Michigan State Must Watch for This Star Maryland WR
The Michigan State Spartans will travel to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins as they look to remain undefeated.
Head Coach Jonathan Smith knows his Spartans have a lot of work to do if they want to take down a formidable opponent.
The Terrapins have bested the Spartans in the last two seasons. They got out to comfortable leads in both games early, and Michigan State could not make up the ground.
Maryland’s offense is a work in progress, with new quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. taking over, but they still had an impressive outing against the Connecticut Huskies last week.
One bright spot for the Terrapins in that performance was wide receiver Tai Felton. The senior caught seven passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns against the Huskies last week.
The Spartans’ defense held up impressively against Florida Atlantic last week, but the Terrapins will be a whole different beast on the road this weekend.
Felton should play a major part in that.
Florida Atlantic’s passing attack did not pose much of a threat against the Spartans, so we do not have much indication of what this pass defense looks like.
However, Michigan State lost one of its top defensive backs, Dillon Tatum, in the game, so his loss will be felt in a major way. Tatum is capable of playing both cornerback and safety, so the Spartans will need to use the depth they added this offseason to their advantage.
The Terrapins have always had elite wide receivers like Stefon Diggs, DJ Moore, and Rakim Jarrett. Felton could be next in that lineage.
Felton caught three passes for 67 yards in the last Michigan State-Maryland game at Spartan Stadium. He has five catches for 77 yards in his career against the Spartans.
Felton is a good route runner with solid size and speed. He can get open at all three levels of the field, so Defensive Coordinator Joe Rossi must have his entire unit ready to defend Felton.
As evidenced by his big game last weekend, Felton is Edwards’ top receiving option. He should receive another large number of targets against a Spartans’ secondary, ready for a true test.
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CARTER LANDIS