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EAST LANSING – Michigan State is entering the middle third of spring practice, heading toward its first full scrimmage of the season. That scrimmage, which is not open to the public or media, will take place on Saturday.

MSU’s two public scrimmages will be held on Saturday, April 15 (at noon), and Friday, April 21 (at 3:30 p.m.).

“We had about 80 percent of our offense in prior to last Saturday’s practice,” said offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin. “Then we finished up the installation, and now we are in the process of slowing it down and starting to refine things.”

Baldwin said things are on schedule.

“The first Saturday practice, for example, was still an installation day,” Baldwin said of the April 1 workout, which was MSU’s fifth practice out of 15 for the spring. “There were four installation days and then that practice, so everything every day was new, even for some of the veterans. It was our second day in pads, so you get a chance to look at some things. Yet you still had guys not lining up right, and the whole deal.”

 Baldwin said that’s expected in the spring when things are being installed at an accelerated pace.

“But you see progress,” he said.

“On offense in our fourth practice, we were one guy away from making it happen. Maybe there was one guy missing a block or one guy didn’t make the right read. The day before that, we were maybe three or four guys. So the installation still went on during our fifth practice, yet we were able to do some scrimmaging.”

And what did Baldwin think of the initial scrimmaging at the end of the first week?

“I think we are progressing,” he said. “We are young up front. We have to come out a little more physical. This is a physical game and we have to try to learn how to do that.”

What does Baldwin want to see during the middle portions of spring practice?

“I’d like to see us get physical and run the ball,” he said.

CLIFFORD vs SHANE at LEFT GUARD

With Kyle Cook out for the spring at left guard, a lot of attention is being paid to the competition for a role behind him. It could end up being a starting role if Cook moves to center in the fall (which could happen if junior John Masters doesn’t earn trust).

With Cook out, junior Pete Clifford (6-7, 320) and junior Kenny Shane (6-5, 325) are getting reps on the first and second strings. Clifford has the upper hand, but Shane shows flashes of greatness.

“I think Peter Clifford is competing, and competing hard,” Baldwin said. “Kenny Shane played some defense last year, came over a little late to us and is still learning the whole terminology. It is one thing to get it in the classroom, and it’s another thing to have it happen fast on the field. He’s a step slow. He is like the young wide outs, swimming a little. But he hits you. He is a physical. So it’s just a matter of him catching on.”

“Kenny Shane kind of opens my eyes a little bit,” offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland said in a tone that he doesn’t often use.

But that’s only a beginning.

“We have some young talent but that doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t develop,” Stoutland said. “Our guys are working their tails off, so work ethic and commitment is not a problem.”

First string right guard Roland Martin, a sophomore, is noticeably slimmer and more athletic looking this spring.

“Roland understands what to do, now he has to do it at full speed on every single play,” Stoutland said. “Every play! Full speed.”

As for the work Martin has done on his body, Stoutland was understated.

“He looks pretty good,” Stoutland said, noticeably stopping short of saying too many good things.

Baldwin was also careful not to heap too much praise onto Martin.

“Roland has looked good,” Baldwin said. “I don’t want to comment on how good he is or how bad he is, but he is out here working hard and he has a chance to be good.”

In past years, coaches have felt that they have said too many good things about young offensive linemen in the past and it might have effected their drive for improvement.

Reading between the lines, and watching Martin work out, one gets the feeling that Martin is doing better than they want to say.

So what does he need to work on?

“Going longer, playing longer, that’s what he has to do now. The problem in spring ball is you only get to play seven plays then the next group goes in. Maybe we can get to where we can play them more plays and see how they do. But he has kept himself in good shape. He was a big man coming in and it is always hard when a guy comes in big, they have a tendency to go back to being big. But he has kept it off.”

**

O-LINE COPING WITH INSTALLATION

Has did the offensive line responded to the speed-feeding of offensive scheme installation during the first week?

“I think they handle it good,” Stoutland said. “There has been a lot of mistakes, which isn’t uncommon. Now we go back and break it down and work on little segment. Take a couple of plays a day and work on focusing on that play and all these different looks and different blitzes

The bottom line is this: You can scheme all you want. You can block all the blitzes that you want. You can work on all of those things, but guess what, if you don’t know the fundamentals of how to block, and you don’t know where you pad level should be and you don’t know where your hands should be, and you don’t know where your target is and your departure angle is, you are not going to be a good player. And that’s what we have to work on, the fundamentals of football.

“That’s what we have to get back to, and we were better at it today than we were yesterday. We were poor that first week when we were putting a lot in. But now we are honing in on the little things.”

SECOND STRING UPDATE

Rocco Cironi (left tackle) and Joel Nitchman (center) are the first two members of the true freshman class to break into the second string.

