MSU hires Colorado OC Jay Johnson as OC
Johnson led Colorado to the #51 offense according to S&P+ despite having a first round pick at WR and the schools all-time passing leader at QB. #51 is an improvement over MSU's 2019 offense, and Colorado's 2018, it this seems like an uninspiring hire as most UC fans are happy he's gone.
So far Mel Tucker is being paid $5.5 mil to put together a Frankenstein staff of MSU and UC coaches. That, like the OC hire, seems uninspiring.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:23 PM ^
Pretty spot-on assessment there. Only place I would disagree with you is I think Jarvis is actually pretty solid. He had to play out of position at LT for the first 2 games this season because the twiggy tackles broke, and he was our best tackle. Unfortunately, Higby, who was filling in for him at RG, missed a block and pushed his guy into Jarvis' knee, ending his season. Higby then had to fill in for Jarvis at LT and, well, that went about as well as you would expect. I was really encouraged by the new guys though. You should never be starting 3 true freshmen on the offensive line, but Dobbs, Duplain, and Samac performed admirably given the fact that they all should have been sitting. I think they all have potential, now we just need the OL coach to continue their development.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:52 PM ^
Oh man, you should go back and watch that film on #75. I noticed him early against WMU because State kept completing passes right before Lewerke was about to get lit up by Ali Fayad, a WMU edge guy who's a good litmus of are you good since he wrecks MAC OTs and does nothing against alright ones.
February 18th, 2020 at 12:15 AM ^
Alright, I went back and looked and I see what you mean there. He was a bit slow getting out to stop the rush from the edge. I still don't think he's a bad O-lineman though. Hopefully his knee healed up and he can move back to guard where he belongs.
February 18th, 2020 at 1:52 AM ^
From what I read Johnson runs an offense similar to what Salem was calling last year, but a lot more under center stuff.
It’ll be interesting, he doesn’t have a Montez on this team unless they transfer a guy in (which would be humorous given Tucker’s recent comments about the portal). Michigan State is desperately lacking talent. Even if Tucker comes out swinging and gets a dynamite first class, it’s going to take a couple years at least to get to fruition.
Michigan State is going to be a punching bag for a while before it gets better.
February 18th, 2020 at 9:56 AM ^
"our main problem last season was terrible blocking"
That has been the problem for at least 4 years
February 18th, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
Yes, but the play calling last season was better than in years past. We weren't running those trap plays that take 3 seconds for the ball to get to the line, jet sweeps to the short side with a slower WR, etc. The play calling was adjusted to at least give us a chance with the personnel.
February 18th, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^
I agree with you.
The other glaring problem was Lewerke's terrible development of the off-the-back-foot throw. It was necessitated in many cases because of poor pass blocking, but it absolutely became a crutch. At times he was excellent at it (see the 2019 spring game toss to Stewart in the back of the end zone), but much more often it came out terribly (see the entire Michigan game and most of last year). Someone absolutely had to get on that and change it over the offseason. Got progressively worse every year until he graduated.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:46 PM ^
He’s meh. They got their O Line coach too which is an A+ hire, guy produced elite lines at North Carolina.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:53 PM ^
One elite line in UNC which was 2015, and that team had Marquise Williams and Elijah Hood. The rest were okay, usually meh run blocking and plus pass pro lines. 2017 OL was a disaster. This last year's line in Colorado was good all around - not elite, but solid everywhere.
For this point in the cycle it's a very good get. Overall, is he top ten OL coach in college football? No.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:46 PM ^
Well, you can call him Ray. And you can call him Jay. And you can call him Sonny. And you can call him Johnny. And you can call him RayJay. But you doesn't have to call him Johnson.
(Pretty sure only people over the age of 50 will get this hilarious reference.)
February 17th, 2020 at 9:53 PM ^
DAMNIT I was literally about to post this!!!!
And I'm under 50 thanks very much! This bit was referenced on the Simpsons once so I'm quite familiar.
Didn't find the Simpsons clip but here's King of the Hill:
February 17th, 2020 at 10:27 PM ^
Yeah, Sopwith, I was pretty surprised it was still out there for the taking.
February 17th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
/checks_driver_license
Yep, I remember it. Still quote it from time to time just to see the look on my kids' faces like they just smelled a fart (truthfully, they probably did; all those legumes are doing wonders for my gut flora).
February 18th, 2020 at 8:20 AM ^
Good timing, but not hilarious. I hated that bit with a passion.
February 18th, 2020 at 7:11 PM ^
I get the reference. And suddenly, I feel old.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:58 PM ^
Anyone else think Bielema would have been a better hire for MSU?
#1 Bielema was desparate and would have taken much less than the $11.5 million ($5.5 million + $6 million for staff) that Tucker got.
#2 Bielema has a winning record as a HC and has won conference titles in the BigTen. Tucker has not.
#3 Colorado is now looking at Bielema and many of their fans think it would be an upgrade.
#4 Bielema's philosophy at Wisconsin seemed to match what Dantonio was doing: very physical, okay but not spectacular recruits many of which redshirt.
February 18th, 2020 at 8:59 AM ^
Your last point is the key one to me. Did MSU want to keep doing things Dantonio's way or was it time for a real change?
Looking at their list of candidates, I think that was a factor. Especially when you consider how opposed they were to keeping Tressel on as an interim. It is also easy to think they overpaid Tucker to avoid criticism for missing out on their entire initial list of candidates.
February 18th, 2020 at 9:08 AM ^
Eh. Depends on how you look at it. If you’re getting the Wisconsin version of Bielema, sure. But the Bielema we saw at Arkansas was not good. The situation at MSU is more comparable to Arkansas at this point.
I’m not sure Bielema has much upside in terms of building a program. At least Tucker has some recruiting upside that Bielema really doesn’t have.
I just think you’re taking just as much of a risk with Bielema based on his last coaching stop. I wouldn’t trust him to build a program, and that’s what MSU needs. So I’d say it’s about even between the two, maybe more in favor of Tucker because of recruiting chops
February 17th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
Do we really need updates on everything MSU does? This board has had damn near as many MSU posts as UM posts in the last 2 weeks
February 17th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
What do you get when you combine the Colorado offense with the MSU defense? Not sure, a bunch of 6 win seasons I guess.
This is positive for Michigan. I don’t think he’s considered a real innovator. Before CU he was an analyst at Georgia for 2 years and before that was the OC at Minnesota under Tracy Claeys. He’s also pretty much a non entity as a recruiter from what I can tell. I’m interested to know how long all these assistant contracts are for. Do any of the MSU holdovers last longer than a year? Does this guy?
February 17th, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
whoa I wonder how they pulled that one off
February 17th, 2020 at 10:59 PM ^
Let them burn!
February 18th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
You're going to end up with uninspiring hires when you're trying to fill out a staff midway through February. This will probably be a mishmash of MSU and CU coaches unless Tucker can find an out of work coach looking for another gig.
February 18th, 2020 at 5:48 AM ^
Well that guys career is over.
February 18th, 2020 at 9:12 AM ^
Why not just bring the rest of the CU staff over
February 18th, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
Because there are some Colorado coaches who aren't ready to throw their careers away.
February 18th, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
I'd rather wait for the possibility of working for Eric Bieniemy (which is an upgrade IMO) as opposed to near certainty of being tied up in the most awkward coach transition in recent memory.
February 18th, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
The mediocre coaching is pouring into East Landfill