Michigan State's Most Indispensable Players

Connor Cook & Trae Waynes. Courtesy of ESPN B1G Blog.

Summer's almost here, but we're still looking forward to the fall. Today, we begin a series looking at the most indispensable players on each Big Ten team.

By indispensable, we don't necessarily mean best. We mean the players who would be hardest to replace between now and the start of the season if they got hurt/suspended/eaten by a bear, etc. That could be because of their value to the team or because of a lack of depth at their position.

We'll pick two players from each team, usually offense and defense, but not always. Let's start with the defending league champs, Michigan State:

Connor Cook, QB, Jr.

The Spartans are not without options at quarterback. Tyler O'Connor should be a capable backup after seeing some action early last season, and the bubble wrap is coming off multitalented redshirt freshman Damion Terry. Still, Michigan State's quarterback situation was a mess before Cook grabbed hold of it in the middle of last year, and if he needed to be replaced, the entire offense could suffer the same fate we saw in the 2012 season. The 2013 Big Ten championship game and Rose Bowl MVP entered this offseason riding a wave of confidence and should be one of the league's top quarterbacks.

Trae Waynes, CB, Jr.

There are a lot of other players we could have picked for this second spot, including star defensive end Shilique Calhoun and running back Jeremy Langford. Losing Calhoun would obviously be a very difficult blow for the Spartans, but they still would have Marcus Rush at the other end spot, plus some promising young players such as Demetrius Cooper. Similarly, Langford's production would be tough to replace, but Michigan State usually finds a way to get it done in the running game and has some other options behind him. Waynes is the pick here because of the youth and inexperience behind him at the cornerback spot. Sophomore Darian Hicks and junior Arjen Colquhoun are battling it out for the other corner spot this offseason, but neither has proved much on the field. Pat Narduzzi's defense works best when it has a lockdown cover corner, and Waynes could be that guy this year.

Do fellow Swiilians agree? Or do you have your own set of the most indispensable players on MSU's football roster.

So, least dispenseable?

Add Mike Sadler to the list. A great punter is a weapon, and he's one of the best in the country. He has played a significant role in out
The success of the defense,I think he led the nation in punts downed inside the ten last year

Ass Dan wrote:So, least dispenseable?

Haha, Touché

Ass Dan wrote:Add Mike Sadler to the list. A great punter is a weapon, and he's one of the best in the country. He has played a significant role in out
The success of the defense,I think he led the nation in punts downed inside the ten last year

Bingo! Great points.

ESPN agrees w me. Let's see how the haters suck on that....

Blanch32 wrote:ESPN agrees w me.  Let's see how the haters suck on that....

Don't say that too loud, or they might change their picks.

The good thing is, off the top of my head... I don't know. Depth abounds. QB is an easy cop-out.

Corner, is probably a good choice because I think it may be the most impactful position on defense (as to what stunts you can call).

I think that I'd go with Jack Conklin or Jack Allen honestly for offense. Not that Cook isn't indispensable, but he's the QB...you can't prep two QBs at once. Clark has experience playing LT, but I'm not impressed with him there. I think he's like Dan France was — a "plus" at guard, and an average to "minus" tackle. Obviously we have Travis Jackson as a very capable center as well, but at this point it seems as though we have only six guys in the rotation for OL, and OL is the most important group on offense imho.

For defense it's tough, but Waynes is a good call. Calhoun is a terror and wouldn't be a bad pick, but Rush is very solid and Cooper and LT have shown flashes. The interior DL is a bit green, and the LB corps is penciled in right now, but still could change. Drummond is another solid option, especially as a leader, however we are pretty deep at safety. With the quarters coverage that MSU likes to run, it puts a lot of pressure on the cornerbacks and leaves them on islands a lot.

In conclusion, there's argument for a few more, but neither are bad choices.

I might even lead towards saying Taiwan Jones. Nobody in the LB corps has even close to the amount of experience he has. The dropoff to the next player is immense.

Macks wrote:I might even lead towards saying Taiwan Jones. Nobody in the LB corps has even close to the amount of experience he has. The dropoff to the next player is immense.

I wouldn't say Jones is a bad pick either, but I think that Harris has some experience. One thing NOBODY talks about is how he was in on the stop in the Rose Bowl with Elsworth.

Davis has some experience back there too, and he performed well in the Michigan game and against OSU.

Jones seems to be emerging as a leader though, and one thing we have been spoiled with is our team leaders, especially on defense. He could be next in a long line of distinguished captains at the Mike.

Harris has like a game of experience at MLB, Ed Davis has maybe 3 games at SAM. Taiwan has nearly 2 years of starting experience and knowledge of the defense.

I don't think that we'd be completely screwed if he went down, and Harris/Davis are certainly capable players, but that would be a VERY young and inexperienced LB corps.

I'm not saying they have comparable experience to Jones. Jones far and away has the most experience, I will absolutely give you that. All I was saying is that it's not as though Davis and Harris have nothing.

Harris has appeared in every game since 2012, and while freshman year it was almost exclusively special teams, he's still been in every game.

Davis is the same way, and had game experience his freshman year in 2012.

Yes, Jones by far has the most experience, but Davis and Harris have a decent amount of experience.

I'd say Conklin and CC.


As good as Waynes is, we have guys behind him are closer to his level than Conklin's back up is.

TOC and DT could both start on like 10 other teams in the B1G, the psychological blow of losing CC after going through the first half of last season would be huge though.