Michigan State names weekly captains against Youngstown State

The Michigan State Spartans have named captains for the team’s second game of the season, and home opener, against the Youngstown State Penguins on Saturday.

The captains for this week include kicker Matt Coghlin, safety Xavier Henderson and tight end/H-back/running back Connor Heyward.

Head coach Mel Tucker believes in rotating captains weekly, although Henderson has received the honor in back-to-back weeks now. This is unsurprising as Henderson is one of the team’s constant leaders, and had a good performance against the Northwestern Wildcats last week with nine total tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.

Coghlin, now in his sixth-year with the program, and Connor Heyward, now in his fifth-year in East Lansing, have been named captains for the first time this season.

Coghlin made one of his two field goal attempts against Northwestern, including a 37-yarder (the miss was from 60 yards out, so that is excusable), and made all five of his extra point attempts. In fact, Coghlin has never missed an extra point in his career (112 attempts).

Heyward, meanwhile, has changed positions after playing running back for four seasons. He debuted in his new tight end/H-back role against Northwestern, and while he is still learning how to play at the new spot, looked pretty impressive. Heyward grabbed three catches for 28 yards, broke several tackles and blocked pretty well for Kenneth Walker III and the rest of the MSU running backs.