Dantonio in G.R. 'We're On Solid Ground'

GRAND RAPIDS - A cold Thursday in mid-February, a week after signing day, might not seem like a busy day on the college football calendar.

But in today’s college football climate of continuous building, upkeep and forward-thinking, a mid-week day as CEO of Michigan State football had Mark Dantonio tending to various angles of his program - including an appearance at the sixth annual Spartan Winter Tailgate on Thursday at the JW Marriott in downtown Grand Rapids, hosted by the West Michigan Spartans MSU Alumni Club.

At the event, and earlier in the day back on campus, Dantonio put effort into:

* Congratulating current Spartans in the NFL.

* Supporting the next wave of Spartans in the NFL.

* Pursuing the next wave of Spartan recruits with fresh scholarship offers.

* Brainstorming about possible spring football trips if current rules go unchanged.

* Overseeing the completion of the second week of MSU’s winter conditioning program.

* Hitting up alums for continued support in West Michigan for MSU and Grand Rapids charities.

This came a few days after some of his current players joined fellow Spartan athletes in offering help and guidance to young people affected by the Flint water crisis.

“Football is a year-round thing,” Dantonio said during the event on Thursday at the JW Marriott in downtown Grand Rapids. “As I said with recruiting (after signing day), you go onto the next thing. I think the next thing is Super Bowl. College football has become so big, and along with the NFL as big as it is, they just sort of run through each other.”

That meant pausing in Grand Rapids to offer a public word of congratulations for former Spartan Bennie Fowler, who helped the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl victory on Sunday. He caught a 2-point conversion in the final minutes, which served as the final pass attempt of the season for Peyton Manning, and possibly his career.

“We’re really excited about Bennie Fowler’s experience in the Super Bowl,” Dantonio said. “You go from being a guy that came in 2009, breaking a foot, playing a year and then breaking another foot. Then all the sudden he has a tremendous senior year and he’s playing the Rose Bowl, and wining a Big Ten championship and the next thing you know he’s in the Super Bowl. So congratulations to him. It’s a very exciting time for him and his family and for Michigan State.”

Michigan State is 36-5 since 2013, after finish the 2015 season with a 12-2 record. The 36 wins in the past three yeas is the fourth most in the NCAA Football Bowl subdivision.

Michigan State and Alabama are the only schools to finish in the Top 10 in the last three final AP polls.

“We are certainly represented well in the NFL and we will continue to be as we move through the time here,” Dantonio said. “You can see why we’ve been successful. We’ve had a lot of players that have gone on to play in the NFL and I think that’s what you need to have if you are going to win the Big Ten Championship and play at a national level like we have.”

Last year, 41 players were drafted who were not invited to the NFL Combine. Meanwhile, 108 who were invited went undrafted. Linebacker Darien Harris, safety R.J. Williamson, offensive guard Donavon Clark and cornerback Arjen Colquhoun are Spartan players who were not invited to the combine but will continue to get scouted by NFL executives in the weeks ahead, including MSU’s Pro Day in March.

Seven members of Michigan State’s 2015 Big Ten Championship team will participate in the NFL Combine Feb. 23-29 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the site of the Spartans’ 16-13 victory over Iowa in the conference title game on Dec. 5: quarterback Connor Cook, defensive lineman Lawrence Thomas, defensive end Shilique Calhoun, offensive lineman Jack Conklin, center Jack Allen, wide receiver Aaron Burbridge and defensive tackle Joel Heath.

“The next thing up is the NFL Combine,” Dantonio said. “We have seven players going to the combine and that’s exciting. There’s a reason we have won as many games as we’ve won. I think it’s recruiting, I think it’s coaching, I think it’s also having great players.”

Dantonio can’t comment on high school juniors, potential members of MSU’s 2017 recruiting class, but he and his staff have been at work in the film room, making evaluations. Those evaluations resulted in a few new scholarship offers to high school juniors at mid-week, including:

* Scott Nelson, an athlete from Detroit Jesuit. He visited MSU on Thursday.

* Phillip Paea, a lineman from Berrien Springs, Mich. He comes from the same high school program that produced current Spartan offensive lineman Nick Padla. Oregon also offered Paea on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Mustafa Khaleefah - an offensive lineman from Dearborn - visited Michigan State. He has yet to receive a scholarship offer, and is still in the evaluation stages, but Tweeted this photo of himself with his coaches and Dantonio after observing winter conditioning at the Doug Weaver Indoor Facility.

* On Wednesday, the Spartans played host to several Detroit Cass Tech players and extended scholarship offers to offensive lineman Jordan Reid and defensive back Jaylen Kelly-Powell.

“We’re on solid ground,” Dantonio said. “Our football program is on solid. There’s a foundation built and that’s got to hold true. But we always have to keep going above and beyond where we’ve been. That’s the nature of who we are. We’ve said that before. When you get up there at those heights it becomes difficult, but that’s the challenge.”

A month ago, Dantonio was asked about Jim Harbaugh’s sleepover with a recruit and if he would consider doing such a thing. Dantonio smiled and said, “I have my own problems.”

But Dantonio indicated he is open-minded to emulating Harbaugh’s controversial plans to stage spring practices out of state, in Florida, during spring break this year.