Cironi, of Warren (Ohio) Harding High School, is up to 6-6, 295. He added good weight during the winter and his redshirt fall.

“Rocco is doing a pretty good job,” Stoutland said. “Rocco has good feet, he’s quick. I’m hoping he can be one of those eight guys. I’m counting on some of these young guys now, unlike in a lot of years. I’m counting on him to accelerate the curve, just like I am with Jesse Miller at right tackle on the first string. Jesse has really accelerated his learning process. A lot of credit goes to him.

“They are all improved. I’d say Jesse is the most improved. Clifford is not far behind, but he is older and it’s time for him.”

Stoutland says the second string lacks a little leadership.

“We’ve got some good players in that group,” he said. “You want the center to be a vocal guy who takes charge of the offense, and a young guy like Nitchman and Joe Toth just learning it, it’s hard for those guys to step up and do that. But it’s coming.”

Toth, a junior, is auditioning on the offensive line after spending three seasons (including a redshirt year) at nose guard.

“It’s too early to tell with Toth,” Baldwin said. “I think it is a good move for us on offense, but it is hard to move straight to center. He has never snapped out of the gun before, and then everything else that goes with it, that’s hard.”

ELSEWHERE ON THE SECOND STRING

Senior Dan Zynn is the second string right guard. He is becoming solid, but will never be spectacular. He’s working hard, but there will likely be a dropoff from Martin to Zynn if MSU has to go that route.

The loser of the Clifford-Shane tangle could conceivably become No. 2 at right guard.

And Tom Kaczmarek, if and when he has surgery and goes through rehab, is a possibility at guard or tackle in the future. But Jesse Miller and Mike Gyetavai, at offensive tackle, seem to have Wally Pipped him. If Kaczmarek wants to contend for starting status again, it might have to be inside.

Elsewhere on the second string, redshirt freshman Brendon Moss is starting to come around.

Moss, 6-6, 281, of Saline, Mich. via Fork Union Military Academy, was a mid-year enrollee last year. He went through spring practice last year, then redshirted last fall. He still carries freshman status but has the luxury of now going through his second spring practice.

All of the practice time is paying off for him.

 “The last two practices, he has finally made some strides,” Stoutland said. “It’s like the light came on. He has been so confused for so long and all the sudden he is starting to see a little bit of light and show it. All of the sudden he is starting to show a little bit of burst off the ball and a little bit of confidence, and I hadn’t seen that since he’s been here.”

Having played one year of eastern prep football after finishing high school, and then having redshirted last fall and now being in the process of going through his second spring practice at MSU, he will be one of the most experienced freshmen in the country this fall. By September, he will have more than 150 post-high school practices under his belt. And he’ll still be a freshman.

“He is 284 now,” Stoutland said. “He came in here like 255. That spring last year was tremendous for him. He still has a long, long way to go. Don’t misunderstand me. But I’m just going to tell you, he has done some things right.”

Moss was a long-term project, and still is. But he is on schedule.

WIDE RECEIVER UPDATE

Wide receiver is the deepest area of the team. When considering that Matt Trannon, Terry Love and Jerramy Scott are the starters, that’s a trio that can match up with most starting WR groups in the Big Ten.

The second string has a proven player in Kerry Reed, who is just getting better in his second year.

And then there is a slew of talented young guys who are jockeying for spots on the second string and in the playing group. That group includes Ryan Allison (who Baldwin really complimented after the first two or three practices), Deon Curry (who was the best WR on the field at the last scrimmage of the 2005 spring, but missed the fall with a knee injury), hot shot freshman TJ Williams, impressive junior college newcomer Devin Thomas, and a pair of fast little guys in Diego Oquendo and Carl Grimes.

Competition is fierce.

“We feel we have some great competition going on,” Baldwin said. “Some of the younger kids aren’t sharp in what they’re doing, but they have shown some brightness. If you are a receiver, you had better be 100 percent every day or there is somebody that is going to push you.

“Trannon got cleared to come out and play, so you’ve got him and Kerry Reed out there. Then you have Scott, Love and Thomas and TJ Williams. Those guys are showing some things.”

Thomas (6-2, 216) and Williams (6-3, 180) bring some wing span to the equation.

Thomas is a physical receiver with good hands. Williams is slender, like a taller Anthony Carter with twiggy legs. But he can fly.

“The two young kids, Devin Thomas and TJ Williams, stepped up for a couple of days, but then after a few days of installation, they are absolutely swimming,” Baldwin said. “It’s like you go backwards before you go forward again. They have gone backward a little bit.”

**

Elsewhere on offense:

“AJ Jimmerson had problems the first two days and I think he is coming along better now,” Baldwin said. “He is getting more reps and things are happening.

