Rob Tenyer, starting his fifth season as head coach of the Eagles, says the reason Page won the job boils down to one simple fact: "We feel like we can win the most games with him."
A 6-foot-2, 185-pound redshirt junior out of Collins High School in Shelbyville, Page played in nine games last season. He tied for the team lead of seven touchdowns while operating as MSU's "Wildcat" quarterback.
Tenyer says that Page made an immediate impact with his leadership from the day he first set foot on campus. Now, he's a team captain.
"He's kind of been waiting in the background," Tenyer said. "He's improved every semester that he's been here. I think that, obviously, he's got to be able to throw the football to play in this offense, and he can do those things. Plus, he's a very mobile quarterback. He's got great escape ability in the pocket."
Tenyer wants his troops running a spread, high-tempo offense. He sees his team as being explosive, with big-play ability at virtually every skill position.
Page, for his part, says he learned plenty while backing up Gahafer, such as "defensively, whenever it goes into my reads. And, also, another thing he taught me was being composed and being poised in the pocket."
Page's big-play threats at wide receiver include junior
Jarin Higginbotham and sophomore
Jalen Washington, a transfer from Louisville.
Inside receiver targets include junior
Christian Robinson and redshirt freshman
Landon Hurst. Hurst likely would have played last season if not for an injury suffered during training camp. Tenyer thinks Hurst may be able to take over where school record-holder
Jake Raymond left off.
In addition, MSU has what Tenyer thinks is the deepest stable of running backs during his time as head coach. They include redshirt freshmen
Logan Holbrook and
Roberto London, as well as Eastern Kentucky transfer
Arien Beasley.
"First three times (Beasley) touched the ball here, they were three touchdowns," Tenyer said. "So he's got some big-play capability in him as well, and has got major speed. And he can do all the things, catching the ball out of the backfield and those type of things as well."
Even with all of that, Page says "the strength of the offense is most definitely going to be our offensive line. We always put a lot of pressure on them to push the tempo, and we want to be able to run the ball effectively. So that will be our strong point. But we're gonna air it out and we're gonna run the ball."
Up front, the Eagles return
Kyler Corbett at center.
Kris Jones moves from right guard to right tackle. At left guard,
Willie Currie is healthy again after having wrist surgery.
Cameron Bailey, who played a major role in relief last season, will step in at right guard. Three of those four players weigh 300 or more, and all stand at least 6-foot-1. Complementing the whole package are tight ends
Jake Sutherland and
Joby Embrey, both seniors.
Defensive coordinator
Zack Moore also is upbeat about what the Eagles can do on the other side of the ball. MSU will use a 4-2-5 base defense and, fortunately, features a deep backfield.
"Our corners really have to do what they've done over the past year or so. And that, hopefully, will force our opponents to play with nine – so we can depend on them to eliminate the guys out wide there," Moore said. "They are two guys who were in the top three in the league in pass breakups last year, and they've done nothing but get better. That's
Brandyn Duncan and
Braylyn Cook."
At safety,
Sayyid Kanu brings the most experience and is perhaps the hardest hitter.
Aaron Turk is back after being injured last year, with some experience from two seasons ago.
Kordell Brown and
Jerome Brooks will step into the starting linebacker roles after serving as reserves last season.
Up front will see 6-3, 297-pound
R.T. Sutherland and 6-1, 291-pound
Patrick Rice at tackles. On the edge, it will be
Jamil Butler and
Jeremiah Draper. Butler may be the Eagles' best pass-rusher. Another who could stand out in that category is Chrino Mukulu.
Sutherland, who began his career as an end, will be a big key at tackle.
"We're expecting him to make some plays there this year," Moore said. "We're done with guys just doing their job and holding their gap. We need guys making plays. So R.T. needs to be a guy leading the charge in there."
MSU also will feature a look that includes the SPUR position (a pass-coverage linebacker), which is where speedster
Juanyea Tarver will get first call.
Tenyer says he doesn't know much about Kentucky Christian, which dropped its season opener Saturday against Faulkner, 63-8. The Knights have more than 80 true freshmen, but Tenyer's focus is on his team.
"We're going to go out and play our brand of football and dictate the tempo of the game, and be in an attack mode for four quarters," he said.
And, yes, that eighth-place prediction can serve as added motivation.
"But the bottom line is we're more focused on what we're doing every day and going out and getting better," Tenyer said. "It's a little disrespectful, just from the standpoint of people in this conference think that just because we lost our quarterback, we deserve to be picked eighth. Well, I feel like we'd be very disappointed if we finished at that level.
"And people forget that we've had two 10,000-yard passers back-to-back in school history. So we're going to be able to score points, and I'm excited to watch us play offensively, and we'll let the record take care of itself."
