Michigan State flips weakness to weapon while also ‘dropping bombs’

In the five-plus months since taking over at Michigan State, Jonathan Smith has dealt with a constant shuffle of talent in and out of the portal.

The Spartans have lost key players, including starters, at essentially every position on the roster. A couple of spots that have remained solid don’t get the most attention but they’re very valuable moving forward.

“The first thing that comes to mind, I think our specialists the way spring’s gone,” Smith said last month of his biggest spring surprise being punter Ryan Eckley and kicker Jonathan Kim. “Those two jump out.”

This is a notable shift from the same time last year when Michigan State had no proven options at either position. Kim was known for a big leg on kickoffs but the North Carolina graduate transfer joined the Spartans last year with zero made field goals in his career. Eckley spent the 2022 season as a walk-on true freshman who learned from star punter Bryce Baringer.

Although placekicking was a disaster at even chip-shot range for the Spartans in 2022, Kim made the move from untested veteran to a weapon. He was 13-for-18 on field goal attempts last year with no misses inside 40 yards and a 4-for-7 mark from at least 50. Kim drilled a 58-yard field goal as time expired in the first half of a loss at Iowa, which set a Kinnick Stadium record, and had 28 touchbacks in 42 kickoffs.

The bar set in Michigan State’s kicking game immediately before Kim arrived was very low but not at punter. Baringer rose from a walk-on to All-American and was picked by the Patriots in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

Eckley opened last season competing with Ohio State graduate transfer Michael O’Shaughnessy then took over the full-time job at midseason. He averaged 46.7 yards per punt – second-longest in the Big Ten and eighth best in the nation – while flipping the field and earning a scholarship as a Freshman All-American.

Smith on numerous occasions during spring practice, which ended April 20, mentioned Kim and Eckley unprompted. He said Eckley was “dropping bombs” with precision and Kim made all of his attempts during a scrimmage.

“It’s nice having veteran guys and guys that are actually really good,” said new Michigan State running backs coach and co-special teams coordinator Keith Bhonapha. “Kim is a really good kicker and obviously Eckley is a really good punter as well as a holder. You come in, you’re like, this is awesome, we’ve got really skilled specialists.”

Bhonapha is one of six assistants Smith brought him from Oregon State and will share co-special teams coordinator duties with new rush ends coach Chad Wilt, who was last at Indiana. They take over a group with proven experience at punter and kicker but not much depth behind them. Kaden Schickel is a scholarship transfer long snapper from James Madison and former Western Michigan punter Carson Voss joined the Spartans in the winter as a walk-on.

Heavy post-spring roster turnover means Michigan State will have to regroup its coverage and return squads before fall camp. The Spartans ranked 99th in the nation in punt return defense (one touchdown by Iowa’s Cooper DeJean) and 104th in the nation in kickoff return defense last season. A fumbles punt attempt led to a touchdown and sparked a collapse as Michigan State blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter of a loss at Rutgers.

“From a coverage standpoint, you start with kickoff, you just want guys that are fast, aggressive and willing to get the ball down,” Bhonapha said. “That’s what our whole kickoff team will be based on.”

Wide receiver Jayden Reed was a dangerous returner for the Spartans before being picked in the second round by the Packers last year. Michigan State no longer had a game-breaking returner and receivers Montorie Foster, Alante Brown and Aziah Johnson were fielding punts during the spring.

“We just want to make sure we’re efficient and when we get our opportunities to go and be explosive once the ball is kicked to us, we want to make sure we take advantage of those,” Bhonapha said. “And obviously being smart because you don’t want guys that are trying to take the ball out when it’s five yards deep or teams that are hitting high ones and we’re still trying to catch it but the kickoff team is bearing down on you.”