It’s too late for the Spartans to plan a trip this year. But Dantonio said it’s possible MSU would consider a similar trip in the future.

Although Harbaugh’s spring break trip has drawn fire from the commissioners of the SEC and ACC, and criticism from former Spartan defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, Dantonio was not critical of the move.

“I think it’s creative, there’s no question about that,” Dantonio said. “From our standpoint, we’ve never thought to do that, but we’re thinking about it nowadays.

“If we want to go to Florida or someplace else, in Texas or something like that, that would be our option to do that, and I guess that’s allowed right now.

“There’s always a push-back on that,” Dantonio added. “If you go, there’s always something negative. If we stay there’s probably something negative. There’s always a push-back whatever you do.”

Michigan State values its spring practice sessions in East Lansing as a recruiting opportunities. MSU plays host to high school recruits of various ages from several states during the spring - especially when high schools are on spring break, which makes it easier for prospects to travel, and stay overnight.

A spring practice trip to Florida or Texas for MSU football could result in lost opportunities to get campus visits from rising prospects from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois or farther away.

Is it a good tradeoff for MSU to lose out on campus visits from Midwestern recruits in order to chase the possibility of landing one or two players in Florida?

Michigan State did not sign a player from Florida this year.

“We've not had to go to Florida this year,” Dantonio said last week at his signing day press conference. “When I was here before, Michigan State recruited Florida hard, but it was different back then. People didn't recruit as early. Now when you have 18 committed guys at the end of June you're looking for maybe two or three guys and you're trying to extend yourself and say, well, maybe we can go to this amount of scholarships. So it becomes very, very selective.”

Michigan State has won the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl and two Big Ten championships in the past three years with little contributions from Florida players. MSU might find it more advantageous to continue to dig deep into in-state and Midwestern recruiting during spring weeks, especially with spring and summer scholarship offers from Michigan expected to receive scrutiny from the families of recruits the year due to the Wolverines’ practice of pulling scholarships from committed prospects late in the 2016 recruiting process.

MSU took measures to improve its take from Florida in 2014 and ’15 with the signing of three 4-star recruits: WR/DB Kaleel Gaines, RB Madre London and linebacker T.J. Harrell. Those additions marked the most noteworthy recruiting victories by Dantonio in Florida during his tenure at MSU.

London rushed for 500 yards as a true freshman in 2015 despite missing three games with a knee injury.

Harrell served as a back-up ‘star’ linebacker last fall, while Gaines redshirted. The impact of those three players in the coming seasons will be monitored closely.

Dantonio indicated he would entertain the concept of practicing out of state if he perceived a disadvantage.

“I do think it’s important to have a level playing field for all colleges and for all universities,” Dantonio said. “We worry about who we are and what we do. From my perspective we try to worry about what’s going on with our program.”

The Spartans began the 2016 winter conditioning program on Feb. 2, and trudged through drills this week while interested observers watched from the sidelines. Offensive tackle Dennis Finley and cornerback Vayante Copeland are potential starters for 2016 but remained out due to injuries sustained last fall.

Finley suffered a broken leg against Purdue last year, and Copeland was lost to a neck injury in the season opener against Western Michigan.

With All-Big Ten left tackle Jack Conklin having left for the NFL, the Spartans will audition potential successors this spring. Finley, who replaced Conklin when he sustained an injury against Central Michigan last fall, would be considered a prime candidate, if he returns to health.

Dantonio said Finley will be back on the field for spring drills, to some extent.

“I think Finley for sure (will participate in spring practice),” Dantonio said.

However, Dantonio indicated that contact drills might not be in the offing for Finley.

Copeland might have a more difficult path to return for the spring.

“With Vayante, I think there are some different things that they’re getting readings on,” Dantonio said.

Public attention will be placed on the quarterback competition this spring, with senior Tyler O’Connor and junior Damion Terry splitting reps. Dantonio indicated that O’Connor could have the inside track for the No. 1 job at the outset of spring, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering that O’Connor received the bulk of the workload in replacing Cook against Maryland and Ohio State.

“Certainly Tyler’s played very well and he’ll start the process,” Dantonio said. “Our players have great respect for him. He’s a fifth year senior. He’s got great leadership skills, but he’s got to make plays.”

Hitting Up West Michigan Alums For Support

Several hundred Spartan fans and alums attending Thursday’s Winter Tailgate. The

West Michigan Spartans MSU Alumni Club awarded its annual Legacy Award to former Michigan State head coach George Perles on Thursday.

Spartan fans were able to bid on donated items such as an autographed Draymond Green jersey, an autographed Kirk Cousins helmet and signed framed photos of the Rangers play which beat Michigan in 2015. Spartan fans were able to get their pictures taken with Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Big Ten Championship trophies, as well as the Paul Bunyan Trophy. MSU’s College Football Playoff trophy was also present.

Money raised at the event supported the Mitch Lyons Tight End Scholarship Endowment, as well as Grand Rapids Public Schools athletic programs, and scholarships sponsored by the West Michigan Spartans Club. Club organizers report that the West Michigan Spartans have contributed more than $1.1 million to the university during its existence.