50 defining moments from the 2021 Michigan State football season: No. 22

Only 22 days remain until the 2022 Michigan State football season begins on Friday night. Why not a Reed touchdown against Nebraska from under the lights?

Welcome to my 50 defining moments from the 2021 Michigan State football season. Today marks the 22nd ranked moment on my list, Jayden Reed’s receiving touchdown against Nebraska.

For those of you who missed yesterday’s article, please click here. If you would like to look at previous articles of this series, feel free to scroll through my writing profile.

No. 22: Jayden Reed’s 35-yard TD reception vs. Nebraska

Oh, by the way, this was a flea flicker, if you did not remember.

Why No. 22?

This play opened the scoring of this game in the second quarter. After each team spent the first quarter feeling each other out, the Spartans struck on one of the first plays of the second quarter, with Thorne finding Reed for a 35-yard touchdown.

On this play, Jay Johnson reached back into his well of tricks, dialing up the reliable flea flicker. This one appears to be straight out of backyard football, with Kenneth Walker breaking to his left and then pitching the ball back. This was different than the other flea flickers Michigan State football utilized, and Nebraska bought into this wrinkle and Jayden Reed flew by the corner covering him. A mistimed diving breakup attempt by the corner sealed this play as a touchdown, as all Reed had to do was look the ball in.

I have a lot of credit to give out on this play. To begin, I would like to credit the Spartan offensive line. Kenneth Walker pitched the ball back and looked for someone to block, only to find no one breaking free. If Walker ran this, he would probably have 5-to-7 yards before having to attempt to break a tackle. At the very end, before Thorne threw the ball, a play was able to apply some pressure, but that pressure had no effect on Thorne. Additionally, Connor Heyward motioning across the play as a seal block drew some linebacker attention, so I’d like to highlight this.

The second group I’d like to credit is the backfield of Walker and Thorne. Walker sold the play excellently, with every member of the back seven for Nebraska being flat-footed at the very least. Considering the lack of rushing yards Kenneth Walker had in this game, this moment really stands out. Nebraska prepared so extensively for Walker that this play was just dying to be unleashed. Payton Thorne snagged the slightly off-target pitch back from Walker and then was able to keep his composure against the aforementioned pressure and deliver a perfect strike to Reed.

I also mentioned in moment No. 25 that Tre Mosley does not get enough credit, and the field position of this play was aided by a 12-yard screen pass the play before. Mosley gave the team a first down and this opened the Spartan playbook for a first down well into Nebraska territory. Mosley’s first down contributed to this play and he deserves credit for that.

Finally, Reed gets the credit for running an excellent route and looking the ball in despite the distractions of the diving defensive back. Jayden Reed made a bunch of excellent plays this season, making something out of nothing. On this play, he had arguably his easiest touchdown of the season. With a moment that comes later in this game, he deserves an easy touchdown like this.

The flea flicker was a play that I would never imagine having such an impact on the year. This is the third flea flicker on this list, with Montorie Foster and Jayden Reed, again, catching the others. When you have the best running back in the nation on your side, a whole new side of the playbook is opened.

Jay Johnson has a new task ahead of him this season. The Spartans went from no attack to one of the best last year, and now we enter the third straight year of not knowing how our running attack will be for the upcoming season.

Regardless, this moment was 2021 Michigan State football summed up. Unfortunately, this moment gets overshadowed by Reed’s other touchdown from this game. Additionally, this play opened the scoring but did not lead to any Spartan momentum, making it hard to justify making my top 20. Early scores are hard to rank high and this suffers the same fate as Haladay’s pick six. Both plays were phenomenal and impacted the game completely. Unfortunately, the plays that occurred later in the game would mean more to the final tally.

Statistically, this was part of Reed’s eight touchdowns in four weeks, as I highlighted in another article. This also contributed to Payton Thorne’s excellent season, as I like to mention. These two will prove to be crucial if the 2022 Michigan State football team would like to build on their success from the last year.

Tomorrow, the Kenneth Walker highlight show returns.