Lynn Henning

Quarterback Kirk Cousins rises to head of State

East Lansing

One manila envelope at a time, Kirk Cousins dropped a CD of his game video into the mailbox and hoped some recruiting coordinator at a football-savvy university would notice.

It was Christmas break, 2005, and Cousins was desperate.

C'mon, coach. Look at that arm. At the athleticism. Can't you see how a high school senior who already stands 6-foot-3 will put muscle on that 170-pound carriage? Can't you see the budding leadership skills?

Can't you see the potential for a kid from Holland Christian High to become a dynamite Division I quarterback?

No, they couldn't see it. Not then, not four years ago, after Cousins had broken an ankle in the first game of his junior season and played in only a handful of games that autumn.

"Most schools were impressed with my arm, but I weighed 170 pounds and I ran a 4.9 (40-yard dash)," Cousins said Tuesday during a midday break at Spartan Stadium. "The other (quarterback recruits) couldn't do anything throwing the ball I couldn't do, but they were all 210 and ran 4.6 40s."

The difference, at least in Cousins' mind, was obvious.

"Most of them were tapped out," he said. "I knew I'd develop into my size."

Development.

It's the only word a person needs to fully appreciate, physically and personally, when Michigan State's quarterback is mentioned. Cousins and his right arm, as well as that 200-pound body, are monuments to an athlete's evolution.

Four years after wondering if any college would ever believe in his potential, Cousins leads the Big Ten in passing efficiency. Four years after mailing off those CDs, three years after wondering if any school other than Northern Illinois would sign him, Cousins will start for Michigan State in Saturday's regular-season finale against Penn State at Spartan Stadium.

He's Exhibit A for why the Spartans could pull an upset. They are 6-5 this season and already bowl-eligible, in part because Cousins has thrown the football so slickly that Michigan State's unofficial full-time quarterback has countered a sloppy season by the defense.

Looking for a spot

It has, for sure, been a weird football autumn in East Lansing. The Spartans have often exasperated and sometimes exhilarated their fans, with no one quite sure what the frame of mind will be by Saturday.

But they know this: Cousins has won the job. No longer is he being mentioned as a co-pilot along with Keith Nichol, the transfer from Oklahoma, who began the year as a co-starter, and who, ironically, four years ago was the Michigan prep superstar every college wanted. And the man Michigan State stood to get until John L. Smith was fired and Nichol signed with Oklahoma.

Now Cousins is sending fans to the record books, wondering if a redshirt sophomore quarterback in 2009 might be the school's career passing leader when Penn State arrives in 2011.

It's a nifty turnabout for a one-time Plan B recruit.

At the end of a healthy and spectacular senior season at Holland Christian, Cousins still was waiting for the big schools to bite. He had one scholarship offer, from Northern Illinois. By mid-December Western Michigan and Toledo, were aboard.

Finally, in January, he was romanced by Michigan State and Colorado.

The pivotal person in East Lansing had been Dan Enos.

Enos, Michigan State's quarterbacks coach under Smith, was the only assistant re-hired by Dantonio, who had him on staff when both were at Cincinnati. Enos had scouted Cousins and suggested Dantonio give him a look.

But it wasn't until Don Treadwell, the Spartans offensive coordinator, saw him at basketball practice and signed off on Cousins' overall athleticism that Dantonio made Cousins part of his first recruiting class.

Born leader

It was Cousins' release the coaching staff loved. When he filled in for Brian Hoyer a year ago, Cousins fired passes that were on target and into a receiver's hands before defenders closed. He could also size up a defense.

"I always had a knack for throwing the football," said Cousins, whose father, Don, is an evangelical minister and consultant to upstart congregations, and whose mother, MaryAnn, is a flight attendant for United Airlines. "In flag football, my dad coached me, and we threw the football even when most flag teams just ran.

"What I think has gotten me to this point is my release and my intangibles."

He's a different cut of cloth, for sure. "Gentleman" is the shop-worn compliment. But the killer is that a kid who wouldn't cuss if he were a cast member on "The Sopranos" enjoys such immense respect from teammates, even the more hard-boiled, who seemingly to a man view him as theirno-nonsense team leader.

"I wish you could hear that man in some of his pregame speeches," said defensive end Trevor Anderson. "They're powerful ..."

The Spartans didn't quit on him even after a last-second interception that might have cost Michigan State a victory at Notre Dame in September.

"It's something I'll never get over," Cousins said. "It's something that 20 years from now will still haunt me. And after making 1,000 decisions that day, for whatever reason I made a split-second decision that was bad, and costly. ... I learned from it."

So did a football team. They saw his accountability as well as his sorrow. They saw him get tougher. They watched him help put their team into a near-certain bowl game. And, in their grandest dream, they see him as the triggerman in a Saturday surprise against Penn State.

Cousins stats

lynn.henning@detnews.com (313) 222-2472