Meet Michigan State's Clown Princes of College Football
"All right, we’re going to do the reverse nae-nae on three, on three. OK, ready?"
Those are the unlikely words that in a way have come to define one of college football's unlikely success stories.
One of two teams in the nation to finish each of the past two seasons with an AP Top Five ranking, Michigan State has already established itself as one of college football's most consistent programs. From 2013-2014, the Spartans have compiled a 24-3 record, won two major bowl games and find themselves facing a potential program-altering matchup on Saturday as seventh-ranked Oregon comes to town.
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Bright lights and big-name opponents. This is Michigan State football in 2015.
And with a recent track record that's proved itself both on the field and in the NFL draft, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Spartans practices are often filled with high school prospects who are considering spending their college careers in East Lansing. In an effort to give those recruits the most game-like experience allowed, head coach Mark Dantonio often invites them into the Michigan State huddle to witness quarterback Connor Cook direct the Spartans offense.
It's there that those prospects have witnessed an unexpected side of Cook and the Michigan State program.
"He’ll make up a play that’s not an actual play," Spartans center Jack Allen revealed at Big Ten media days in July. "He just starts saying like, 'All right, we’re going to do the reverse nae-nae on three, on three. OK, ready?' It’s pretty funny."
For the uninitiated, the "nae-nae" isn't an actual play. It's a dance popularized by many athletes, including NFL megastar J.J. Watt.
It's also perhaps the secret to a Spartans team that doesn't take itself as seriously as one might think from the outside looking in.
"You mean the nae-nae reverse?"
Talking to Cook, you'd never suspect he knows what the nae-nae is, let alone that he's capable of calling for one in the sacred practice huddle.
From his 6'4", 220-pound frame to the presidential tailored suit he wore while representing Michigan State at Big Ten media days, the Hinckley, Ohio, native certainly looks the part of franchise quarterback.
For the past two seasons, he's played it as well, compiling 5,969 passing yards, 46 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions while completing 58.4 percent of his passes. ESPN.com's Todd McShay currently projects Cook to be the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft.
Forget #FailForCardale, Cook could be Cleveland football's hometown hero counterpart to LeBron James.
But while Cook has already mastered many of the traits that pro teams look for in a signal-caller—including the ability to say very little when being interviewed—his teammates paint the picture of a personality that it is anything but dull. Michigan State defensive end Shilique Calhoun corroborated Allen's story of the faux play calls in practice, even revealing that it was something Cook had recently bragged to him about.
"Connor just told me a story like that," Calhoun said when the nae-nae tale was relayed to him. "He told me that when recruits come into the huddle, he'll specifically call a play that does not exist, just to see how crazy their eyes get."
According to Allen, the tactic usually elicits its intended response.
"You’re sitting there like, 'OK, here we go.' And then you hear it and you’re like, 'Did he really just say that?'" Allen said. "And everyone kind of giggles and he’s like, 'OK, OK, here we go.'"
Approached about his propensity to call fake plays, Cook, perhaps unintentionally, offered a look into the dry sense of humor that's hidden behind a wall of politically correct answers, built by two years in the spotlight and years of media training.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Cook said with a knowing smile when asked about his calls for the reverse nae-nae. "You mean the nae-nae reverse?"
Quickly reverting back to quarterback form, Cook then insisted that his playful play calls only occur in practice.
"Never in games," he said adamantly.
And while Cook's antics may be limited to the practice field, it's hard to imagine his loose personality doesn't show up in some shape or form on Saturdays. He certainly has a way of infecting his teammates, as evidenced by Calhoun's response when pressed for more stories about his quarterback's sense of humor.
"We'll keep those in the huddle," Calhoun said. "I don't know if I can share too many of those."
Maybe that's because it wouldn't be difficult for Cook to get Calhoun back.
"I don't think I'm funny"
Calhoun may not be the prankster that Cook is, but the star defensive end's playful personality has hardly been kept quiet throughout his college career. At Big Ten media days in July, he drew the biggest crowd of reporters of any player in attendance, his new hairstyle—short dreadlocks—and customized bow tie serving as unlikely centerpieces of conversations.
"It was a gift from my mom," Calhoun, a self-described "big mama's boy," said of his accessory. "There is this guy in New York who makes different bow ties from different materials. You’ll never have the same bow tie as me. No two are the same."
