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13
Michigan State
Sedrick Irvin has always carried his load, but this year
he'll run free of the shadows cast by other Big Ten
backs
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Irvin has a shot at back-to-back-to-back 1,000-yard
rushing
seasons.
(Damian
Strohmeyer)
|
Chutzpah, thy
name is Sedrick Irvin. Here's a young man who spent 1992's
Hurricane Andrew huddled with six other people in a
bathroom in his native Miami, cracking jokes as the roof
was being blown off the house. Who's so self-assured that
in his first meeting with
Spartans coach Nick Saban upon arriving in East Lansing, he
told Saban that he had spent the previous night in jail.
Saban, aware that Sedrick's cousin is Dallas Cowboys
wideout Michael Irvin, was less than
amused.
"There's a reason they call me the Miami
Mouth," says Irvin, whose decision to attend Michigan State still
has recruiters in the Sunshine State scratching their
heads. "I run my mouth so much during practice that
sometimes Coach yells at me, 'You're not
that
great.'" A self-confessed windbag, Irvin is a breath of fresh
air in a program often associated with the dour
countenances of Saban, now in his fourth season, and George
Perles, who coached the Spartans from 1983 to '94.
"It's refreshing to have a guy with
such an upbeat personality," says Saban. "Besides,
Sedrick's never a clown when it's time to
play."
Despite back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons, Irvin was
overshadowed in the Big Ten by running backs such as Darnell Autry of
Northwestern in '96 and Curtis Enis of Penn State in '97.
Then there's fellow junior Ron Dayne of Wisconsin, who
received
more ink than Irvin when both were true freshmen in '96,
never mind Irvin's 16 rushing touchdowns.
Irvin will run behind an offensive line that lost three
starters to the NFL, including All-Big Ten left tackle
Flozell Adams. But junior quarterback Bill Burke, who
started two games as a redshirt freshman and none as a
sophomore, could miss the beef
more than Irvin. Burke suffers from a chronic sore back, which
can be aggravated by any twisting or throwing motion; as a
result, he was limited to throwing every other day during
spring practice. Defensive pressure only worsens the
condition. It's not
inconceivable that
6' 6" true freshman Ryan Van Dyke could be the starter
when the Spartans open with a visit from Colorado
State.
"Quarterback is our one big question mark," says
Saban, who, with gifted wideouts in junior Gari Scott and
sophomore Plaxico Burress, wants to pass more often. Scott
was second on the team with 36 receptions a year ago. The
6'6" Burress, a Virginia state champion hurdler in high
school, wowed the coaching staff with three touchdown grabs
in the spring game.
The Spartans will be their typical smash-mouth selves on
defense. Nine starters, including the entire line and
secondary, return for a unit that ranked 13th nationally in
total defense last year. The playmaker on this unit is
6' 5", 264-pound junior end Robaire Smith, whose older
brother Antonio plays on the Spartans' basketball team and
led the Big Ten in rebounding two seasons ago. Robaire is
physical, too, as his 11 sacks in '97 bear witness. His
teammates call him Bubba
after another Spartans defensive end named Smith, who made Big
Ten quarterbacks' lives miserable before going on to
NFL stardom.
The schedule isn't favorable. The Spartans' nonconference
opponents include Oregon and Notre Dame as well as Colorado
State, and they play Big Ten
powerhouses Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State on the road. But as
Irvin might say, bring 'em on.
—John
Walters
Fast Facts
1997 record: 7-5 (4-4, tied for 6th in Big
Ten)
Final ranking: unranked
| 1997 Averages | Offense | Defense |
| Scoring | 29.0 | 16.9 |
| Rushing Yards | 199.5 | 115.4 |
| Passing Yards | 182.5 | 185.7 |
| Total Yards | 381.9 | 301.1 |
|
Pivotal Players
True freshman quarterback
Ryan Van
Dyke stands tall in the pocket at
6' 6", which is just one reason that coach Nick Saban has
no reservations about starting him should a
troublesome back limit incumbent
Bill
Burke's
effectiveness.... Senior free safety Sorie
Kanu, second on the team in tackles last year, with 96, is the
fiercest hitter in what may be the Big Ten's top
secondary.
Key Games
Schedule strength: 42nd of
112
Sept. 26 at Michigan
Number of games the Spartans have won in Ann Arbor since
1986:
one.
Nov. 28 at Penn State
The Nittany Lions are still smarting from their 49-1 spanking of a year ago.
Bottom Line
Saban: "This team has to get over the hump and believe
it can win the big games. Just being good is not good
enough."
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