As the 2023 season approaches, with fall camp beginning this week, Michigan State has (most likely) completed its transfer haul for the season, recently bringing in Terry Roberts, a cornerback from Iowa, and Alante Brown, a wide receiver from Nebraska.
With the regular season around the corner, I wanted to dive into the film room with these two additions to Michigan State's roster.
Terry Roberts:
Due to injury, Roberts only saw action in five games last season. He had his most snaps against Iowa State in Week Two of 2022 (63), notching six tackles and recording an interception.
On the 2022 season as a whole, he graded out overall at a 79.9 coverage grade, per Pro Football Focus, which is beyond acceptable and would have been good for the second-highest on Michigan State's team if he was there last year. However, I cast some doubt on the efficacy or contextual importance of this grading, as Khary Crump, who was unable to play himself onto the field in an actively poor secondary (prior to his suspension), graded out the highest on the team for Michigan State last season (granted, that was only in 11 total snaps).
Regardless, it’s better than grading out as actively bad. Roberts' 202 defensive snaps last year should provide a wealth of experience to draw from.
As a warning, it was difficult to find actionable film displaying coverage landmarks and indicia that I would generally look for. The search for film involved me watching two full Iowa games, a sadistic act indeed.
Above, in easily the highlight of his 2022 season at Iowa, Roberts came up with a huge interception in a food fight "Cy-Hawk" game last fall.
As best I can tell, Iowa State (which was one of the most turnover-prone teams in college football last year) tried to run some sort of a two-man option route, and the wide receiver ran a swirl-hitch whereas the quarterback threw an out (for what it is worth, I think the out route was the correct call).
Roberts showed a good understanding of cover-2, Iowa's base defense, playing the flat from a half-turn. It will remain to be seen whether or not Roberts has the ranginess for the cover-3 and quarters coverages MSU has often run under defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton.
Here, Roberts (who starts out of frame) wound up on the wrong side of a highlight reel catch, which obscures the fact that he funneled the wide receiver to the sideline and was only undressed by a picture-perfect throw. If he can continually replicate the way he stayed in phase with the receiver, he will perform just fine as a Spartan.
Overall, in my opinion Roberts projects as at minimum, a good depth piece, who has the potential to see a larger role. Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker mentioned at Big Ten Media Days last week that he believes Roberts is a player who can help the Spartans right away, whether that be as a starter, rotational player or special teamer.
I would probably rather see homegrown talent start for holistic reasons, but experienced depth is never a bad thing. A team's ceiling is not raised so much by the addition of one or two five-star prospects, but by a raising of the floor of the overall talent level. Roberts, who I would expect to help absorb snaps on special teams and play some role on defense, should provide that at a minimum.
Alante Brown:
Rounding out Michigan State's deep, if somewhat unproven, wide receiver corps is a familiar name to some, Alante Brown.
Brown has said that he was born in East Lansing, then moved to Illinois, and was committed to MSU as a high school prospect at one time. His circuitous recruitment consistent of a commitment to Miami of Ohio, then to MSU under head coach Mark Dantonio, then Texas Tech. He ultimately played a year of prep ball before committing to Nebraska in late 2019.
At Nebraska, he notched 22 catches for 262 yards in 29 career games. He has also been used as a kick returner, though without too much productivity.
Brown owned a fairly dismal 60.4 PFF receiving grade in 2022. He had similar catch/yard splits in three games this year against Northwestern (three for 32 yards), North Dakota (two for 27 yards) and Georgia Southern (three for 28 yards) — games in which Nebraska hilariously went 1-2 in.
He put up two catches in six other games, highlighted by a 47-yard day in a 26-9 loss against Illinois. His 466 snaps (including special teams) and minimal production in an offense crying for skill position help does not project overly well, though the physical tools exist for him to round into a contributor.
Brown plays hard, and appears to be a willing downfield blocker. Most of his catches were of the five-yard or 10-yard hitch variety as a secondary progression. While this is fine, and can be productive, it speaks to a lack of ability to be trusted downfield.
Above, a deep hitch is caught in phase. Notably, he makes the cornerback turn his hips at the 40-yard line. Something wide receiver coaches preach incessantly is making every route look like a fade, forcing a receiver to turn his hips, and then breaking it off with the separation created by virtue of the route tree. Brown's ability to do this here cannot be construed as anything other than a positive.
In one of his few opportunities downfield, he turns the wrong way, and quarterback Casey Thompson throws to his outside shoulder. He was able to create enough separation from the slot corner where a perfect throw would have probably scored, which wasn't good enough contextually.
While he was interfered with, he turned around FAR too early and needed to get to his landmark better. I would assume he probably needs more experience playing the ball in the air.
Brown made a lot of hay in making himself open when Casey Thompson had to escape the pocket. Here, he keeps a cornerback on his back and catches a hitch. However, the cornerback was willing to concede seven yards on third-down-and-15.
Above, Brown runs a deep hitch here, finding a soft spot in the zone between a squat corner and a safety.
He finds a similar hole again, working toward Thompson's scramble. Given Michigan State quarterback Noah Kim's proclivity for making plays outside of the pocket, this may be a valuable tool.
Being able to effectively run a scramble drill is something that I don't think the younger wide receivers on MSU's team are probably adept at yet, so having a "safety blanket" is something that is a must for an inexperienced quarterback, such as Kim or Katin Houser, though I don't know if Brown is consistent enough to become that.
Brown is an athletic specimen, and shows good wiggle after the catch, able to dodge tackles and get upfield, albeit against North Dakota.
He shows the wiggle here again above, absolutely dusting a middle linebacker with a spin, albeit a middle linebacker from Georgia Southern.
In what I thought was Alante Brown's most refined route, he runs a hitch and go to perfection from the slot position against Illinois in the clip above, displaying at least the conceptual ability to make plays downfield.
Unfortunately, Brown may be best known for the internet notoriety he achieved after getting upended in an extremely painful way against Michigan.
On the whole I think Michigan State added at the minimum, two good depth pieces in Brown and Roberts, who both have the ability to contribute in major ways.
As fall camp unfolds, stay tuned for all news regarding position battles for the coming fall.
