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8/8/07-Football
MSU's Misch proving Dad wrong
Linebacker always has been told he wasn't big enough. His response? 'It's great motivation.'
By Dave Dye / The Detroit News
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EAST LANSING -- Michigan State linebackers coach Mike Tressel's reaction when he first saw then-195-pound Jon Misch was typical.
"I looked at him and said, 'Are you kidding me, Big Ten linebacker?'" Tressel said Tuesday at MSU's media day.
This type of skepticism is nothing new for Misch, a redshirt freshman. Even his father, Carl, told him he should give up football after sitting the bench as a junior at Orchard Lake St. Mary's.
"He said, 'You're not going to make it in this sport. Maybe you should concentrate on wrestling or crew. Maybe you should just stop football,'" said Misch, who enters preseason camp as the Spartans' starting strong-side linebacker. "I was so mad. That's one of the reasons I tried so hard in my senior year. When somebody tells me I can't do something, I do it. It's great motivation."
Misch made a believer out of his new coaches in spring practice. They love his energy and intensity.
"He runs through everything, including a brick wall if I asked him to," Tressel said. "His game speed is amazing. You'll watch him, and you'll think he's a 4.4 kid (4.4 seconds in 40-yard dash). He's not. But he plays that speed. He's probably a 4.7 (or 4.6).
"He may make a mistake, but he's going to make up for it with hustle. He's going to make up for other kids' mistakes with his hustle. He does a lot of things that you can't coach."
Whether Misch stays on the first team for the opening game Sept. 1 against UAB remains to be seen, but he definitely is expected to get playing time on defense and special teams this season.
"He's a football player," coach Mark Dantonio said. "That's all I can tell you. They come in all sizes and shapes. He will give his all out there. That's what we're about."
The defensive scheme will utilize Misch's quickness and energy while trying to hide his lack of size (Michigan's strong-side linebacker Shawn Crable, for instance, is listed at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds).
Misch, who is 6-2, said he weighed in Tuesday at 207 pounds, but he was less than 200 during the spring and likely will lose some weight during training camp and later in the season.
Even if he starts, Misch will be used in a rotation system to help keep him from wearing down.
"If everybody plays like that guy does, then you've got a good football team," defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said. "His motor overrides his size. He's going to be playing linebacker like a tailback does. He's going to find a hole. He's not going to run into people (blockers).
"But the guy is durable. He went through the whole spring and never took a down off.
"He's still ticking."
Misch's size makes him a rarity on the field in the Big Ten, and his personality makes him just as intriguing off it.
He's a concert pianist and a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. When he was 12, Misch took up piano and learned to play "The Entertainer" (theme song for the 1973 movie "The Sting") in its entirety in about 30 minutes. He later was told it takes most people 10 years to learn what he could play in four years.
Misch said he doesn't follow sports at all -- his favorite television show is "MythBusters" on the Discovery Channel.
He was diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and took medication until around the fifth grade because, "I was bouncing off the walls, giving teachers havoc."
After stopping in mid-sentence at one point and admitting to reporters, "I lost my train of thought," Misch later smiled and added, "Technically, they say I don't have it (ADHD) but, obviously, I do."
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