Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 SEPT. 19, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED joined at receiver by sophomore Felton Davis and athletic freshman Donnie Corley. Fifth-year senior tight end Josiah Price is expected to be a big part of the Michigan State pass attack. He entered 2016 with 66 career catches for 851 yards and 16 scores, and hauled in a 21-yard TD pass versus Furman. Notre Dame ranked 27th nationally in passing yards allowed last season, giving up just 197.1 per game. In the opener against Texas, the Irish second- ary gave up a 72-yard touchdown reception and a 68-yard gain that set up another score. Eliminating those big plays will be crucial in the matchup against the Spartans. A key to that will be improved play from junior safety Drue Tranquill — who blew a coverage against Texas — and the arrival into the lineup of athletic freshman safety Devin Studstill. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. MICHIGAN STATE RUN DEFENSE Senior running back Tarean Folston and soph- omore running back Josh Adams run behind a massive and gifted offensive line led by senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey and junior left guard Quenton Nelson, the two most experienced play- ers up front. Junior right tackle Alex Bars is off to a good start opposite McGlinchey. The key to Notre Dame's ground game is the quarterback position. Junior DeShone Kizer rushed for 520 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2015. Against Texas, Kizer ran for 77 yards, including a 29-yard scoring run in the third quarter. When Kizer is able to make plays with his legs, it takes a great deal of pressure off the backs. Michigan State was one of the nation's best rush- ing defenses in 2015, and its run game dominance helped fuel the playoff run. The Spartans held opponents to 116.0 yards per game, which ranked them 11th in the country. The Spartans have one of the country's best linebacker corps. Fifth-year senior Riley Bullough was the defense's leading tackler a season ago (106 stops). He is flanked by junior Jon Reschke, who will be back against Notre Dame after missing the opener with what Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio described as a "minor injury." Sixth-year senior Ed Davis, a starter in 2014 that missed last season with a knee injury, sat out MSU's opener while awaiting word from the NCAA on his eligibility. He was cleared to play Sept. 9 and will be in the lineup versus the Irish. With Davis and Reschke out against Furman, junior linebacker Chris Frey (nine tackles) and sophomore Andrew Dowell (eight tackles and one intercep- tion) stepped into the lineup and shined. The big question mark for Michigan State is its front. Three starters from last year's defensive line graduated and several key backups are no longer with the program. Those losses leave Michigan State with an ex- tremely inexperienced defensive line. Its one re- turning starter — junior nose tackle Malik McDow- GAME PREVIEW: MICHIGAN STATE Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. WR 16 Torii Hunter Jr. 6-0 195 Sr. 29 Kevin Stepherson 6-0 181 Fr. Slot 3 C.J. Sanders 5-8 185 So. 15 Corey Holmes 6-0½ 190 Jr. LT 68 Mike McGlinchey 6-7½ 310 Sr. 70 Hunter Bivin 6-5½ 308 Sr. LG 56 Quenton Nelson 6-5 325 Jr. 57 Trevor Ruhland 6-3¼ 300 So. C 53 Sam Mustipher 6-2½ 310 Jr. 75 Mark Harrell 6-4 306 5th-Sr. RG 62 Colin McGovern 6-4½ 310 Sr. 66 Tristen Hoge 6-4¼ 310 So. RT 71 Alex Bars 6-6 320 Jr. 78 Tommy Kraemer 6-4½ 315 Fr. TE 80 Durham Smythe 6-4½ 245 Sr. 82 Nic Weishar 6-4 240 Jr. WR 6 E. St. Brown 6-4 205 So. 81 Miles Boykin 6-3½ 222 So. QB 14 DeShone Kizer 6-4¼ 230 Jr. 9 Malik Zaire 6-0 222 Sr. RB 25 Tarean Folston 5-9½ 214 Sr. or 33 Josh Adams 6-1½ 220 So. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 90 Isaac Rochell 6-3½ 290 Sr. 55 Jonathan Bonner 6-3 286 Jr. DT 99 Jerry Tillery 6-6½ 310 So. 58 Elijah Taylor 6-3 285 So. NG 94 Jarron Jones 6-5½ 315 5th-Sr. or 75 Daniel Cage 6-1 315 Jr. DE 98 Andrew Trumbetti 6-3½ 255 Jr. or 93 Jay Hayes 6-3 285 Jr. MLB 5 Nyles Morgan 6-1 245 Jr. 4 Te'von Coney 6-1 235 So. WLB 48 Greer Martini 6-2½ 240 Jr. 22 Asmar Bilal 6-2 230 So. SLB 17 James Onwualu 6-1 232 Sr. 44 Jamir Jones 6-2½ 225 Fr. CB 36 Cole Luke 5-11 195 Sr. 27 Julian Love 5-10½ 190 Fr. FS 14 Devin Studstill 6-0 198 Fr. 8 Avery Sebastian 5-10 200 6th.-Sr. SS 23 Drue Tranquill 6-1½ 225 Jr. 21 Jalen Elliott 6-0 195 Fr. CB 20 Shaun Crawford 5-8½ 185 So. 24 Nick Coleman 5-11½ 195 So. NOTRE DAME DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PK 19 Justin Yoon 5-9½ 190 So. 43 John Chereson 5-9 178 Sr. P 85 Tyler Newsome 6-2½ 210 Jr. 42 Jeff Riney 5-10 165 So. KO 85 Tyler Newsome 6-2½ 210 Jr. 19 Justin Yoon 5-10 190 So. H 4 M. VanGorder 6-4½ 230 Jr. 14 DeShone Kizer 6-4¼ 230 Jr. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. LS 61 Scott Daly 6-1½ 250 5th-Sr. 54 John Shannon 6-2 220 Fr. PR 3 C.J. Sanders 5-8 185 So. 27 Chris Finke 5-9½ 180 So. KR 3 C.J. Sanders 5-8 185 So. 2 Dexter Williams 6-0 210 So. Special Teams Junior safety Montae Nicholson will be a key figure for the Spartans' defense in its matchup against the potent Notre Dame ground attack. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS