4 days Ago
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State lost its two premier running backs from last season in Nate Carter and Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams. Now, the running back room is largely made up of young up-and-comers, with one veteran in transfer Elijah Tau-Tolver.
The Spartans' run game was not where they needed it to be last season, and it's on this group to turn that around. Michigan State running backs coach, assistant head coach and co-special teams coordinator Keith Bhonapha discussed his room when he addressed the media after the Spartans' 13th spring practice on Tuesday. You can watch below: Part 1: Part 2: Below is a partial transcript from Bhonapha's media availability: Q: After losing a lot of snaps from last year, where does that leave you now? Bhonapha: "Oh yeah, I mean, obviously, you lose guys like Kay'Ron and Nate Carter .
Not only do you lose them on the football field, but more importantly, just the leadership that they had in the meeting room and on the team. "So, you go into the spring ball, we were able to get Elijah Tau-Toliver here from Sacramento State. He has one year left, but he's having a productive spring.
"And then you go to Brandon [Tullis] and Makhi [Frazier], who were here last year. But as true sophomores, even though they were here last year, I think each of them had, I want to say, like seven carries apiece. So, they're still really young.
"And then, the two other guys, Zion Gist and Jace Clarizio , those guys were in high school in December. So, the room is really young. Chris Williams is in there, Jaxon McCaig.
But the thing that you're always trying to do is develop, right? And develop depth, develop talent. "Even with the depth, I think about that dependable depth. So, where we're at progressing, it's like, 'All right, who's going to take the reins of it and be the lead dog.
So, it's been a lot of mixing guys in with the 1s and the 2s to try to figure out, 'OK, who's going to truly separate instead of being those four to five cars driving next to each other on the highway.'" Stay up to date with all of our Spartan athletics coverage when you follow the official Spartan Nation page on Facebook, Spartan Nation, WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE , and be sure to share your thoughts when you join our community group, Go Green Go White, as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE ..
