MSULions
Footballguy
Some interesting comments from Gruden and Norm Chow - I think Stanton squeaks into the first round and will certainly go before Troy Smith. Thoughts?
Link
Senior Bowl is final moment for MSU QB Stanton to shine
January 27, 2007
BY SHAWN WINDSOR
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
MOBILE, Ala. -- Today is the last time Drew Stanton will strap on his Michigan State helmet. Every college player faces that bittersweet inevitability.
But Stanton didn't get to do it the way most do. Four plays into MSU's final home game this past season, Stanton was knocked so hard, he suffered a concussion against Minnesota. He watched the end of his season, and his career, from the sideline at Penn State.
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"It was so hard," Stanton said this week as he prepared to play in today's Senior Bowl. "I thought, 'OK, my college career is done.' That's why this week is so important. It's my last chance to be an amateur. It's my last chance to wear that helmet."
That he remains so nostalgic about the green and white says a lot about Stanton's career in East Lansing: so many promising beginnings, so many empty endings. Don't get him wrong about his time there, he said: "It's not like I'm sulking or anything. I loved being a Spartan. I loved the campus, the people. It made me a better person dealing with the adversity. It just didn't turn out the way I'd hoped."
Today, against some of the best players in college football, he gets the chance to play again, before a stadium lined with scouts, analysts, NFL coaches and every other hanger-on in pro football eager to see what he can do.
"He's got all the tools," said Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden, who is in charge of the North team.
The game is the opening conversation in the most important job interview of his life.
It will last until the draft. Along the way, he knows he will be asked to look back.
In the beginning
Stanton arrived at MSU in 2002 as a quarterback prodigy from Farmington Hills Harrison who'd thumbed his nose at Ann Arbor. He bled green and white. He was big with a big arm. He was uncannily elusive in the pocket. And he was stubborn, fond of lowering his shoulder into the scrum -- he was never one to avoid a hit.
He was redshirted as a freshman, arrived in spring camp the following year, and told he was the starter. Then Jeff Smoker, the previous year's starter who'd been suspended, was reinstated and given the job during fall camp. Stanton was asked to play special teams.
"I found out I'd lost my job watching ESPN," Stanton recalled.
And he'd had it. Already, the coach that recruited him -- Bobby Williams -- had been fired. The new coach -- John L. Smith -- didn't seem to have plans for him. And the special teams assignment was simply too much.
So he called his father and asked him to start checking into other schools. Any school would do.
"Anywhere but Michigan State," he said. "I was a couple of days from transferring."
But his father told him to stick it out, as fathers often do. His father told him to trust the new regime, to just keep working.
He flew around the field on punt coverage. Then in the Alamo Bowl against Nebraska, he was clipped from behind. His anterior cruciate ligament snapped.
"I still remember his name," said Stanton. "Ira Cooper. I'd still like to go pay him a visit."
The following year, as a redshirt sophomore, he lost out again when Smith named Damon Dowdell the starter. Then in the third game of the season against Notre Dame, Stanton came off the bench in the second half and passed for 110 yards and rushed for 49. The Spartans lost but found a quarterback.
He won three of the next four games, running all over the field, firing ropes, still lowering his shoulder. He ran wild the next game, too, in Ann Arbor, until he lowered it one too many times, suffering a separated shoulder. Dowdell had to replace him. MSU lost in an overtime classic.
The shoulder kept him out the next week. He returned against Wisconsin. He could barely move his arm. Trainers stretched tape onto the top of his shoulder, affixing it to his chest, so his joint stayed in its socket.
"It was excruciating," he said. "But I threw a touchdown pass."
Even so, some were beginning to think he was injury-prone.
"Flukes," he said. "I don't understand it."
That label followed him to Mobile, where scouts still wonder about his durability. Some wonder about his decision-making, too.
Looking at the next level
For most of the week, Stanton unleashed the skills that once had college analysts talking Heisman. He moved effortlessly from the pocket. He cracked spirals to the sidelines with a tight throwing motion, uncorked from a 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame. At times, he uncorked wobblers, and at others, he missed receivers, but then so did every other quarterback here.
