EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State redshirt junior punter had himself one heck of a season debut in the Spartans' victory over Western Michigan last week.
He put Michigan State in great field position on multiple occasions, even downing two punts within the 2-yard line. He finished the contest with a net punt average of 51.3.
Eckley made the Ray Guy Award Watch List before the start of the season, and he's already making a great case as the nation's top punter.
The specialist met with the media on Wednesday, reflecting on last week's performance.
Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith addressed the media on Monday.
Below is a partial transcript of his presser:
Q: How much do you want to put on tape on not put on tape when it comes to the non-conference schedule?
Smith: "We don't put a ton of stock into it, to be honest with you. We're trying to play as well as we can. And to me, if you can do that, what you practiced in training camp, getting ready for, that's what you're putting on display in the first few weeks.
"Now, each week, you're playing a different opponent, there's some schematics that go into that, strategy of new schemes or we're showing some different looks. But there's not a ton of -- especially, offensively, defensively, like, 'Hey, we're not going to call it this week so that we can use it next week.' There's a little bit of that, but not much."
Q: What did you learn from last year's loss to Boston College that you can use on Saturday?
Smith: "You got to play for four quarters. These games are won in the fourth quarter. It came down to that, execution at the end of the game. That particular one, yes, but there's multiple other ones throughout the season when we had opportunities to finish the thing (in) different ways -- offense, defense, special teams even.
"That particular one, both sides. We could have got a stop last year but didn't do it. Had the ball at the end of the game, couldn't finish it And so, yeah, that's a learning lesson that happens multiple times, but I knew we'll be watching some of that tape because of the continuity staff-wise, schematics. We'll be watching some of that."
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