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It's signing day on Wednesday, which means a few things. First, we'll welcome a number of new Spartans into the fold, somewhere in the late teens. Two, teams' fans will all be like, "We're getting 10 wins for sure next year!" and I'll be like, "Looks like another 8-4 season for you Seminole fan." and they'll be all like ":(". Lastly, as fans we'll review the class and say something to the effect of "This is a good class, but next year's will be even better", even though we have no idea how these recruits will perform on the field.

That said, welcome aboard Demetrious Cox! The four-star safety out of Jeannette, Pennsylvania picked Michigan State out of a final three of the Spartans, Penn State, and Ohio State; Cox also had offers from Wisconsin and Notre Dame. The four-star safety is ranked as the 10th best prospect in Pennsylvania and the 13th best safety in the nation. The other services concur. Cox is the 8th best safety in the nation according to Scout, the 18th best safety according to 247 Sports, and the 28th best athlete according to ESPN. All services have him at four stars.

Cox joins Jermaine Edmondson, Ezra Robinson, and Mark Meyers as defensive back commits for Michigan State in 2012, and unless a rip in the space-time continuum deposits mid-80's Deion Sanders in East Lansing, the Spartans are done taking defensive backs. Michigan State could be done taking recruits entirely right now, as they're close to the 85 scholarship team limit. Signing day is coming, and with the commitments of Cox and wide receiver Monty Madaris in the past 24 hours the Spartans look to be finishing strong.

This morning I had the projected two-deeps for the offense by Jim from A Beautiful Day for Football, and now comes the defense. Once again, these are merely projections, best guesses, divinations, etc.

Check it out and assorted notes after the jump.

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Basketball's been pretty painful lately hasn't it? Let's think about football for a while. Jim over at A Beautiful Day for Football does terrific work. To thank him, before you read the projected depth chart, read this about the MSU-UM rivalry on the hardwood, or this football recruiting update.

After the jump, the projected two-deep on offense with a few notes. The projected two-deep on defense will be up later this afternoon/evening. These are merely one man's best guesses, your two-deep can and will vary.

Continue reading this post »

First came the bad news with Edwin Baker. Now comes the good news -- after a dalliance with Texas A&M earlier in the week, defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi will stay at MSU. Here's the press release via Rexrode:

Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi:
"With the success we’ve had as a football program, especially the last two years, people around the country have taken notice. So when provided a professional opportunity like Texas A&M, I owed it to my family to investigate it because my first obligation is to take care of my wife and children. The bottom line remains; however, that I’m very comfortable working for Mark Dantonio and Michigan State. The support from the top down is tremendous. Coach Dantonio, Athletics Director Mark Hollis, President (Lou Anna) Simon and our Board of Trustees have been very supportive and understanding as I’ve gone through this decision-making process, and I’m thankful for their patience.
"I share the same feelings that our players and coaches have that there’s some unfinished business to take care of here. We’re all driven to win the Big Ten Championship and win a Rose Bowl."


Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio:
"We’re excited about keeping the coaching staff intact. Staff continuity has been a key component in our sustained success.
"Prior to Texas A&M aggressively pursuing Pat Narduzzi, (MSU Athletics Director) Mark Hollis had already identified the financial resources to make sure that not only Pat, but all of our assistant coaches, had salaries that are competitive in the Big Ten. We understand that our continued success will provide professional opportunities for our student-athletes and coaches alike.
"There’s no doubt that Pat will be a head coach sometime soon, but for now, we’re excited that he remains a Spartan as we continue our pursuit of another Big Ten Championship and our first trip to the Rose Bowl.
"With back-to-back 11-win seasons, a bowl victory over Georgia and a coaching staff that remains intact, we have a lot of momentum as we head down the stretch toward Signing Day.
"We’re on the verge of accomplishing some special things here at Michigan State, but we can’t do it alone. To reach our ultimate goals, it will take a championship effort from all of our stakeholders: our coaches, administration, alumni and fans. We all must continue to support our student-athletes in their quest for championships."

I'll have more thoughts on this tomorrow, but for now let's take a sigh of relief.