“I think our right tackle, Jesse Miller, is starting to catch it.

”We were much more accurate at quarterback today. We are still not 100 percent catching the ball. We are catching it better, but we still have strides to go.”

Those comments were made after last Friday’s practice. Practice hasn’t been open to the media since. But it will be open today (Thursday). We will have more reports as we get them.

**

UPDATES and OBSERVATIONS

One of the reasons that Javon Ringer played instead of AJ Jimmerson at running back last year was because Ringer was farther along as a pass blocker. Ringer has increased that gap since then. Jimmerson has struggled in that area early this spring, but it’s an area of emphasis and an important fundamental that coaches are confident the will sharpen up on.

“AJ was on the scout team last year, so he wasn’t necessarily involved in our scheme in terms of learning what we do and how we want to do it,” said running backs coach Ben Sirmans. “We are throwing everything at him now and it is a critical learning time for him. All the physical things, he is good. Once he gets his mind clear of what we’re doing, he will progressively start getting better.”

As for his running talent, Sirmans said: “He has good feet. He can adjust his body in and out of holes pretty good. He just has to continue to work on getting himself uphill.

“There are a couple of things we would like to see him improve on faster, but physically he will be fine.”

As for his time on the scout team last year, Sirmans said there was benefit to that too.

“That was the best thing for him,” Sirmans said. “When you are on the scout team and you are going against the first-team defense all the time and you don’t have the best blockers in front of you, it really tests you on how to get better. That was a good thing for him.”

Jimmerson, 5-10, 210, has a top speed that is almost as good as the speedy Ringer, if not equally good. But Jimmerson’s first step and his first 10 yards are probably better than Ringer’s.

Ringer was one of the best freshman running backs in the country last year, with 817 yards and a sparkling 6.7 per carry average. But those around the Daugherty Building swear that he isn’t much better than Jimmerson.

If Ringer hadn’t been with MSU last year, there is a good chance that Jimmerson would have been the guy breaking the 600, 700 and 800-yard plateaus.

“If Javon wasn’t here, AJ would have been playing last year, and he was good enough to,” Sirmans said. “With Teague in there, it was good to redshirt a guy back there like AJ.”

It sets up for a good future for MSU at running back.

CAULCRICK UPDATE

Although Ringer and Jimmerson continue to show great talent, Jehuu Caulcrick is listed as the first-string running back. And he is getting first-string reps in practice. He’s No. 1 right now, no question about it.

Caulcrick fell out of the rotation last year and rushed for just 478 yards (5.4 per carry). John L. Smith has indicated that Caulcrick wasn’t satisfactorily taking care of things off the field, and lost some playing time because of it.

But Caulcrick was back in the playing group with multiple carries in the first quarter of the Penn State game last year, and is obviously back in good graces.

Interestingly, Caulcrick is noticeably thicker. He is listed at 6-0, 245. But that’s the weight he was listed at last year. He might weigh more than that. He certainly looks chunkier. Smith joked on signing day that Caulcrick was overweight and out of shape. That might have been the case then, but he is playing to good reviews this spring at that weight.

“I like the way he looks,” Baldwin said. “He is bigger, but he still has quickness. He is carrying that weight well.”

Smith would like for Caulcrick to be a battering ram type of back this year.

He had 619 yards as a sophomore in 2004 when the Spartans surprisingly led the Big Ten in rushing.

INSIDE THE BACKFIELD

• Despite the presence of a heayweight back like Jehuu Caulcrick, Sirmans had a surprising answer when asked which of his backs is the best blocker and pass protector.

“The guy who is probably the best blocker out of the rest of those guy is Javon,” Sirmans said. “He is the strongest out of all of them. He has the best feet. So you go back and watch the Notre Dame game and he is blocking some good players, he does a pretty good job. He will be solid.”

What does Ringer need to work on?

“He’s strong, but all freshman can get stronger,” Sirmans said. “One thing I’m trying to get with him is to stop making so many cuts. One cut and get upfield. But that will be worked out in this system.”

• A report for ESPN.com mentioned that Michigan State could or would be entertaining the thought of using a two-back system in the spread, similar to West Virginia.

When Baldwin was asked about this last week, he laughed at the notion, and said that wouldn’t be the case. He seemed very believable.

Sirmans was asked about it a few days later.

“I’ll put it to you like this, with Coach Baldwin’s thinking, you never know. We have talked about a couple of things of that nature and I don’t see us going that way, but you never know.”

Judging by Sirmans’ tone, he probably would like for people to think that MSU is going to a two-back. But at this point, the ESPN story, written by a writer from Ohio, doesn’t seem accurate.

(COMING THIS FALL: Spartan Plus returns with the most in-depth game previews known to mankind).