Javon Ringer: My take on the newest MSU Hall of Famer’s career

This is really cool article for me to write because of my view of Javon Ringer. The former running back from 2005-08 is pretty much what sparked my love for MSU football as a kid. His “23” jersey was my first jersey and still hangs in my brother’s closet to this day. When I was a kid, playing football with friends in the yard, I wanted to be Ringer. My admiration ran so deep, that as I entered middle school and was following his NFL career, I DM’d him some Photoshop edits I made of him over Instagram, to which he responded and appreciated me for the support.

This is a very well-deserved induction and his career, specifically, the 2008 season, is still remembered as one of the greats in Spartan history. 

Ringer racked up a bunch of accolades in his career, but he started hot out of the gate as a freshman. Earning a spot on the Freshman All-American team, he did so by rushing for 817 yards on 122 carries. A heavy workload for the freshman, so much so that he owns the second-best single-season rushing total for an a first-year Spartan.

As a sophomore, despite playing in only eight games, he had 86 carries for 497 yards. This is where MSU fans started to get a taste of the character Ringer had, from teammates, as well as the coaching staff, who all praised him for the toughness, and determination he brought to the program, something I remember the most. 

This led to a breakout season in 2007 as a junior. Becoming MSU’s first 1,000-yard rusher since T.J. Duckett back in 2001, he rushed for 1,447 yards on 245 carries and was rewarded with a second-team All-Big Ten nomination. Looking back, I think Javon Ringer helped Mark Dantonio set the tone for the type of program MSU would become, over the next 10 years.

In 2008, MSU football fans really saw where the program was headed. The Top 25-ranked Spartans went on to play Georgia in the Capital One Bowl, but Ringer was the key factor all season. This is the season that he’s known for in Spartan lore. Named on more watch lists, than I can count, including several Heisman watch lists, the 2008 season is what bumped Javon from No. 6 on MSU’s all-time rusher list, and No. 7 on the all-purpose yards list, to Nos. 2 and 1, respectively. The 22 touchdowns in 2008 are tied with Jeremy Langford for the highest, and 1,673 earns him third on the single-season rusher list. 

To put the 2008 season into perspective, Ringer’s game-by-game log looks like someone’s Madden numbers. Per sports-reference.com, Ringer rushed for over 120 yards seven times, but the craziest part is the workload. Ringer had a four-game stretch, against Eastern Michigan, FAU, Notre Dame, and Indiana where he carried the ball a total of 160 times. With five touchdowns against EMU and two kick returns for 62 yards, it’s one of the more insane game logs I’ve seen. Oh yeah, and he looks like he could still run for those numbers now in 2023. So much so, that when the football program dropped their “Thy Shadows” uniforms, they used Ringer for some of the promo pictures. 

I could have dug into Javon’s stats for hours, and truthfully if I were to include them all, this article might become a novel.

So stats aside, I’ll leave you with this. What any former player, teammate, coach, and fan will tell you, is that from his work ethic, and team-first mentality, to the running ability, and hard-hitting running style, Javon defines what a Spartan Dawg is. So congratulations to one of my all-time favorites and one of Michigan State football’s all-time greats, on an accolade well earned.