Michigan State kicked off its season this past night Friday playing against Florida Atlantic with new head coach Jonathan Smith showcasing all the latest aspects that he brought with him from Oregon State. This game brought a lot of different and interesting topics to my attention such as the safety they scored in the 1st quarter, the embarrassing 10/24 completion rate that Aidan Chiles had, and finally Kay’Ron Adams’s outstanding performance.

Now with Smith coming from Oregon State and averaging 510 yards of total offense and 38 points per game, one would think that the offense would be the star of the show during this game but no. Quite the opposite happened. The defense was all anyone could talk about. But there is no need to worry, I think Smith will get the offense figured out within these following weeks. Along with that, over the next few weeks, I think that Aiden Chiles’ nerves will also calm down and his pass competition rate will go up. I think some people also need to realize that Chiles is an 18-year-old and was playing as a backup as a 17-year-old. So for Michigan State in the long run this is positive because we will have 3 more years of development out of him and Chiles will be very promising.

Another thing that should be promising in the next week is how the offense will be looking. Jonathan Smith is an offensive guy. He was the quarterback coach at Idaho for 5 years, offensive coordinator at Montana for 2 years, quarterback coach at Boise State for 2 years, both offensive and quarterback coach for Washington for 3 years, and then became Oregon State’s head coach for 6 years.

But with all this offensive experience, it was the defense that shined in the Florida Atlantic game on Friday. Florida Athantic’s quarterback, Daniel Richardson, was sacked a total of 7 times, one of which happened to be in the end zone and were the first points of the game. Michigan State also had 2 interceptions and held Florida Atlantic to 0 yards for most of the first quarter. This was a defense that we hadn’t seen since the Mark Dantonio days, keeping them at only 2/5 on 4th downs. One thing I was really happy about with our defense is that it wasn’t just 1 or 2 players getting all the sacks and tackles, it was a very wide range of players. Not only that, but the range of players were both transfers and guys that were here before.

Another notable transfer is backup running back Kay’Ron Adams, a transfer from the University of Massachusetts. Last year he had over 1,100 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. Against Florida Atlantic, he rushed for 101 yards with only 9 carries and a touchdown. I think he is going to be a key player for us this year as long as we can have a good offensive line to block for him. With his breakout season last year, I think he will keep riding that wave of success into this next season. 

Now, we have only seen about 60 minutes of this new team that Jonathan Smith has brought to East Lansing, but speaking in the long term having an 18-year-old starting quarterback, a top-level defense, and an offensive specialist as our coach I think the future is bright for Michigan State Football.