So far, so good: Life after Kenneth Walker III treating Michigan State's rushing attack just fine
EAST LANSING – At the end of last season, into spring practice and heading into the fall, much was made about how Michigan State ever could hope to replace Kenneth Walker III, possibly the nation's top running back in 2021.
All that speculation never crossed the mind of one player tabbed to succeed Walker this season.
"I wouldn't say trying to replace him was one of our big things," Jarek Broussard, a transfer from Colorado, said Tuesday. "I feel like it really just comes down to maximizing your role and doing whatever it takes to help the team win. If you ain't winning, who really cares what you're doing?"
Through two games, the Spartans are winning — they're 2-0, after a pair of victories over MAC foes Western Michigan and Akron. The running back duo of Broussard and Jalen Berger has been a key component of the team's success. In last week's 52-0 win over the Zips, the pair combined to rush for five touchdowns, three for Berger and two for Broussard. (Fellow running back Elijah Collins scored one rushing touchdown as well.) Berger and Broussard are close to evenly split in terms of carries so far: Berger has 33 attempts while Broussard has 25. Berger has a sizable lead in yardage (227 to 135) and has twice as many touchdowns (four to two).
Broussard said there's no jealousy between the two, though. They room together at the team hotel the night before games — which they'll do again Saturday in MSU's first road contest of the season, facing Washington in Seattle at 7:30 p.m. — and bond off the field. They play video games. They pore over the game plan together.
Their relationship couldn't be better.
"We don't have a pouty (running back) room," Broussard said. "(It's like), 'You go work, and I got you. I'm going to pick up where you drop off, and we're just going to keep things rolling.' "
MORE: How Mel Tucker is preparing Michigan State football for another long early season road trip
On the field, they motivate each other.
When Berger rips off a long run, Broussard immediately thinks, "Yeah, my turn."
Running backs coach Effrem Reed said having two viable options in the backfield is a good problem to have. And one he's still trying to solve, as it varies by the week.
"This year, for us in the first two games, it's been kind of feeling those guys out," Reed said. "Who has the hot hand? Who's running harder? Who's feeling the zone a little better? But I think the dynamic of it is, everyone has to work while they wait this year. You never know who you're going to need and who's going to be out there running the football."
It's the opposite of last season, Reed noted, when everyone knew Walker would "tote the football 30 times" if required.
"This time, we've got guys we can plug in at wide receiver, or line them up at different spots," he said. "I think that's the biggest difference: We've got more guys who do a lot more things, relative to last year. We could do it, but 9 (Walker) was such a different player. It's hard to take a Heisman Trophy candidate off the field. It's just hard."
Broussard does a fairly good imitation, though. Earlier this year, Reed said Broussard reminded him of Walker, just with a slighter build. It just took him some time to show it after joining the program. At the beginning of preseason camp, Reed said Broussard tried to force the issue too often. Broussard felt he had to be perfect every single play.
He finally showed glimpses of his former self — the player who led the Buffaloes in rushing yards both seasons he was healthy, and won the Pac-12 Conference's offensive player of the year award in 2019 — during the Spartans' second preseason scrimmage.
"He had a really good day that day. You saw everything that you saw on tape when he was (at) Colorado," Reed said. "You saw him make people miss. You saw him catch the ball really well out of the backfield. You saw him run behind his pads, finish runs on top. Everything you want."
Berger found his footing more quickly. Like Broussard, he started his career elsewhere. (In Berger's case, Wisconsin.) Unlike Broussard, he went through spring practice with Michigan State. And it was a few weeks into those workouts that the light bulb begain to flicker on.
"You started to see him make people miss, put his foot in the ground and change direction, be more patient and fluid in the run game," Reed said.
He only improved from there. When he returned to East Lansing for summer workouts, teammates noticed Berger had put in the work at his New Jersey home.
"I think the team appreciated that," Reed said. "So all summer, he was working hard and gaining the team's respect, and then fall camp came and he took off. I think he was really locked in and focused. He understood everything in the playbook, got to know the whole team and staff."
He hasn't slowed down since.
Coach Mel Tucker has few complaints about what he's seen from Berger and Broussard thus far.
"I see guys hitting the hole with some velocity and being physical and falling forward on contact, getting yards after contact, things like that, fighting for every yard," Tucker said. "Those guys, they’re running hard and the line is blocking. Our quarterbacks are getting in and out of the correct plays so we can run the ball efficiently. The tight ends are blocking. The receivers are out there getting the job done blocking people.
"It’s a team effort to be able to run the ball."
It's mandatory.
"We need to be able to run the ball on our terms. We need to be able to do that," Tucker said. "It's not the easiest thing to do in the world, but you have to be able to do that. If you're one-dimensional — if you can't run the football, you can't beat good teams."
FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Two blowouts show why Michigan State football is comfortable with Noah Kim as backup QB
FROM LSJ COLUMNIST GRAHAM COUCH: Payton Thorne knows he needs to 'figure (it) out quickly.' Michigan State's season is riding on it
As good as MSU's rushing attack has been through two games, it's not close to where it could be, Reed said. He pointed out both Berger and Broussard have had chances to break multiple long runs versus the Broncos and the Zips, but simply were too eager to hit the hole.
Patience makes perfect, in this instance.
"It's a trust factor," Reed said. "It's hard for every running back. You see something, you want to react to it immediately. But you've got to understand how the play is being blocked as well. That's what I'm trying to get those guys to understand: How is it being blocked? Where are my double teams happening? Where should my eyes be?' Once we get going and get more time with that, I think we'll be fine."
Walker still casts an impossibly long shadow, more than 2,000 miles away, and now, ironically enough, suiting up for the NFL team (the Seattle Seahawks) in the town the Spartans are preparing to visit this weekend. While Walker's achievements will forever be etched in the school's record book and the memory bank of Spartan fans, he's gone. Berger and Broussard are the present.
They're ready to make history of their own.
"I feel like it's only up from here," Broussard said.
Contact Ryan Black at rblack@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU football: Jarek Broussard, Jalen Berger propel ground game