Norm Chow, offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans and something of a quarterback guru -- he coached Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC -- admired what he saw.
"I've always liked him," Chow said. "I tried to recruit him. I like his compact style, the efficient manner in which he does things."
Can he excel at the next level?
"I don't think there is any question," Chow said.
He faces adjustments, of course. At MSU, he played out of the shotgun. In the NFL, he won't, which is why he has had to learn the five- and seven-step drops, something Gruden has been working on with him, and something the quarterback coach he hired late last fall is, too.
In fact, after his miserable final season ended with that concussion in early November, he bolted to south Florida. He signed with Drew Rosenhaus. He moved into a condo. He spends his days lifting weights, throwing, perfecting the drops and eating organic foods measured for their caloric intake.
When he left MSU, he was working on a master's degree in sports administration -- he'd already graduated with a bachelor's. But as much as he loved his East Lansing life, he had to get away.
"I wanted to get going, get moving, especially with the way my season ended," he said. "I wanted a fresh start."
He wanted to leave the 0-4 record against Michigan behind, the team's nighttime collapse against Notre Dame, the meltdown against Ohio State in 2005, when the team blew an early lead, and any momentum for the rest of the season.
"That was the lowest," Stanton said.
He knows he made some mistakes at MSU. He knows he wasn't ready to become the starter when Smoker was reinstated. He knows he tried to make plays when there were none. But he has faith that he has learned, and faith, too, that when the NFL studies his game film, it will discern between his own errors and the weight of a team, even a program, crumbling around him.
That's what he hopes to show today, when one of the most electric players in MSU history takes the field one more time wearing the Spartans logo. Some this week have speculated he'll be the third quarterback chosen in the draft.
"He's a tough kid," Gruden said. "He's a quick study. He's been under the gun a little bit for some of his decisions he's made at Michigan State, but man, is he impressive. Drew Stanton has a lot of upside."
Contact SHAWN WINDSOR at 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com.
Link
Senior Bowl is final moment for MSU QB Stanton to shine
January 27, 2007
BY SHAWN WINDSOR
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
MOBILE, Ala. -- Today is the last time Drew Stanton will strap on his Michigan State helmet. Every college player faces that bittersweet inevitability.
But Stanton didn't get to do it the way most do. Four plays into MSU's final home game this past season, Stanton was knocked so hard, he suffered a concussion against Minnesota. He watched the end of his season, and his career, from the sideline at Penn State.
Advertisement
"It was so hard," Stanton said this week as he prepared to play in today's Senior Bowl. "I thought, 'OK, my college career is done.' That's why this week is so important. It's my last chance to be an amateur. It's my last chance to wear that helmet."
That he remains so nostalgic about the green and white says a lot about Stanton's career in East Lansing: so many promising beginnings, so many empty endings. Don't get him wrong about his time there, he said: "It's not like I'm sulking or anything. I loved being a Spartan. I loved the campus, the people. It made me a better person dealing with the adversity. It just didn't turn out the way I'd hoped."
Today, against some of the best players in college football, he gets the chance to play again, before a stadium lined with scouts, analysts, NFL coaches and every other hanger-on in pro football eager to see what he can do.
"He's got all the tools," said Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden, who is in charge of the North team.
The game is the opening conversation in the most important job interview of his life.
It will last until the draft. Along the way, he knows he will be asked to look back.
In the beginning
Stanton arrived at MSU in 2002 as a quarterback prodigy from Farmington Hills Harrison who'd thumbed his nose at Ann Arbor. He bled green and white. He was big with a big arm. He was uncannily elusive in the pocket. And he was stubborn, fond of lowering his shoulder into the scrum -- he was never one to avoid a hit.
He was redshirted as a freshman, arrived in spring camp the following year, and told he was the starter. Then Jeff Smoker, the previous year's starter who'd been suspended, was reinstated and given the job during fall camp. Stanton was asked to play special teams.
