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EAST LANSING - It's a "wise choice" and a "huge thing for our football program," Mark Dantonio said Wednesday of some much-needed good news for Michigan State.
Greg Jones, the consensus All-America junior middle linebacker, announced his decision to spend next season at MSU rather than with an NFL team. The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft is Friday, but Jones made the decision and told Dantonio last Friday.
"I always felt like I was kind of leaning toward coming back," said Jones, who had 154 tackles as a junior and was named the top linebacker in college football by CollegeFootballNews.com. "I kind of just wanted to make an educated decision about some things. ... I do feel like with this team (in 2010), we can try and compete for the championship."
Dantonio helped Jones and his parents gather information, talking to four NFL general managers and other personnel people in the league. Jones did not want to divulge the specifics of the information he received, but he has said repeatedly that he would only leave if he was confident of going in the first round.
Most analysts at this point project Jones as a second- or third-round pick. At 6-foot-1, 228, Jones is smaller than most NFL middle linebackers. He said he hopes to play at a higher weight next season as long as he doesn't lose any speed.
He also wants to improve in pass coverage.
"There's no doubt across the board that he is an NFL player," Dantonio said. "And you know, that's exciting to have a player - to talk to four GMs on NFL teams and for them to all come back and say that he is a definite NFL player. It's exciting to have him back playing college football in 2010 for Michigan State University."
Another factor in Jones' decision was his promise to parents Beverly and Greg Sr. of Cincinnati, that he would get his college degree.
"Talking about the relationship with my mom, we talk a lot about sports," said Jones, a media arts major. "But ever since I was younger, she was always more excited when I did in good class. So it was good. And I did want to keep that promise to her. She obviously means a lot to me, and getting closer to a degree would mean a lot."
TAKING APPLICATIONS: Dantonio publicly congratulated Dan Enos, who left his post as MSU running backs coach to take the Central Michigan head coaching position. Dantonio said he expects no further staff attrition and gave no timetable for hiring a replacement.
Enos recruited Detroit for MSU and brought in several top players from the area, but Dantonio said he expects his program to remain strong in Detroit.
"We will miss (Enos') ability to understand the overall infrastructure of every (Detroit) high school ... but there is a vast amount of people on our staff that have been in Detroit in the last three years," Dantonio said. "And you know, that now has to step to the forefront and become something that we look at and say, 'OK, this is why we do things this way and this is a strength for us.' It's not like we have had a void there. We have always had a presence there as an entire staff, and that will continue."
NEW GUYS: Four 2010 freshmen completed high school early and are taking classes at MSU - running backs Nick Hill (Chelsea) and Leveon Bell (Groveport, Ohio), linebacker Max Bullough (Traverse City) and quarterback Joe Boisture (Saline).
All will be able to participate in spring ball. MSU has 17 verbal commitments for 2010. Dantonio said he would like to add four or five players to the class by the Feb. 3 signing day.
ON NICHOL: Dantonio reiterated the possibility that Keith Nichol may switch from quarterback to receiver as a junior.
"Certainly if you have a quarterback who can help you at wide receiver, we are going to make that decision and put him out there," Dantonio said. "I think Nichol has found a place that he can add great value to this football team, and he's done that at quarterback, too. But it's a competitive situation and you know, nobody wants to have a quarterback controversy. You can feel that, but I think he can be a tremendous football player for us and do a variety of things for us as a football player."
