News and Notes from Dantonio's weekly presser

Mark Dantonio held his weekly press conference on Tuesday. Here are some news and notes to come out of that.

Depth Chart Notes

- Tight end Dion Sims is not listed on this week’s depth chart. Dantonio said that Sims won’t play this week but will test out the ankle in the next few days to determine just how long he could be out. Paul Lang, Andrew Gleichert and Derek Hoebing are all listed as possible starters at tight end.

- Nick Hill is no longer the starter at punt returner. MSU lists Andre Sims Jr. and Le’Veon Bell as the possible starters. Dantonio wanted to take the stress off Hill, but he still has confidence in him to catch a punt.

- At the Star Linebacker position, MSU lists Chris Norman OR Tawian Jones as the starter.

- Lawrence Thomas OR Niko Palazeti will start at fullback.

- R.J. Williams OR Kurtis Drummond at listed at starters at free safety.

- Aaron Burbridge holds his starting spot at receiver after his impressive showing at Indiana.

Dantonio thoughts

- Felt the Indiana game was a tale of two halves. He thought the team didn’t do very well the first half but played extremely well the second half.

- Felt the team was going to make a statement in the second half, good or bad. They made it a good one by coming back to win.

- He singled out the play of Max Bullough, Burbridge, Bennie Fowler and Bell as to who stepped up in the win.

- When asked about Johnny Adams, Dantonio said he should have had some help on the deep balls he was beat on. Pointed to missed assignments from the safety that left Adams in a tough spot. He is sticking with Adams.

- He felt the team was ready to play on Saturday but they got gassed and disoriented early on. Said it was tough to simulate Indiana’s style of play.

- Dantonio said that teams are never as bad as people say and never as good either. Felt that two losses to undefeated teams, with one of them by just one point, is no cause for too much concern. Had they beat Ohio State, Dantonio feels people would be singing a different tune.

- Said the positives of the situation is that they have raised expectations at MSU. The negative that comes with that is the additional pressure. He said pressure is good, but stress is not and they won’t stress about what they can’t control.

- Dantonio feels Andrew Maxwell is growing as a quarterback and that he has great command of the huddle. Said in the growing process you can take a step back and then take two steps forward. Felt after the first quarter at Indiana, Maxwell played very well. Dantonio would like to see Maxwell do a better job of turning the bad plays into good plays when something breaks down.

- When it comes to the offensive line, the coaches realized Blake Treadwell wasn’t ready to play after the first quarter at Indiana. Not sure if he will be ready to go on Saturday. He could start which would impact both the guard and center positions with Jack Allen in the mix at both spots.

- On the personal fouls, Dantonio didn’t agree on all the calls on Saturday. He said there is a huge emphasis on protecting players these days and that makes it difficult for the refs. Some of the calls were obvious, but not all of them.

- Thomas is a player that could see more action in the passing game as the fullback. Dantonio feels that he has a similar look and style to Sims.