UCLA Football Preview: Michigan State Head Coach Jonathan Smith Looks to Be Building for the Long-Term
But the big question is: Will Spartan fans get impatient?
With the Pac-12 imploding and Oregon State on the outside looking in as ten of the conference’s schools left for other conferences, Jonathan Smith agreed to become the next head coach of the Michigan State Spartans on November 25, 2023.
At the time, there were rumors that the Glendora High grad would have welcomed an opportunity to return to Southern California if UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond had chosen to read the room and fire Chip Kelly.
At the time, Smith was one of the hottest coaches in that season’s coaching carousel. That was because Smith had successfully re-built the Beaver football program during his six seasons in Corvallis.
But, alas, Jarmond failed to do what he should have done and Smith signed a 7-year contract at the time, of which he will have five years left at the end of January.
The big reason that Smith is seen as a potential candidate for UCLA’s head coaching vacancy is the fact that his buyout is only about $3 million after Michigan State was fired back in May and that dismissal cut Smith’s buyout in half.
At the same time, Spartan fans seem to be getting impatient with Smith’s results so far. After starting his first season in East Lansing with three wins, the Spartans went 2-7 down the stretch, finishing 5-7 overall, 3-6 in the Big Ten and tied with UCLA in the conference standings.
So far this season, the Spartans have begun the season the same way as last year. They won their first three games and have lost their last two.
But the interesting thing that no one seems to be talking about with Smith is what he is doing in high school recruiting. Sports Illustrated’s Michigan State website did mention this a few weeks ago. The article states:
“I was talking to a Big 10 head coach this week for a story that I am doing on SI, and he knows that I am a Spartan, and I said, “What do you think of the Spartans?” said Our Hondo Carpenter. “He said, ‘I am going to tell you something that nobody is talking about, ‘ and I said, ‘Really, what is that?’ He said they are making a major push with high school kids while everyone else is going to the portal. And he goes, Jonathan [Smith] has the resources.”
If Smith is really focusing on high school recruiting, it might explain why it took the Beavers until his fourth season to make a bowl game and it might explain why it seems to be taking a while in East Lansing. If Smith ends up moving to Westwood after this season, it’s important to know this as he may not deliver immediate results here either.
That said, this is our preview of the Michigan State coaching staff, not reasons to hire or not hire Smith as the Bruins’ next head coach. Having explored that, let’s now look at Smith’s coordinators.
When Smith took the job with Michigan State, he brought his offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren with him. Lindgren was the Beavers’ OC the entire time that Smith was head coach there. This season, Lindgren seems to be flipping between a two-tight end offensive set and three-wide out offensive set. He opted for three wide outs in the starting lineup against Western Michigan and Southern Cal, but he chose to go with a starting lineup with two tight ends against Boston College, Youngstown State and Nebraska.
Smith did not bring his Oregon State defensive coordinator Trent Bray with him from Corvallis. Instead, Bray was named as Smith’s replacement as the Beavers’ head coach.
Smith ended up selecting Joe Rossi who had been Minnesota’s defensive coordinator at the time as the new defensive coordinator for the Spartans. Rossi has started a 4-2-5 nickel defense in each game so far this season, but the Michigan State game notes list the nickel back as an option with a third linebacker as the alternative. So, don’t be surprised if the Spartans swap out their nickel back for another linebacker.
Rossi’s defense is very good against the run. The Spartans have the 33rd best run defense in the country, but they are tied for 112th in scoring defense with an average of 30.6 points per game. That’s largely due to the fact that Michigan State is ranked 108th in passing yards allowed with an average of 249.6 yards per game. By comparison, UCLA is ranked 127th in scoring defense with an average of 32.4 points per game.
Let’s look at the Spartans’ special teams personnel.
Special Teams
Redshirt freshman kicker Martin Connington missed the start of the season with an injury, but he has consolidated all of the placekicking duties since coming back. Against Western Michigan, punter Ryan Eckley was the Spartans’ kickoff specialist and he tried a 46-yard field goal but missed it. In that game, redshirt senior Blake Sislo was three-for-three on PATs.
Connington took over field goal duties, making a 50-yarder and a 39-yarder. He also made the one PAT he tried. Sislo was the primary PAT kicker, going 3-for-3 against the Eagles. Eckley remained the kickoff specialist for this game.
Against Youngstown State, Connington made both his field goal attempts and he was five-for-five on PATs. Eckley remained the primary kickoff specialist in this one, but Sislo did kickoff once.
When the Spartans visited Southern Cal two weeks ago, Connington was the only placekicker for Michigan State. He was one-for-two on field goal attempts, making a 29-yard field goal and missing a 56-yard attempt. He was four-for-four on PATs and he added kickoff duties as well.
While the Spartans didn’t try a field goal last week against Nebraska, Connington was again the only placekicker for Michigan State. He was three-for-three on PATs and he was the only Spartan to kickoff.
Overall, six of Connington’s nine kickoffs have been touchbacks and he’s averaging 64.3 yards per kickoff.
Meanwhile, Eckley is the only punter the team has utilized. In 17 punts, he’s averaged 52.5 yards per punt with 12 going more than 50 yards, nine inside the 20, four fair catches, and a touchback.
Transfer senior receiver Omari Kelly is the only Spartan to return a punt this season. While Kelly hasn’t taken a punt all the way back for a touchdown, he did take one 83 yards against Youngstown State. So, he is certainly a dangerous return man.
Super senior receiver Alante Brown has returned three of the Spartans seven kickoff returns. Like Kelly, he, too, is a dangerous return man, having returned a kickoff 63 yards against Boston College. The good news for the Bruins is that he will be out for Saturday’s game.
When Brown went down with an injury, redshirt senior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver became Michigan State’s kickoff return man, but redshirt junior Chrison McCray returned one for 20 yards against Southern Cal. Last week against the Cornhuskers, linebacker Sam Edwards returned a squib kick two yards, but he fumbled and Nebraska recovered the fumble. So, I wouldn’t expect to see Edwards returning a kick on Saturday.
Go Bruins!!!
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Heck of a write up Joe. Thank you Sir.