The things that are more promising are the defense looking better. Yes, lesser opponents, but fewer blown assignments. The pass blocking looks better since they went to the young OTs. The IOL still is a mess.
The bad is that we still don't have a passing game I trust. You see a flash from a guy, then you see a dropped ball. The DL, which I thought was going to be the strongest unit on the team, has gone from disappointing (based on that assumption) to downright bad. The LB support in the run game has actually been a little better than expected, which has masked some of it. But it's been Simeon Barrow, and a pile of trash.
I know more transfers are coming. They'd probably be coming if MSU went 7-5 and had no coaching transition, based on how the game is now, but even more in MSU's scenario. But we need to hang onto Jordan Hall and Jalen Thompson. Two true freshman LBs have been possibly the two best players on defense. Throw in Chace Rucker, and maybe the three best players are true freshmen. The last time I said that was Greg Jones, who became a 3 time First Team All-Big Ten LB. Granted he was a freshman on MDs first team, after 4 years of bad football, that completely ignored that side of the ball. Here, it's Year 4 of a defensive coach, your 3 best players are true freshmen. Big yikes
