EAST LANSING —Stanton Ramil waited a year to make his Michigan State football debut.
While rehabbing after knee surgery that ended his true freshman season during 2023 preseason camp, he watched as Mel Tucker was fired and the coaches who brought him in were replaced. The Spartans sputtered on offense, particularly with bad blocking that produced the worst per-game rushing average in school history.
“I mean, there was a lot of crazy events that went on that year,” Ramil recalled Wednesday.
Ultimately, Ramil decided to remain with Jonathan Smith’s new staff. He liked what he heard from and learned about new offensive line coach Jim Michalczik. And when Ramil finally made his debut, coming in at left tackle during the season opener against Florida Atlantic, the redshirt freshman was playing his first snaps of college football alongside two starting offensive linemen who were not at MSU a year ago.
PREPPING FOR THE PANTHERS: Michigan State vs. Prairie View A&M prediction and scouting report
To say there is a learning curve in MSU’s trenches early this season, both for Ramil and collectively as a unit, might be an understatement.
However, Smith and his staff are pushing to get more out of the run game after two pedestrian performances the first two weeks. The Spartans’ mission against FCS-level Prairie View A&M is to build rhythm by using their size and strength, as well as depth, to pound the Panthers into submission at the point of attack.
“We’re not really looking for the 10-plus yard runs. We’re just looking for 4- or 5-yard gains,” said Ramil, who has spent the first two weeks backing up senior starter Brandon Baldwin. “When we do that for two quarters, I’m not sure how the defense really feels about that by the third.”
The Spartans (2-0) kick off against Prairie View (1-1) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday (BTN). They enter the third week of the season ranked 77th in the Football Bowl Subdivision at 150 yards per game after posting 121 yards on the ground in last week’s 27-24 win at Maryland and a 179-yard showing against FAU.
It is a uptick, even in a limited sample size, from last season’s dismal 89.5 yards per game that was the lowest average in program history and ranked 125th out of 130 FBS teams. Still, the struggles Saturday against the Terrapins — with 96 yards coming on five big-play runs and just 25 yards combined in MSU’s other 25 attempts — left Smith stewing afterward that “there’s still meat left on the bone” for an offense that got 363 passing yards from Aidan Chiles and a monster 194-yard game from freshman receiver Nick Marsh.
“Offensively, it was nice to see some of the explosion down the field,” Smith said Monday. “The run game still needs to be more efficient. Protection wasn’t as good as Week 1, we got too much leakage (defensive pressure) there.”
The Spartans added another new face at right guard Saturday as Gavin Broscious (also injured last year) replaced Kristian “Big Dooley” Phillips, who is expected to miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury. Broscious, whose chop block was one of five penalties called on the offensive line, rotated with veteran interior lineman Dallas Fincher. Oregon State transfer Tanner Miller remained at center and Holy Cross transfer Luke Newman stayed at left guard, while Baldwin — the lone returning starter from 2023 — alternated at right tackle with Ashton Lepo when Ramil was in the game on the left side.
Lepo committed three penalties — two holds and an illegal formation — and Ramil had a false start.
“It’s all about movement for us. Trusting our technique, getting off the ball, running off the ball, attacking the defenders, communicating well, getting the combos to the right guys,” Ramil said. “Just doing that all game with as little slip-ups as we can and really just get the defenders moved and get our feet past the line. …
“Being out there in a game, you can’t really take back your mistakes like you can in practice. So the mistakes you make in a game hit harder than they do in practice.”
Hitting harder, coincidentally, is what the offensive line needs to do more frequently and viciously, Smith said.
Smith said he likes the rotation Michalczik is deploying; on his weekly radio show Wednesday, he called the running back tandem of Nate Carter (107 yards on 30 carries) and Massachusetts transfer Kay’ron Lynch-Adams (147 yards on 19 carries) “a nice 1-2 punch.” But the first-year coach also said there needs to be more consistency between the position groups.
“Getting on the same page isn’t always easy,” Smith said. “We gotta make the thing more physical. We gotta play with lower pad level, we gotta finish on plays. That’s gonna help the run game. And I’ll say I’m not just talking about five O-linemen. There’s plenty of time where tight ends or big packages that are in the run game. Backs gotta show some confidence in the hole, too, and stay disciplined in their approach and what they’re seeing and they’re not guessing.”
Ramil said Smith and Michalczik’s vision of the offense and their history of producing NFL-bound offensive linemen at Oregon State was one of the big reasons he did not leave MSU after the coaching change. Last year, the Beavers’ veteran-laden offense averaged 167.1 rushing yards per game (57th) and led the nation in red-zone efficiency, scoring on 97.6% of its trips inside the 20.
It is where Ramil and the Spartans hope they can get quickly, even if there will be growing pains along the way.
“It’s really just about going loco, going crazy … having the energy and just wanting to go out there and move people,” Ramil said. “Going 100% every single rep, because not every rep is guaranteed. So that’s what it’s all about for us. Go out there every single rep with every single practice of every single game, and give our full effort.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football offensive line wants to pound Prairie View A&M
