WE ARE THE KINGS OF WISCONSIN! BRING US YOUR FINEST BRATWURSTS AND CHEESES!
Good news from MSU's one-day camp today, as Your Spartans picked up two recruits from the land of Spotted Cow: Milwaukee Marquette defensive tackle Mark Scarpinato, and Kenosha Bradford defensive back Trae Waynes.
Waynes--if only we dropped the "a," there'd be a Monty Python joke in there--had offers from Wisconsin and Illinois, among others; plucking a home-state guy out from underneath Bielema always gets the thumbs-up, although Waynes apparently spent at least his sophomore season at Libertyville (Illinois) High School, about 25 minutes south of Kenosha. Waynes apparently ran a 4.28 40 time at the one-day camp; if this was mgoblog, I'd be giving that time FIVE FAKES OUT OF FIVE based on sheer improbability alone. A guy truly that fast 1) would have better offers than simply Wisconsin, Illinois, us, and a bunch of MAC schools, and 2) speed like that clearly doesn't exist north of the Mason-Dixon line (ESS EEE SEE!).* Nonetheless, he has several other impressive but less FAKE 40 times on record, and given the perpetually sorry state of MSU's secondary, recruiting defensive backs with above-average athletic ability will always be just fine with me. Allen Trieu also briefly relates that MSU coaches were impressed with Waynes' excellent "man to man coverage ability in one-on-ones," and generally that he's more than the sum of his 40 times, thankfully.
* Pozsterisk: You may also notice that in the video above, Waynes is playing defensive end. While we know that this is NCAA 11 week at TOC, and Waynes' 40 time is impressive, your editors nonetheless remain skeptical that the old "put your fastest cornerback at defensive end and have him run right around around the poor, slow left tackle" trick will actually work in real life, or even at a difficulty level higher than Varsity.
Scarpinato -- who shares both first name AND paisan bonds with Dantonio! -- is a defensive tackle -- a position of semi-grave need for MSU. Upon first glance, this looks like a reach; Scarpinato is rated two stars by Scout, three stars by Rivals, and MSU was his only Big Ten offer. However, Matt Dorsey's report from the earlier MSU summer camp is glowing: Scarpinato "showed a good burst off the line and was relentless in his pursuit of the opposition." Dorsey also suggests that Scarpinato was passed over by Wisconsin because they're stocked at defensive tackle, and not because of any lack of talent. Whether that's truth or OMG sunshine blowing is left to the reader. Either way, MSU addressed two positions of need today. That makes nine for the class of 2011, with many still surely to come -- particularly on the offensive side of the ball, one would figure.