Nichol to play wide receiver, punt returner in bowl
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio and Texas Tech interim head coach Ruffin McNeill share a laugh during a press conference Friday morning at the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas. The two teams will face off on Saturday evening in the Valero Alamo Bowl. Josh Radtke/The State News
Tweet
San Antonio — Usually tight to the vest, MSU head coach Mark Dantonio surprised many people Friday by giving away a piece of his game plan for Saturday’s Valero Alamo Bowl against Texas Tech.
Dantonio told the media, and Texas Tech interim head coach Ruffin McNeill, that sophomore quarterback Keith Nichol will see time not only at quarterback, but wide receiver and punt returner as well.
“He’ll be on the field quite often,” Dantonio said. “He’s proven to be a quick study based on knowing the offense at quarterback. … I think it should be noted how great of a job Keith has done. He’s a tremendous athlete.”
With much of the Spartans’ receiving corps suspended prior to the bowl game because of an on-campus fight, an opportunity opened up for the Lowell native to step in and make good use of his athleticism.
Dantonio went so far as to call Nichol a “bigger, stronger, fast Blair White,” referencing MSU’s leading receiver.
“He’s 220 pounds with a 38-inch vertical and a 10-6 long jump and he can catch,” Dantonio said. “It’ll be interesting to see how he plays tomorrow. I know he’s looking forward to it.”
Nichol came into the season neck-and-neck with sophomore Kirk Cousins for the starting quarterback job. While Cousins started the first five games of the season, Nichol came in against Michigan and led the team to victory when Cousins had to come out due to an ankle injury. He then started the next game against Illinois, helping the team to a 24-14 win.
But Nichol suffered an elbow injury that game, and from that point, his playing time kept decreasing. With snaps dwindling at quarterback as Cousins emerged, Nichol was left in the backup role.
This season, Nichol has passed for 538 yards and seven touchdowns, completing 51-of-98 passes with three interceptions in his first season as a Spartan.
Dantonio said Cousins and Nichol have been working together to gain timing with each other and Cousins has faith in Nichol as a wideout.
As for what’s next, Dantonio said Nichol’s long-term role will be determined in the future.
“The situation we became involved in and the necessity of the numbers kind of predicated that we moved Keith,” Dantonio said. “Because he knows the offense as a quarterback, knows what people are doing, knows the formations and motion, it was an easy transition for him. … We knew when we recruited him that he would be a viable part of the football team and that he would make plays for us.”
Commentary
Add your $0.02, go to the comment form or follow the comment feed
tim
(01/02/10 11:54am)Report
If there ever was a time to open the playbook, this is the game and the time. We’ll need every weapon we have…and then some…to stop Texas Tech. No…strike that…to stay close to even vs. Texas Tech. We need a real dose of clock management and ball control, otherwise regardless of the TT coaching situation this will be the most lopsided win in ANY bowl in history.
With the usual play, MSU will lose by 60 points. If we play smart: run the ball, control the clock, short passes to the TE’s, screens, throw the ball to the backs, we may…maybe..stand a chance to keep it respectable.
Alas, MD doesn’t have the sense for that..Narduzzi not the brains for anything different on D…Treadwell will be , well, TREADWELL.
Make it Texas Tech 65, MSU 7
have a little faith
(01/02/10 5:49pm)Report
MSU is not that bad of a team. Better then our record suggests.
“If we “play smart” run the ball, control the clock, short passes to the TE’s, screens, throw the ball to the backs” Well if we do all of the above we will be playing usual big ten football, which means we will be stomped. Look at Ohio State Penn State and Northwestern, they all represented the BT well in the bowl games precisely because they did not play usual big ten football.
If we play big ten football as tim suggests then the score will be 65-7, but if we actually “play smart” by passing the ball and opening up the middle for our runners, cover deep like our lives depend on it (the game certainly will) and show the occasional spark of creativity to keep the TT defense on its toes then we have a good chance.Plus they have no offensive play caller with Leach gone (what a terrible move he is brilliant!), so it will be the QB calling plays.
this is the year the big ten finally smells the roses and adapts, and I believe it will be a good year indeed.
GO GREEN!