Brian Lewerke’s homecoming just over a year ago simply didn’t follow script. The former Pinnacle High star and his then-#13 Michigan State Spartans were upset in Tempe 16-13 on a walk-off field goal by Arizona State kicker Brandon Ruiz. The win seemed to jump-start the Herm Edwards era, while the Spartans stumbled through a 7-6 season.
With a new year, comes renewed optimism and for Lewerke, a second shot at the school who recruited him and he grew up watching as the Devils will make the return trip to East Lansing this weekend.
“They have a bunch of athletes on that side of the ball, obviously,” he said via Skype to Sports360AZ.com’s Jordan Hamm earlier this week. “Their coach is a great coach and they kind of run a defense similar to what we saw a couple of weeks ago against Tulsa. We’re going to try to attack their defense and find the spots that are open.”
They also hope to stay balanced offensively against Danny Gonzalez’s defense. Last year as a redshirt junior, Lewerke threw for over 300 yards but ASU limited Sparty to just 65 yards on the ground.
Lewerke believes familiarity will help.
“With a whole new coaching staff they had last year, it was a little difficult to get tape on them,” he explained. “The couple of games they’ve had this year and obviously, all of last year. [Now] we’ve got a good amount of tape on them this year so I’m going to hit that hard this week and try and learn everything I can about it.”
The Devils (2-0) are near two-touchdown underdogs against the 18-ranked Spartans (2-0). Kickoff is set for 1:00.
Eric Sorenson
