Even if you didn’t feel this or think this consciously in the moment, it’s more than fair to say the following:
As Kenneth Walker III was delivering his never-to-be-forgotten lightning bolt to start the 2021 Michigan State football season, Spartans everywhere felt a weight being lifted that was accompanied by a collective exhale that could be heard and felt from Evanston to Blondie’s on West 79th Street in New York City to The Gin Mill in Chicago and all the way back to PT O’Malley’s, The Landshark, Crunchy’s, and The Peanut Barrel in Beast Lansing.
Stop back and think about the feeling you had in the pit of your stomach right around February of 2017.
The entire Michigan State community was delivered an existential gut punch that tested the institution’s mettle from the very start.
It’s been a long, hard slog ever since then and it’s made us all think about the integrity of our beloved university. It’s made us wonder about the future of our beloved athletic programs. It’s made us wonder if the forces (be they real or imagined) of nature have aligned to put up roadblocks that might be too daunting for us to overcome.
And it’s made us long for a time when we can all just get back to mindlessly yelling, cheering, and roaring as one in reaction to the successes of our Spartans.
When KW3 slipped the lone would-be tackler on that very first play from scrimmage and broke outside, it immediately looked like he had an angle and that he’d be off to the races.
This was one of the kids that Mel Tucker plucked from the transfer portal in his mission to quickly and firmly load up his roster with difference-makers.
We’ve been hearing about this specific kid, looking at photos of him working out, resisting the urge to think that he might just be part of a brilliant puzzle our new head man has been putting together.
And then we saw and felt not only the speed of the newest Spartan Dawg racing up the sideline and eventually hitting the end zone, providing us with one of the greatest starts to a Spartan season anyone can remember…
We saw and felt a page being turned.
The way in which the foundation underneath the Michigan State family was upturned and shaken seemed, for a long time, like it might take forever to rebuild.
And while it’s certainly okay to point to this or that and offer reasonable critiques, isn’t it also appropriate to recognize that, all this time later, Michigan State University should be recognized and even lauded for demonstrating strength, character, decency, courage, togetherness, and, perhaps most important of all, leadership that can give Spartans everywhere every reason to walk tall and be proud?
How many cliché quotes are out there about how life isn’t about the mistakes we make but, rather, the ways in which we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, learn from our mistakes, and work hard to build ourselves back up and become even stronger in the aftermath of those mistakes?
But when does a community of people ever really get the tangible opportunity to celebrate the exact moment when the recovery and the climb back from the mistakes has happened and the birth of a brand-new chapter has arrived?
Kenneth Walker III’s 75-yard lightning bolt was, for this Spartan, the moment in which the struggles of the last handful of years were cleanly, smoothly, and emphatically washed away.
How about this, too – it’s probable that Kenneth Walker III wouldn’t even know what all of this esoteric mumbo jumbo is about.
Good for him.
And good for us.
The night wound up being one that Kenneth Walker III certainly won’t ever forget.
He’ll forever be in the minds and hearts of Spartans everywhere even if he doesn’t gain another yard for as long as he plays for Tucker’s burgeoning program at State.
That gives us a perfect segue away from the esoteric mumbo jumbo for a moment to address the following:
It’s only one game and there will be frustrating moments in the weeks and months ahead – but, it sure does seem as if Mel Tucker knows what he’s doing.
On 37 rushing attempts, State gained 326 yards Friday night in the 38-21 win over Northwestern that surpassed every single living and breathing Spartan’s expectations.
Walker III himself earned 264 yards on 23 carries and he looked even better than the statistics suggest.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that State has barely even had an offensive line for the past few seasons.
The gang of beefeaters up front put on a clinic Friday night in Evanston and there wasn’t anything fluky about it.
If anyone questions whether or not State is in pretty good shape at quarterback for the foreseeable future, I’d be happy to listen to what the reasons for the questions might be.
Payton Thorne didn’t rewrite any record books – but that’s not what State needs right now as Tucker continues to relentlessly apply his will, energy, toughness, discipline, and skill into a program that just needs a little bit of special fuel to be able to plow around the track like a Mack truck with Indy Car speed.
Thorne made some special throws Friday night to a collection of skilled wide receivers that might have wound up getting overshadowed by Walker’s accomplishments.
It’s obvious that these guys have a chemistry and that a strong culture has quickly been established.
But the throws that Thorne made weren’t even the highlights of his performance, from this perspective.
Thorne made zero mistakes.
In fact, on a few occasions, he made mature decisions that led to him chucking the ball out of bounds, avoiding a sack, or eliminating any potential for an interception.
Thorne is a redshirt sophomore and, dare I say this, on Friday night, I saw a guy ahead of where Kirk Cousins was at this point in what was one of the best quarterback careers in the history of State’s proud program.
Thorne distributed the ball around to a batch of teammates who all showed that he can count on them.
Jayden Reed – 5 catches for 64 yards.
Tre Mosley – 4 catches for 59 yards.
Connor Heyward – 3 catches for 28 yards that included a play featuring Heyward plowing over and through numerous defenders to convert a first down a few plays prior to a touchdown during one of a handful of impressive drives for State.
Jalen Nailor – 2 catches for 20 yards.
Jordan Simmons – 1 catch for a 14-yard touchdown on a perfectly-executed screen.
You think these guys had fun Friday night?
You think these guys have been fired up about practice this week?
You think these guys are motivated and inspired to work hard and prepare for this week’s game?
You think these guys are fired up about the rest of a season?
Speaking of guys being excited – you were, like everyone else, wondering if defense would be played by the members of State’s defensive unit this season.
You were also wondering about some of these guys who have barreled into Beast Lansing via Tucker’s transfer portal.
