How Jonathan Smith, MSU Plan to Distribute RB Reps
Michigan State football has a number of offensive weapons on its roster, as was evident in the team's 27-24 win over Maryland on Saturday.
Particular in the run game, the Spartans may just have a two-headed monster in their running back room with their tandem of Nate Carter and Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams.
Lynch-Adams, who transferred to Michigan State this offseason, was the team's offensive player of the game in Week 1 and was a huge reason the Spartans were able to survive Florida Atlantic, finishing the contest with 101 rushing yards and a touchdown on just nine carries.
He had some big runs again on Saturday, sharing reps with Carter as the two nearly split the carries -- Carter with 11 and Lynch-Adams with 10.
"That's what we want to be until someone maybe gets a hot hand," said Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith when he addressed the media on Monday. "But going into the game, both those guys, we felt confident with [for] multiple reasons -- long season, wear and tear, guys getting tired, and oftentimes, that's when you see the ball on the ground a little bit more, so we want to keep both those guys fresh. And have the utmost confidence with both guys."
Carter was expected to have a big-time second season with the program. While he had some eye-opening moments in Saturday's victory, he hasn't quite been meeting the standard fans had placed on him going into the season. But Smith isn't concerned.
"Yeah, not down at all on Nate," he said. "I think he's been working. He had a couple of nice carries, especially an early increase going down in the red zone this last week. We do want to have a balanced attack between the two of them. I think they're a nice changeup. Their skill set's a little bit different. Nate was huge in both two-minute drives. He's in there -- we're not running the ball a ton, but in the protection, knowing the calls, he had a couple of key blocks on pressures.
"And so that's how the season will go. One guy will get a hot hand and we might run him for a little bit. It takes all 11 in the run game to get the thing going. I'm confident Nate will be right there."
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