The two-time All-Big Ten selection would talk some football too, working the occasional joke and a much more common laugh into his answers. Asked about Ohio State's quarterback competition between Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett, Calhoun responded by saying the best signal-caller he's ever faced is Cook, proclaiming his teammate the leader of "Offense University."
Eventually, Calhoun's energetic vibe became too much to ignore and was soon the subject of questions directed his way. Like Cook, Calhoun quickly came off as humble and unwilling to shine too much of a spotlight on himself.
"I just became comfortable with media, honestly," Calhoun said. "I've been outgoing with my friends and stuff, but over the years of watching guys like [former Spartans] Kirk Cousins, William Gholston, Jerel Worthy, it kind of made me more comfortable with media. I would stop from time to time just to listen to what they say, just check out how they interact with media to see how things would go if I was ever in their position."
With 17.5 career sacks to his credit, Calhoun has found himself standing in front of no shortage of microphones throughout his time in East Lansing. Based on the crowd he drew in Chicago as he represented the Spartans at media days for the second time in as many years, the Middletown, New Jersey, native has developed the reputation of one of the best talkers in the Big Ten.
Asked if there's something to the two faces of the Michigan State program being so like-minded in their respective lighthearted approaches, the 6'5", 250-pound potential first-round pick didn't disagree.
"I don't think I'm funny, but I think he's pretty funny," Calhoun said of Cook. "That funny personality where it's like, 'OK, I can go talk to him. He has a friendly face, we can make a conversation about anything and I can feel like we can relate.' I think Connor and I are two people that are able to do that."
"That’s what we do”
Having a team that likes to laugh is nothing new in college football—just look at the plethora of personalities that can be found on the Ohio State roster.
But in East Lansing, it does come as a bit of a surprise given the no-nonsense approach that Dantonio has taken since first accepting the Spartans head coaching job in 2007. Having fallen from both the coaching trees of Nick Saban and Jim Tressel, Dantonio's humor usually only comes in the form of any contrast from his usual dry demeanor.
"We do see the light side of Coach D," Calhoun said. "You may see a smile every five years, but we see a smile every three months. I ain't gonna give him too much."
Although the scarcity of Dantonio's smiles has become a symbol of the hard work Michigan State's recent success has been built on, the Spartans have also become one of college football's most outgoing programs. In 2013, MSU won the Big Ten championship before going on to win the Rose Bowl in a season during which guard Travis Jackson gained fame by impersonating WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan and the team adopted rapper Richie Homie Quan's "Some Type of Way" as its anthem.
With Cook and Calhoun having moved from sophomores to team leaders, the Spartans' personality became even more apparent in 2014. Despite regular-season losses to Oregon and Ohio State—the two teams that went on to play each other for the national title—keeping Michigan State out of the first College Football Playoff, the Spartans ended last season on a high note, beating Baylor in the Cotton Bowl.
The win over the Bears allowed Michigan State to maintain momentum heading into 2015—and was due in large part to the personalities of its star players.
Falling behind 41-21 heading into the fourth quarter, it appeared inevitable that the Spartans would close their campaign by losing their third game to a ranked opponent. Michigan State, however, would rally to score 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points against the nation's fifth-ranked team, with Cook's pass to Keith Mumphery with 17 seconds left on the clock giving the Spartans the improbable win and erasing two costly interceptions earlier in the game.
According to Allen, the Spartans' improbable comeback may not have been possible without Cook's laid-back demeanor.
"There’s some guys that are always tensed up and locked up and he always keeps it cool. One of the good things about Connor is if he makes a mistake, it may bother him and he may show it a little bit, but the next series he’s going to come to play," Allen said. "You’ve seen that the last couple of years where he makes a mistake, throws an interception, but he’s going to keep coming back and playing like nothing happened. That’s what makes him a great quarterback."
Hardworking but lighthearted. It's a paradox that has come to define not only Michigan State's quarterback, but also its entire program.
"When we’re off the field, we’re all relaxed and having fun," Allen said. "But when it comes time to work, we’re working. That’s what we do."
Whether the Spartans will once again need to rely on their players' personalities—or even the nae-nae reverse—against the Ducks on Saturday remains to be seen.
But by now, they know it's there if they need it.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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