Michigan State HC Jonathan Smith says TE Jack Velling getting more evaluations, could return this week

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith on Monday said that tight end Jack Velling will continue to be evaluated after sustaining an upper body injury in the first quarter of last Friday’s game against Purdue.

Smith did not specify the nature of Velling’s injury. He did not rule out the possibility of Velling returning against Rutgers this Saturday.

“Jack, he’s good spirits, he was in the team meeting yesterday,” Smith said. “You wouldn’t notice anything, watching him move around. He’s going to continue to get a couple more evaluations, but currently, through all of the evaluations he has gotten, he has cleared that. So that will be determined toward the end of the week, if he is available (against Rutgers).”

Velling took a clean, hard hit to the midsection from Purdue safety Dillon Thieneman on a seam route during Michigan State’s opening drive of the game. Velling remained on the field, writhing in pain after the hit. Michigan State medical staff rushed onto the field and offered care for several minutes while the Spartan Stadium crowd grew quiet. 

Velling was put in an immobilizer and carted off the field after a long, concerning delay.
Velling, a 6-foot-5, 244-pound junior from Seattle, ranks third on the team with 31 catches for 334 yards.

After the game, Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles took blame for putting Velling in harm’s way with a “kill-shot” pass. Smith looked at it a bit differently.

“I appreciate that he’s looking out for his teammates, and at that position, you want to do that,” Smith said. “But this is a bang-bang play. They’re in a three-deep scheme where that post safety, you’re trying to get him one way so you can kind of thread that in there down the seam. The safety made a good play on the ball, it was a good hit, wasn’t targeting in any way. Those things, you don’t want them to happen a bunch, but it’s a physical game, and that’s what took place.”

Smith also confirmed that starting defensive backs Dillon Tatum, Chance Rucker, Charles Brantley and Malik Spencer will not play against Rutgers on Saturday due to injury. Brantley and Spencer sustained injuries midway through the Indiana game on Nov. 2 and did not return. They proceeded to miss the following week’s Illinois game, as well as the Purdue game last Friday.

Michigan State officially listed Brantley as out for the season on last week’s availability report.

Tatum and Rucker became injured during the first two weeks of the season and have yet to return. Smith did not provide an update on safety Armorion Smith, cornerback Jeremiah Hughes, cornerback Caleb Coley, linebacker Wayne Matthews or wide receiver Alante Brown, all of whom missed the Purdue game with injury.

Despite the obvious challenges that come with attrition, Smith feels like Michigan State’s players and coaches have handled the injuries well.

“It’s not easy, but I do think these coaches, Blue Adams, Demetrice Martin, Joe Rossi overseeing the thing, they’ve done a nice job,” Smith said. “We’ve had them go down within games, and the next guy needs to be able to get out there and be ready to play, and they’ve been ready. I go back to the flat-out assignments, they’re in the right spots, they know the calls, motion goes across and adjustments get made. We haven’t had blatant busts out there, and sometimes that shows up when you have newcomers in the game.

“They’ve managed it. They’re still playing hard, they’re practicing, staying locked in during meetings. It probably adds to some motivation that guys have actually gotten into the game and been able to perform.”

True freshmen Jaylen Thompson, Justin Denson and Andrew Brinson have all recently filled in for their injured teammates in the secondary. Thompson started the Purdue game at safety opposite Nikai Martinez, but Denson came in to replace him after he “got nicked up a little bit,” Smith said. Smith is hopeful that Thompson will play against Rutgers.

Brinson filled in for Ade Willie midway through the Purdue game at cornerback, while Ed Woods manned the other side of the field.

Smith said he feels good about all three true freshmen moving forward.

“Denson’s been doing some stuff on special teams and we feel confident with him out there,” Smith said. “And then you throw Brinson in at corner, those three guys – I’m not saying one’s way above the other. We feel good about all three of them getting snaps.”