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Three B1G Things: Kirk Ferentz puts football in perspective, Michigan State’s OL searching for improvement & Mickey Marotti’s April Fool’s joke

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

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Three B1G Things is a daily weekday update on some of the most unique and interesting stories from across the B1G. It ranges from recruiting to coach press conferences, funny anecdotes to serious situations. We provide our commentary, analysis and opinions on a few topics every day.

“If we’re not able to get back, we have bigger problems”

One sentence from Kirk Ferentz put everything into perspective. It wasn’t a groundbreaking claim or philosophical concept, it was something that we all understand but have all failed to recognize.

“We all want to get back to work and we miss our routine,” Ferentz said. “But the bigger picture is that if we are not able to get back, that means we have bigger problems than missing football.”

Kirk Herbstreit’s comment that he’d be “shocked” if there’s a 2020 college football season stirred up hysteria among fans across the country. The panic of losing one of the most popular sports in the country was too much for folks to digest among this public health crisis. It certainly would be disappointing, but that makes Ferentz’s statement even more relevant.

If we’re not able to have a college football season this fall, the situation may have escalated so seriously that it would be the least of our concerns. Hopefully we don’t get to that point.

Michigan State’s O-Line is “hungry” for improvement

Let’s shift back to football, shall we? In East Lansing, perhaps one of the biggest question marks heading into the season is whether the offensive line will show improvement this fall. In all honesty, there’s really nowhere to go but up after the last two seasons.

Michigan State’s run game has ranked 13th in the B1G each of the last two years, which has translated to a stagnant offense, few points on the scoreboard and back-to-back 7-6 seasons. A lack of experienced depth and consistent injuries have played a role in the Spartans’ struggles up front the past two seasons, and new offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic is focusing on those areas right now.

Even though he can’t meet with players and MSU isn’t able to hit the practice field, Kapilovic says the guys in the trenches are “hungry” to learn and improve.

“We’re getting more time to spend together in a meeting setting than we probably normally would,” Kapilovic said. “But until you can do it, it never truly gets ingrained in your head.”

Kapilovic acknowledges that Michigan State will behind the 8-ball a bit when it does return to the practice field. Not having the spring to build continuity and establish depth along the offensive line creates a challenge for Mel Tucker’s squad in the first season.

How quickly Michigan State’s offensive line jells when it returns to East Lansing will be a big indicator of how successful the Spartans can be on the offensive side of the football this season.

Ohio State still celebrated April Fool’s Day on Zoom

I’m not going to lie, I actually was anticipating this prank would be a little better. It just wasn’t believable enough to get Ohio State’s players worried while they were sitting in front of their computer screens.

To celebrate April Fool’s Day on Wednesday, strength coach Mickey Marotti had his own prank prepared, telling his players that he was leaving Ohio State to become a drummer in a rock band. He even received a little help from head coach Ryan Day. To his credit, he did even pan over to his drum-set to make the statement appear even more real.

Maybe it’s because I’m not a player and was watching it from afar, but it just wasn’t quite as believable as other potential pranks. But, hey, I’ll let you decide for yourself:

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB