Spartan Pupdate is opening camp season at MSU

The Spartans camp season opened Wednesday with a 7 on 7 and lineman camp.

One of the standouts was Ft. Wayne Carroll's Drue Tranquill, who is an exciting player to watch in the secondary and certainly had the attention of the MSU coaches Wednesday.

"I spent a good amount of time talking to Coach Dantonio," Tranquill said. "I talked to him three or four times and was joking with the wide receivers coach, he was a funny guy. I also talked with the linebackers coach and the defensive coordinator a couple of times."

Tranquill covers ground effortlessly as a safety and had some really pass breakups at the camp, but his future at MSU might be at a different position.

"The camp went well and I feel like I played well," he said. "The coaches saw me a lot at safety and they do have three linebackers committed but don't really have a true STAR linebacker and a hybrid safety-linebacker.

"They filmed all of my games and will watch it and hopefully I'll have some good news soon."

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound safety is making his first rounds on the camp circuit, as the standout baseball player was focused on the diamond last summer.

"I always had a goal of playing in the major leagues, Tranquill said, "but I went down to San Antonio for the Army All-American combine and started getting involved with AWP and really found my passion."

Tranquill, who ran a 4.49 40-yard dash at Purdue's camp on Tuesday, is camping at Sound Mind Sound Body, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Notre Dame.

He plans to cut down his list of offers to three at the end of the month and take final visits in July. If MSU offers, Tranquill said he will be back for a visit to see the facilities, campus and meet with academic advisers from the college of engineering.

-- 2015 Orlando Timber Creek running back Jacques Patrick played with Detroit King's 7 on 7 team. Patrick, who has an uncle who coaches at King, already has more than 40 offers.

He currently is on a Midwest tour, visiting Ohio State on Tuesday and Michigan on Thursday.

Michigan State was on the docket Wednesday, for the camp and for a visit, which Patrick said was a "good visit."

"Spending time with the coaching staff was the best part," Patrick said. "I really enjoyed what they had to say."

One of the things the coaching staff stressed is how similar Patrick is to former MSU running back Le'Veon Bell.

"I think that is pretty cool, considering he just got drafted," Patrick said.

Patrick said he might visit again for a game.

Here are some notes from performers that stood out:

-- I had pretty high praise for Detroit King cornerback Avonte Maddox after the Michigan Elite 7 on 7 and he put up another good performance. Maddox recently earned MVP honors at West Virginia's camp and gained a Pitt offer after camping there, too.

He is solid in coverage, but also as a receiver and made a nice touchdown catch early in King's second game.

-- Lining up on the other side from Maddox was Jalen Embry. Embry also had a great showing at MSU and could be in line for an offer after camping Sunday at the one-day Elite camp.

The highlight I saw from Embry was a diving interception on an errant throw. He also had a nice leaping touchdown catch in the corner of the endzone.

-- Detroit King has a senior quarterback this year, but waiting in the wings in rising freshman Martinez Calloway. Calloway already is a pretty well built kid at around 6-foot-1 and the ball comes out his hand naturally and rather effortlessly. He has the look of being a big-time prospect down the road.

-- The star of the OL/DL portion was Clarkston's David Beedle. The big defensive tackle constantly blew by offensive linemen in one-on-ones and displayed good foot speed and strength through drills.

He will camp at Sound Mind Sound Body on Friday and with another strong showing, could add an MSU offer in the near future.

-- Waukon (Iowa) defensive end Glyeb Ewing drew some attention from the coaches. Ewing is a long and athletic kid who has a good burst as a DE.

-- A similar player to Ewing, Essexville Garber defensive end Alex Neering also is a kid with long arms and good speed to get in the backfield. He is a great player for Central Michigan to have in the fold.

-- New Haven (Ind.) wide receiver Jordan Hogue was very impressive on the day. In both AWP games I saw, he made tough catches look easy -- a couple of times between

-- Northville offensive lineman David Moorman is a strong in-state prospect for the class of 2015. He had a good showing in the OL/DL camp.

Moorman has very quick feet for his size (6-5, 275) and moves well. The most impressive part of his game is the quick punch he gets with his hands -- which he uses well.

-- Another in-state 2015 offensive lineman is Lake Michigan Catholic's DeKurtis Murphy. Playing at a small school, Murphy's showing in camp settings will be important as coaches look at him and he was good Wednesday.

He back pedaled effectively and, for the most part, kept the defender in front of him.

-- 2015 DeWitt quarterback Jake Johnson was pretty good in the one game I saw against AWP. He has a good arm and showed pretty good touch.

-- Bethel Park (Pa.) offensive lineman Casey Schreiner looked nice blocking as a center, and Walled Lake Western's Alex Joss also put on a good performance as an interior lineman. Both players use their feet well and leverage against the defensive lineman effectively. Schreiner was especially tough to beat up the middle.