"I found out I'd lost my job watching ESPN," Stanton recalled.
And he'd had it. Already, the coach that recruited him -- Bobby Williams -- had been fired. The new coach -- John L. Smith -- didn't seem to have plans for him. And the special teams assignment was simply too much.
So he called his father and asked him to start checking into other schools. Any school would do.
"Anywhere but Michigan State," he said. "I was a couple of days from transferring."
But his father told him to stick it out, as fathers often do. His father told him to trust the new regime, to just keep working.
He flew around the field on punt coverage. Then in the Alamo Bowl against Nebraska, he was clipped from behind. His anterior cruciate ligament snapped.
"I still remember his name," said Stanton. "Ira Cooper. I'd still like to go pay him a visit."
The following year, as a redshirt sophomore, he lost out again when Smith named Damon Dowdell the starter. Then in the third game of the season against Notre Dame, Stanton came off the bench in the second half and passed for 110 yards and rushed for 49. The Spartans lost but found a quarterback.
He won three of the next four games, running all over the field, firing ropes, still lowering his shoulder. He ran wild the next game, too, in Ann Arbor, until he lowered it one too many times, suffering a separated shoulder. Dowdell had to replace him. MSU lost in an overtime classic.
The shoulder kept him out the next week. He returned against Wisconsin. He could barely move his arm. Trainers stretched tape onto the top of his shoulder, affixing it to his chest, so his joint stayed in its socket.
"It was excruciating," he said. "But I threw a touchdown pass."
Even so, some were beginning to think he was injury-prone.
"Flukes," he said. "I don't understand it."
That label followed him to Mobile, where scouts still wonder about his durability. Some wonder about his decision-making, too.
Looking at the next level
For most of the week, Stanton unleashed the skills that once had college analysts talking Heisman. He moved effortlessly from the pocket. He cracked spirals to the sidelines with a tight throwing motion, uncorked from a 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame. At times, he uncorked wobblers, and at others, he missed receivers, but then so did every other quarterback here.
Norm Chow, offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans and something of a quarterback guru -- he coached Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC -- admired what he saw.
"I've always liked him," Chow said. "I tried to recruit him. I like his compact style, the efficient manner in which he does things."
Can he excel at the next level?
"I don't think there is any question," Chow said.
He faces adjustments, of course. At MSU, he played out of the shotgun. In the NFL, he won't, which is why he has had to learn the five- and seven-step drops, something Gruden has been working on with him, and something the quarterback coach he hired late last fall is, too.
In fact, after his miserable final season ended with that concussion in early November, he bolted to south Florida. He signed with Drew Rosenhaus. He moved into a condo. He spends his days lifting weights, throwing, perfecting the drops and eating organic foods measured for their caloric intake.
When he left MSU, he was working on a master's degree in sports administration -- he'd already graduated with a bachelor's. But as much as he loved his East Lansing life, he had to get away.
"I wanted to get going, get moving, especially with the way my season ended," he said. "I wanted a fresh start."
He wanted to leave the 0-4 record against Michigan behind, the team's nighttime collapse against Notre Dame, the meltdown against Ohio State in 2005, when the team blew an early lead, and any momentum for the rest of the season.
"That was the lowest," Stanton said.
He knows he made some mistakes at MSU. He knows he wasn't ready to become the starter when Smoker was reinstated. He knows he tried to make plays when there were none. But he has faith that he has learned, and faith, too, that when the NFL studies his game film, it will discern between his own errors and the weight of a team, even a program, crumbling around him.
That's what he hopes to show today, when one of the most electric players in MSU history takes the field one more time wearing the Spartans logo. Some this week have speculated he'll be the third quarterback chosen in the draft.
"He's a tough kid," Gruden said. "He's a quick study. He's been under the gun a little bit for some of his decisions he's made at Michigan State, but man, is he impressive. Drew Stanton has a lot of upside."
Contact SHAWN WINDSOR at 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com.
