SPARTANS

MSU’s Geiger ‘more mentally prepared, focused’

Matt Charboneau
The Detroit News

East Lansing — Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio has talked often about his belief that seniors must have their best seasons for the Spartans to be successful.

Kicker Michael Geiger is convinced he’ll take heed to his coach’s words.

“This is the best I’ve felt in an offseason since I was preparing to come to college,” Geiger said this week. “I’m more mentally prepared and mentally focused. I got a lot of good training in, went to a couple of camps and just feel like it’s my senior year and I know I’m expected to produce at my highest level.”

That’s a level many expect to be nearly perfect, as Geiger was as a freshman in 2013. As Michigan State was marching to a Big Ten championship and a win in the Rose Bowl, he was busy making 15-of-16 field goal attempts — good for a single-season school record percentage of .938 — along with 81 points.

It seemed like Geiger was on his way to greatness. However, early in his sophomore season he suffered a torn labrum in his hip, an injury he tried to play through the rest of 2014. It proved to hinder Geiger significantly as he was just 14-for-22 with a long of just 42 yards.

He had surgery in the offseason and slowly worked his way back, though the results through the first half of 2015 were still inconsistent. Geiger was working with a new holder — Matt Macksood — and was still trying to find a comfort zone.

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“I had a couple of misses that I wasn’t too proud of,” Geiger said. “I just really worked hard and kind of ground it out until I got into a good groove.”

It all paid off when Michigan State traveled to Ohio State in late November, the East Division title on the line. Geiger’s 41-yard field goal as time expired gave the Spartans the victory that helped send them to the conference championship game.

“It kind of culminated in the Ohio State game,” Geiger said. “To that point in the back half of the season, I think I was kicking really well. For me it was just a great opportunity to capitalize on and it was definitely a life-changing moment.”

He relives that moment on a regular basis, not that he intends to do so. That play — along with Jalen Watts-Jackson’s touchdown against Michigan — is not hard to find on social media or the nearest television set.

“I will say (my kick) is probably topped by how many times I’ve seen Jalen’s play,” Geiger said. “No matter what social media (site) I go on, anything, ESPN, I’ve seen each one rerun hundreds and hundreds of times.”

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It was the highlight of the season for Geiger, who finished just 12-for-19. He did make three field goals in the Big Ten Championship game against Iowa, his two misses both coming from 52 yards. And he’s convinced the ups and downs he’s faced across the past three seasons have set him up perfectly for a standout senior season.

“I wouldn’t say (what I experienced was) so much frustrating as it was adversity,” Geiger said. “I think you don’t always know what you’ll go through or face, but when it comes to my kicking game, there have been games where I really wanted a couple of kicks back and you’ve just got to put it behind you.

“I think mentally I’ve gotten stronger throughout all that experience and one thing leads to the next. Now it’s my senior year and I’ve got to use all my experience to help perform this year.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau