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Spartans’ Layne knows his future is at cornerback

Matt Charboneau
DetroitNews-Unknown

 

East Lansing — To say Justin Layne was playing without a net last season would be an understatement.

The freshman came to Michigan State in the late summer of 2016 as one of the top wide receiver prospects in the nation, a player out of Cleveland that the home-state Buckeyes wanted badly. Instead, he came to Michigan State ready to make an immediate impact.

And in the fourth game of the season at Indiana, the redshirt was pulled and the 6-foot-3 speedster was on the field for a handful of plays with the offense.

A couple of days later, everything changed. No longer did the Spartans need Layne on offense. They needed help at cornerback, and just like that, Layne was flipped to the other side of the ball.

“That week was the first week I actually played cornerback at Michigan State,” Layne said Monday at Michigan State’s media day. “I back-pedaled a little bit and I’ve been playing cornerback ever since.”

The next week against Brigham Young, Layne was playing corner, and a week after that against Northwestern he was starting.

More: Wojo: Michigan State’s road back begins now

At that point, Layne was playing mostly on instinct that had been developed at Benedictine High School, where he had seven interceptions as a junior in 2014.

“I feel like last year it was like, ‘Guard him.’ OK,” Layne explained. “This year I definitely have a little more confidence playing the position.”

Much of that is thanks to an offseason of getting back to the basics as a cornerback, learning as if he was starting over as a freshman.

And while Layne saw some work in the spring back on offense, including catching a 17-yard touchdown pass in the spring game, he’s all defense heading into the opener against Bowling Green on Sept. 2.

“Right now it’s strictly defense,” Layne said. “I think they want to break it down to the basics for me and build my way up from there. It’s helped a lot, just breaking it down to day one as a cornerback.”

Layne might not have known exactly what he was doing at times last season, but he did finish with 18 tackles, a pass breakup and an interception that he took back 43 yards for a touchdown against Northwestern in his first start.

It’s not exactly how Layne thought his first collegiate touchdown would go, but he’s now focused on using what he knew as a receiver to excel on defense.

“(Playing receiver) definitely helped,” Layne said. “Especially with ball skills and having a feel for the game, where the ball is gonna be because you know certain routes happen at certain areas and it definitely helped at cornerback.”

There’s a chance Layne could still use his skills on offense, but not without a fight.

“He is at home,” co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Harlon Barnett said with a laugh.

For wide receiver coach Terrence Samuel, it’s par for the course. He’s lost his share of players to the defensive side and had to share some in the past, namely Tony Lippett.

But that’s how it goes when you’re trying to win, and Samuel sees big things for Layne on defense.

“I joke about it, but whatever it takes for our team to be better,” Samuel said. “So if you need to go play DB, go play DB. Justin is probably gonna be one of the better DBs we have. He’s long, got great speed. He can be as good a guy as we’ve had.”

Mingling with the greats

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio was in Canton, Ohio, over the weekend to see former Spartans kicker Morten Andersen inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and loved every minute.

“As I sat there and watched it sort of unfold, they introduced every single Hall of Famer — I think 105 maybe were there, and some unbelievable players,” Dantonio said. “Players that you grew up looking at and watching as a younger person — Roger Staubach and Jim Brown and people of that nature. Joe DeLamielleure was there from Michigan State. It was a first-class event from every respect.

“If you're a football guy, a football coach, or a football player, maybe a sports writer who covers that, that's something that I would think would be on the bucket list. I really never really understood maybe what that was all about or had a real appreciation for it until I was able to go.”

Freshmen needed

Michigan State played nine freshmen in 2016, a number that could get matched this season. Josiah Scott has the inside track on a starting cornerback spot while Dantonio brought up a few more names on Monday that will have a chance to play right away.

“You're going to see guys like Matt Dotson play,” Dantonio said. “You're going to see guys like Kevin Jarvis and Jordan Reid play. You're going to see Cody White play and Hunter Rison play. You're going to see Antjuan Simmons play. You're going to see Jacub Panasiuk play. That's just right off the top of my head.”

Dantonio later mentioned Jack Camper, who like Dotson, is a tight end. Jarvis and Reid will likely get time on the offensive line, White and Hunter at wide receiver and Simmons at linebacker.

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

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