File this under "news that was somewhat surprising but logical" -- Edwin Baker has announced that he will enter the NFL draft, foregoing his senior season. Baker told the Associated Press today that he would leave Michigan State early. He was first team All-Big Ten in 2010, running for 1,201 yards and 13 touchdowns on 207 attempts. This year he was less effective with a mostly green offensive line, as he ran for 665 yards and five scores on 170 attempts. Le'Veon Bell took over as the feature back about halfway into the year; and that may (speculation for the win) have factored into Baker's decision to leave.

I haven't seen anything about Baker's potential draft position, mainly because few expected him to come out this year. I think it goes without saying that he probably won't be drafted in the first couple rounds. He did show a lot of talent in 2010 however, and with the right offensive line I could see him earning a spot on an NFL team. We wish him the best of luck, and thanks for all the ass-kicking runs.

As for Michigan State next year, Baker's departure hopefully won't leave too much of a mark. Le'Veon Bell will definitely receive the majority of carries next season, and Larry Caper and Nick Hill will provide a nice change of pace. It might not quite be Ringer and Caulcrick part two, but it should be somewhat similar.

In the last week Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley has alienated himself to a lot of people -- recruits, undoubtedly some Tennessee fans, and most of the state of Michigan -- by refusing to let DeAnthony Arnett, a wide receiver from Saginaw, to transfer to MSU or Michigan. Dooley wisely relented, but I'm still going to point you to this EDSBS post.

It didn't take long for Arnett to make his decision, as Scout.com's Allen Trieu has reported that Arnett has chosen Michigan State after meeting with Mark Dantonio today on campus. As a true freshman this year Arnett played in all 12 games for the volunteers, starting once and catching 24 passes for 242 yards and 2 touchdowns, placing him third on the team in catches and fifth on the team in receiving yards. Arnett was a four-star wide receiver by Rivals; they ranked him the 2nd best player in Michigan (1st was Lawrence Thomas), 12th best wide receiver in the nation, and 84th best player overall. He, as the English say, is good.

Arnett transferred to be closer to his sick father, and thus is eligible for a hardship exemption that will allow him to play immediately. If that occurs he'll join a heated battle to join the two-deep at receiver. The only sure thing I'd say for next year is Bennie Fowler, and after that there's a lot of youth and talent: current redshirt freshmen Keith Mumphery and Tony Lippett were both on the two-deep to end the year, and I'm not including redshirt freshmen-to-be Juwan Caesar and Andre Sims Jr., and top 100 2012 recruit Aaron Burbridge.

Onto Jerel Worthy. While multiple reports have him headed to the NFL Draft, they all seem to head back to one tweet:

ShawnZobel_DHQ Shawn Zobel

I've been told that Michigan State DT Jerel Worthy has selected an agent and will be declaring for the 2012 #NFLDraft

5 hours ago

While this could definitely be the case, this is the only source stating that he's gone. For what's it worth, the same source said Worthy received a second to third round grade from the NFL advisory board. I'd put Jerel leaving for the NFL at an 80% likelihood right now, but I won't move up to 100% until it's confirmed with another source.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Well, that was exciting. The offense couldn't get anything going in the first half, but the defense kept us in it (even adding a pick-six to bring us within two points) and the offense finally got back on track, at least enough to even up the game in the final minute with a Keshawn Martin catch taking the ball down to the 1 yard line and a Le'Veon Bell bulldozer run to take it from there. It looked like it was over when Kirk Cousins was intercepted in the first overtime, but Georgia made no real attempt to move the ball forward and paid the price when their 42 yard FG attempt went wide. Both teams traded FGs in the second OT. In the third OT, a high but catchable third-down pass to Martin was dropped and forced us to attempt another FG, but the defense held strong with a near-interception, a William Gholston sack, and finally a blocked field goal by Anthony Rashad White (I think; box score doesn't say, my DVR won't let me rewind to it, and the wire recaps aren't up yet).

First bowl win since 2001. Back-to-back 11-win seasons. A full recap will have to wait for sanity to return. For now, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!