Any bets on whether Trannon will play for Izzo this year?
If he has a future in the NFL, I think he would be foolish to sacrifice draft preperation and risk injury playing basketball.
The information related to basketball is near the bottom of the article.
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/footba...990.xml&coll=1
Trannon ready to build on record performance
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 By Steve Grinczel
EAST LANSING -- Matt Trannon has just about everything an NFL team craves in a wide receiver. "Size, speed and intelligence," in the words of Michigan State assistant head coach Blaine Bennett.
And if last week's performance against Eastern Michigan is an indication of what's to come, he'll be able to add "game" to his resume. No one, least of all Trannon, expects a duplication of that 14-catch, 151-yard, two-touchdown effort when MSU visits Pittsburgh on Saturday, or even in subsequent games. He exploited soft coverage, after all, to break Plaxico Burress' single-game Spartan receptions record.
Furthermore, Michigan State's spread attack is designed to take advantage of whoever is open. Things likely won't come as easily against Pitt cornerback and All-America candidate Darrelle Revis.
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However, while posting the nation's second-highest, single-game number of catches this season, Trannon answered everyone who's ever asked:
"Why can't he be as explosive, physically imposing and athletic on the football field as he is when he's playing on coach Tom Izzo's Spartan basketball team as a walk-on?"
He can be, and then some.
"People say what they want to say," Trannon said. "It motivates me a little bit, but not too much because I don't want it to be about myself out there trying to prove something to somebody. I look at it as, if we're going to get the win, we're going to get it as a team.
"But I do want to make what I did last week very consistent. I can't just rest on the record I set."
The career-long knock against Trannon has been that he tends to disappear, which is hard to do when you're 6-foot-6 and a muscular 235 pounds. He's rarely taken full advantage of his size and leaping ability that allows him to dunk a basketball with fearsome authority.
Even so, that hasn't stopped Trannon from averaging 35 catches per season in each of his previous three seasons. With 18 receptions so far this season, he's just 25 away from breaking the MSU career record of 146 set by fellow Flint native Andre Rison from 1985-88.
But because he hasn't gone up and battled for many passes or abused undersized defensive backs, he isn't placed in the same category as former Spartan big receivers Charles Rogers, Muhsin Muhammad and Burress.
"I'm pretty sure that would be a good way for me to play," Trannon said. "Because of my height, people expect me to go downfield more, and I'd like to go downfield more, but it's about what helps the team win. Coach is going to put me in the situation to make plays, and if it's better for me to run quick outs, that's all I can do."
Trannon demonstrated incredible athletic ability while diving head-first into the end zone for one touchdown against Eastern Michigan, and after running an unstoppable fade route, Spartan coaches rarely call on the other.
"He really is (dominant) at times," said Bennett, who's in charge of wide receivers. "With so many guys out there, you don't see his physical presence, but he is a weapon. We'll continue to go to him in the red zone."
Although Trannon has provided MSU basketball with much-needed toughness in each of the last three seasons, working out for pro scouts and getting ready for the NFL draft may prevent him from re-joining the team after the football season.
"There's still a mild crack in the door (for returning), but right now I'm just focused on football and taking that as far as I can," said Trannon, who occasionally converses with Izzo. "We talk a lot about how my season's going and how he wants me to dominate every game like the big receivers we've always had here in the past."
There's still plenty of future left to add "Trannon" to the "Rogers, Muhammad and Burress" nameplate in Spartan lore.
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