Spartans Open Spring Football Practice
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Under mostly sunny skies and temperatures near 60, 10th-year Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio sent his team through a 2 1/2-hour workout in helmets, jerseys and shorts on the John and Becky Duffey Football Practice Fields Tuesday, March 22, as the Spartans completed the first of 15 allotted spring practices.
"There was a lot of retention, and I think that's pretty normal when you've been in a place for a while," Dantonio said. "Our younger guys look good, our true freshmen and the guys who redshirted last year. There was a lot of retention, and they've moved forward.
"We've got seven brand-new (scholarship) guys out here, and they were impressive. So it was a good first day, but again they have shorts and helmets on out here, and the game isn't played like that.
"With as much conditioning as we've done this offseason, they're still not playing football. Our focus right now is on change of direction, movement, punching, hand placement and things of that nature. Those are some of the things that you have to do to get back into the flow of things a bit. Everything we can do aside from hitting people is what we want to try and accomplish this week while we're out here in shorts and helmets."
Michigan State returns 53 lettermen, including 12 starters, from last year's 12-2 team that won the Big Ten Championship and finished ranked No. 6 in the final polls. The spring roster features a total of 29 players with starting experience (12 offense, 14 defense, three specialists).
"It's quite apparent that we have a lot of depth," Dantonio said. "You see guys out here working with the threes (third team) that have played a lot of football for us, so that's a good thing. We've got a relatively young football team, but there's some experience. We have some good players and they've shown the ability to run and catch and those types of things. I'm impressed with the young players."
With a 16-13 victory over No. 4 Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game, the 2015 senior class became the winningest in school history, posting a 43-11 record (.796) from 2012-15 including two conference division titles (2013, 2015), two Big Ten Championships (2013, 2015), three postseason bowl wins (2012 Buffalo Wild Wings, 2014 Rose Bowl and 2015 Cotton Bowl) and three-straight Top 10 finishes (No. 3 in 2013, No. 5 in 2014 and No. 6 in 2015).
"Leadership development is certainly a focus," Dantonio said. "College football goes in cycles, so your next group is up and they now have an opportunity to show who they are. We have a lot of guys here that have been a part of something special. Guys like (defensive back) Demetrious Cox, (quarterback) Tyler O'Connor and (linebacker) Riley Bullough will step forward. It will be exciting to watch them grow because in their last year, they seem to grown the most as people."
The Spartans will practice again in helmets, jerseys and shorts on Thursday, March 24 before wearing full pads for the first time next Tuesday (March 29).
Michigan State concludes its 15 spring practices with the Green-White intrasquad game on Saturday, April 23 at 3 p.m. in Spartan Stadium. The spring game will be televised live nationally by BTN (broadcast team: Kevin Kugler, Jim Miller and Lisa Byington).
Additional Spartan Spring Football Notes:
Benton Named Recruiting Operations Coordinator
Butler Benton III, a Detroit, Michigan, native and former four-year letterman as a running back at Cincinnati from 2004-07, has been named recruiting operations coordinator at Michigan State, according to an announcement made Tuesday, March 22 by head coach Mark Dantonio. Benton will have dual reporting lines to director of college advancement and performance Curtis Blackwell and assistant athletics director/director of football operations Tim Allen. He replaces former football operations assistant Ryan Manalac, who left the staff to become linebackers coach at Valparaiso.
The 29-year-old Benton comes to Michigan State after serving as director of student-athlete enrichment at the University of New Orleans for a year and a half. In his role at New Orleans, he developed programming to assist student-athletes in their adjustment to college life. Benton monitored the academic progress of 125 student-athletes while constructing life-skills programming focused on community outreach, character and leadership development as well as health and wellness. He supervised the development of a five-year strategic plan for the athletics department and served as the sport administrator for track and volleyball. In addition, Benton acted as the lead administrator for the Student-Athlete Advisory Council.
He previously spent 15 months as the assistant director of player development, engagement and academic enhancement at Notre Dame. Benton assisted in implementing programming to promote the intellectual, social and spiritual development of Irish football student-athletes.
Prior to his stint at Notre Dame, he worked for nearly two years at Kent State as an internal operations assistant. Benton oversaw the academic progress for 50-to-75 student-athletes per semester while scheduling and coordinating community outreach events for men's basketball and football. He also worked closely with the marketing, group ticket sales and fundraising departments to increase fan support and brand awareness.
Benton rushed 379 times for 1,736 yards (4.6 avg.) and 11 touchdowns at Cincinnati, earning three of his four letters while playing for Dantonio. He also had 34 career receptions for 348 yards (10.2 avg.) and two scores.
As a senior in 2007, Benton led the Bearcats in rushing with a career-best 499 yards on 100 carries and scored two rushing TDs. He gained 101 yards on 12 carries in the season opener against Southeast Missouri State. Benton set career highs with 16 catches for 154 yards (9.6 avg.).
As a junior in 2016, Benton ranked second on the Bearcats in rushing with 497 yards on 108 attempts (4.0 avg.) and his four rushing TDs tied for the team lead.
In 2004, he finished second on the team in rushing with 453 yards on 100 carries (4.5 avg.) and scored four TDs. Benton set career highs with 25 rushes for 127 yards against East Carolina.
He earned his bachelor of business administration in finance from Cincinnati in December 2008 and received his master of arts in sport and recreation management from Kent State in May 2013.
Benton, a three-time all-city selection at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, rushed for more than 3,000 yards during his prep career.