Yes, there were a few big chunkers that State gave up Friday night – and Northwestern’s offense isn’t Alabama’s.
But Alabama wasn’t the opponent Friday night and the defense showed that there is reason for optimism.
A play that hasn’t gotten a whole lot of attention but might have been as big as any other was Northwestern’s first play of the second half.
After as impressive of a first half as any Spartan might have hoped for, a Northwestern guy breaks free and looks like he might be gone.
But Kalon Gervin races down the field like his life depends on it and corrals the dude for one of his eight solo tackles on the night to keep the Wildcats out of the endzone and gives State the chance to live for the next play.
State’s defense stiffens and Northwestern misses its subsequent field goal attempt.
Elsewhere – if you’re wondering if this defense can apply pressure on the quarterback, Friday night indicated that it can.
Aside from the four sacks, an endless rotation of guys applied pressure on Hunter S. Thompson all night long.
State held Northwestern to 117 yards of rushing and, perhaps more telling since there were a few long runs, the Wildcats averaged 3.1 yards a carry.
Cleaning some things up on pass coverage is certainly at the top of Scottie Hazelton’s priority list this week but there really wasn’t any moment where it looked like this was a Chris Smeland defense for State.
Xavier Henderson isn’t playing intramural football out there. He’ll be as reliable, tough, and committed as any other Spartan on the roster all season.
Angelo Grose was in on nine tackles and played like a big boy.
Drew Beesley wasn’t just in on everything, he made one of the best plays nobody saw Friday night:
Hunter S. Thompson took a snap.
Beesley was through the gap instantly and had a straight shot at Hunter.
However, Beesley immediately recognized what was happening.
Beesley froze, broke into a defensive stance that looked like Charlie Bell thwarting Jamal Crawford on March 4th, 2000 at The Bres, and he stymied the screen pass scheme that Northwestern had dialed up, thinking a big gainer was there due to what was on the verge of becoming an over-pursuit by State’s defensive front.
Quavaris Crouch now plays for State.
Drew Jordan now plays for State.
Tank Brown now plays for State.
Cal Haladay has now begun to emphatically play for State.
Chase Kline, Jacub Panasiuk, Michael Dowell, Jalen Hunt, and a slew of others all still play for State.
State has guys.
These guys looked pretty damn good Friday night.
And there was another guy who looked pretty damn good Friday night.
Alan Haller.
Haller strolled through the parking lot next to Mustard’s Last Stand in Evanston and calmly, coolly, and proudly mixed and mingled with his fellow Spartans as he demonstrated what everyone has known all along – he is a Spartan to his core.
Which brings us back to the way in which Kenneth Walker III’s very first play from scrimmage served as the tangible turning of the page for State.
While there might have been a minor moment of family debate here or there over these last few weeks, it’s not only fair, it’s factual to say that the institution handled the process of identifying and naming Alan Haller as the new Athletic Director with care, discipline, effectiveness, collaboration, and, in the end, success.
Alan Haller has dreamed of this moment and the work he’s done as a Spartan speaks for itself.
If his appointment isn’t universally supported, I wouldn’t want to be in any camp out there that isn’t part of the nearly unanimous support for this man.
And let’s not shy away from the fact that State now proudly boasts a Black head football coach and a Black Athletic Director.
There may be another Power 5 university that can lay claim to this dynamic but I don’t know what the university is off the top of my head.
There’s a t-shirt that’s popping up among State’s leaders.
It has the iconic image of Duffy Daugherty standing with his iconic, national champion Spartans – Clinton Jones, Bob Apisa, Bubba Smith, Gene Washington, and George Webster.
Accompanying the image is a tagline that seems to be catching on.
“IT STARTED AT STATE” featuring the growing-in-popularity SCRIPT STATE logo.
The tagline is more important than Spartans may realize.
It references the fact that the integration of college football – the true and real introduction of Black athletes into the mainstream – was started by Duffy during his legendary time as State’s head coach.
Somewhere along the line, State allowed folks at Alabama and other places to steal this narrative and try to claim some sort of moral authority on the issue.
Those institutions and the people who have been fed that false narrative do not understand that Duffy was and forever will be the Branch Rickey of college football and State was and forever will be the equivalent of Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers.
There just isn’t any disputing of this.
Tom Izzo wore the shirt in his video that made the rounds the day of State’s season opener at Evanston last Friday.
That’s not the first time Izzo’s worn the shirt – and Haller himself has been seen wearing the shirt.
Alan Haller represents everything that is good, strong, tough, and authentic about Michigan State.
Imagine what he was feeling as Walker raced up along that sideline on the very first play from scrimmage during his tenure as his own, beloved alma mater’s athletic director.
State’s past is dominated by progressive and authentic leadership rooted in hard work, toughness, fighting through challenges, and inclusion that has given countless Spartans around the world the chance to wear the Green and White with pride and purpose.
Like every other institution, State’s made plenty of mistakes and earned criticism that has comes its way.
But, unlike most other universities, State’s history features elements that give Spartans everywhere the right to walk taller than ever.
Alan Haller knows this.
Tom Izzo knows this.
Mel Tucker knows this.
And Kenneth Walker III now knows this – and that run of his woke us all up and told us that the next chapter for State is upon us.
Crowley Sullivan is a 25-year veteran of the sports media industry. He spent 10 years at ESPN where he won two Emmys and a Peabody Award for his work as a Producer on the iconic series “SportsCentury.” As an Executive, he led ESPN Classic and ESPNews Programming and served as an Executive Producer for ESPN Original Entertainment. He also has served as EVP/GM of Campus Insiders, he’s been a USA Today Sports contributor, and he now oversees UFC Fight Pass as its VP/GM. And, he once ate lunch and dinner at The Peanut Barrel for 26 consecutive days/nights.