IN HONOR OF THURSDAY NIGHT aka
"O LINE NIGHT!"
November 20, 2013 at 1:07 am
Michigan State linemen stomping up to lead team's success, celebration
East Lansing — You might have caught a quick
glimpse of it during Michigan State’s victory over Michigan.
If you didn’t see it during the game, maybe you
noticed it on “The Journey,” the Big Ten Network program chronicling the entire
season around the conference.
But if you didn’t see Michigan State offensive lineman
Travis Jackson doing the most interesting celebration dance possibly ever seen
on a football field, check out the Spartan All-Access program from last Sunday.
As Michigan State is celebrating its victory over Nebraska last week with
coaches and players alike dancing in the middle of the locker room, it ends with
Jackson.
He’s in the middle of the entire team, crouches down,
and then begins jumping, yelling, “Yes, yes, yes,” over and over again.
The entire team joins in forming a mass of leaping, screaming players.
The entire team joins in forming a mass of leaping, screaming players.
It’s an homage to WWE wrestler Daniel Bryan, but when
it’s a 300-plus-pound offensive lineman trying to pull it off, the
side-splitting laughs are sure to follow. [EDITORS NOTE: Kind of reminds me of Electric chanting "Holy Wah" in the Bella Vista near Neon Deon's cabin].
“I wasn’t expecting it after the game,” senior guard
Dan France said. “Then everybody started going crazy when he did that. It was a
good time.”
Added Jackson, “It’s always fun and Coach D (Mark
Dantonio) puts an emphasis on enjoying the win. So getting in there in the
locker room after the game is so much fun and the guys doing their thing.
Getting the team to do it together is a blast.”
It’s easy for this team, and more specifically this
offensive line, to have a blast this season. The Spartans are unbeaten in Big
Ten play and are on the verge of locking up their second appearance in the
conference championship game in three seasons.
But for a unit that has dealt with dozens of injuries
and inconsistent play over the past two seasons, the joy of winning in 2013 is
even more gratifying.
“It’s been a really cool season,” Jackson said. “As we
gain momentum it feels like it just rolls. Last year was a really tough year,
but I think we’ll be better off for it. We learned so much and having that
momentum now with winning and having a blast makes it so much different.”
A blast isn’t exactly how Jackson or any of the
offensive linemen would describe last year’s 7-6 showing. Jackson was knocked
out after fifth game with a leg injury and tackle Fou Fonoti was lost in the
fourth game of the season. Guard Blake Treadwell also had his share of ailments,
creating a patchwork group just to make it through the year.
But the silver lining — a group of eight players with
tons of experience — is paying off now as the Spartans have slowly crept up the
rushing rankings and Michigan State quarterbacks have been sacked just nine
times, the lowest number in the Big Ten.
“There’s great chemistry in that room,” Dantonio said.
“(Offensive line) coach (Mark) Staten has created that chemistry along with our
older players in that offensive line room. They just want to win. Bottom line is
guys just want to win. They’ll sacrifice for the good of the group as long as
we’re winning or even when
we’re losing.”
That has been evident as players with plenty of
starting experience have sacrificed to create a unique rotation of as many as
eight players. Jackson, who has started 17 games in his career, now spells Jack
Allen at center and Treadwell at guard. France, who spent the last three years
at left tackle, has made the move to right guard, while Fonoti takes breaks at
right tackle to allow sophomore Donavon Clark and redshirt freshman Jack Conklin
to rotate in.
“We’re having a good time and it shows on the field,”
France said. “ We’re a really close-knit group and it feels like when we’re
playing we have each other’s back.”
A tight bond has been created among offensive linemen
that just happens to coincide with some more unique personalities.
Quarterback Connor Cook, who lives with Fonoti and
Allen, said it’s hard to explain.
“There’s so many of them and they’re so close,” he
said. “Just how they interact with each other, the jokes they crack. They’re
just hysterical.”
 |
| Meet the Meat Squad. Check em out at @meatsquadmsu on Twitter. |
And you don’t have to be playing every week to be part
of the fun. Conklin and fellow redshirt freshmen Kodi Kieler, Zach Higgins and
Benny McGowan make up the Meat Squad. They all have their own names — Meatball
and Meatloaf, for example — and they even have a Twitter account
(@meatsquadmsu).
“The Meat Squad is a very special group of guys,”
Jackson said. “I call them the four best-looking guys on the team.”
That’s something else the linemen have fun with. Most
jokes surround the fact they aren’t exactly the smallest guys on the team.
“I’ve always thought that if you’ve got a little
weight on you, you’ve got to have a personality or the girls aren’t gonna talk
to you,” Jackson said.
To which France responded, “Yeah, we don’t have the
six packs or the chiseled jaw lines.”
What they do have this season is health, and that has
led to a unit that is in position to move its offense — and its team — closer to
its goal of reaching the Rose Bowl.
“You’ve got to enjoy these moments,” Fonoti said. “We
take care of business but at the same time have fun with it. We can laugh about
it and have fun but be serious when it comes time to be serious.”
They’ve proven that, and they’ve certainly proven they
know how to have fun, even if the dances aren’t exactly classics.
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