dangerous playmakers with great frequency to fuel the offensive success and keep it rolling.

• The play-calling of the aforementioned Johnson has been a breath of fresh air.

MSU has averaged 39 points per game this year. There were times during the Dantonio era where the offense was flat and the playbook lacked variety — jet sweep-induced nightmares still linger. Johnson is feeding his best athletes and it’s paying off in tremendous fashion as they’re finding the end zone with regularity.

There are still plenty of games left to be played this season and it’s imperative that the Spartans stay focused but it’s safe to say that head coach Mel Tucker’s rebuild is well ahead of schedule.