Michigan State Football: Spartans' New-Look Offense Is Main Focus This Spring

Pop quiz, hot shots. What do these years have in common: 2011, 2010, 1999, 1965? Those are the only four years that Michigan State has ever won 10 or more games in a single season. Granted, teams weren't playing 13 or 14 games a year in the '60s, but the point remains: Michigan State is in the stratosphere right now, relative to its usual success.

The one thing eluding the team under Mark Dantonio, though? A Big Ten championship. Each of the last two years, Michigan State has taken a backseat to Wisconsin for the trip to Pasadena, even though the Spartans had beaten Wisconsin in the regular season both years. In 2010, Wisconsin won the Rose Bowl bid on account of a three-way tiebreaker with Sparty and Ohio State, while last year saw Wisconsin exact its revenge on MSU in a thrilling Big Ten championship game.

Will this be the year Michigan State makes it out west? If so, the journey begins this spring—with a completely retooled passing game.

Important Dates

Michigan State started spring practice on Wednesday, March 21, and the annual spring game is on Saturday, April 28 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Biggest Question Marks

Wide Receiver

Keshawn Martin, B.J. Cunningham, Keith Nichol and Brad Sonntag are all the wide receivers who caught at least five passes last season. They were all seniors.

The leading returning WR is only sort of a WR, and that would be Tony Lippett, who caught four passes for 44 yards while splitting time at cornerback, where he made five starts in 2011. Depth may press him into full-time WR duty in 2012.

Meanwhile, Keith Mumphery and Bennie Fowler saw some spot duty in 2011, while we may see some action from Juwan Caesar, who A) has an awesome name and B) redshirted last season. 

Tight End

Michigan State also loses its top tight end in Brian Linthicum, who broke out for 31 catches and 364 yards in his senior season last year. Garrett Celek also departs, which leaves the position to freak of nature Dion Sims (6'5", 276 lbs) by himself. Sims should be a nice target for Andrew Maxwell, but one tight end doth not a corps make; the push for the reserve spots should be interesting to watch over the course of the year.

Defensive Tackle

Jerel Worthy heading to the NFL is a hit for Michigan State to take, but it wasn't entirely surprising. He was a terror on the interior, and when teams doubled him and left NT Kevin Pickelman singled in the 1-gap, the line was as good as collapsed.

Worthy and Pickelman are both gone, and the Michigan State defensive front is probably going to suffer as a result.

Anthony Rashad White is a space eater at 316 pounds, but he carries it well. He'll need some help and depth here, though. 

Early Predictions for 2012

If there's anything working in Michigan State's favor with the revamping of the offensive personnel, it's that Andrew Maxwell was throwing to most of these guys with the second unit last year, so there's already a rapport in place. As such, Michigan State shouldn't have any trouble using timing routes or double moves in its passing game early and often in the season. That's tremendously helpful to a first-year starting quarterback.

Michigan State has a slew of tough games, but they're all at Spartan Stadium (seriously, if ever there were a year to get season tickets, it's this year; check out this slate: Boise State, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern), so there are plenty of opportunities for a huge win. That said, 8-4 (5-3) looks reasonable, which is a bit of a comedown from the last two seasons, but it's still pretty darn good.