Michigan State's stars: Looking back at some of the Spartans' best over the past 25 years

Detroit Free Press

These were not the words I ever anticipated hearing from Will Gholston.

Reporters typically develop relationships with athletes as go-to sources. In the past 25 years since I started covering Michigan State, the Spartans had plenty of them who can put anything you ask them into perspective.

Gholston fell into that camp, always a quotable football player who could talk the game as well as he plays it. On a windy afternoon April 17, 2012, the 6-foot-7, 280-pounder finished breaking down his transition from high school linebacker to college defensive end and turned the interviewer (me) into the subject.

“You smell nice, though, I know that,” he interjected. “Whatever cologne you got on is good.”

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I chuckled and then gave him some tips for where to go on the west side of Lansing to buy some scents and pick up a new Tigers shirt on the cheap. A year later, Gholston was in the NFL. Whether he took my advice is unclear – he now can afford to get the finest colognes money can buy – but surreal moments like that show the human side of athletes who can perform supernatural feats on the field or court.

Part 2 of my look back at my time covering MSU (starting in 1995, with time away from East Lansing between 2000-06) looks at some of those Spartans who were as good at stuffing notebooks with quotes as they were filling stat sheets.

Kirk Cousins

The first time I heard of him was in early 2007, shortly after Mark Dantonio wrapped up his first signing day press conference at Breslin Center. At that time, he was an afterthought addition with the decommitment of Keith Nichol to Oklahoma. “I had (Cousins) rated as one of the top guys I saw out there of anybody I watched,” then-assistant coach Dan Enos told me.

From Holland to NFL star:How Kirk Cousins went from nearly leaving MSU to NFL

It turned out that Cousins proved him right, leading MSU to a share of the 2010 Big Ten championship — the Spartans’ first in 20 years — and the inaugural conference championship game the next year as a senior. Along the way, the legend of Cousins’ leadership and personality grew. When he returned during his rookie year in the NFL, we talked about how he filled his first apartment in Washington with furniture from Goodwill. He can afford better stuff now as the Vikings’ starter and a married father of two.

Draymond Green

I spent less time around Green than Gholston and Cousins because I was covering a lot more hockey and women’s basketball during that era, but we all watched the doughy kid Tom Izzo decided to take a chance on transform into a chiseled national player of the year between 2008-12 with unparalleled work ethic. It was easy to see Green’s natural leadership abilities as a freshman that ruffled some feathers with upperclassmen at the time, but no athlete I have covered is better at and enjoys breaking down the Xs and Os of his sport. His second language also is trash-talking, which makes it even better.

More:Draymond Green remembers his NBA draft night experience

That made it harder watching at his 2012 NBA draft party in Saginaw and seeing him at the front of the room waiting and waiting, getting more frustrated with every pick that came off the board. He, his family and Izzo eventually left the room late in the first round, but they returned with smiles when Golden State took Green in the second round with the 35th overall pick.

“It wouldn't be right for me to go in the first round. That just doesn't go along with my story,” Green said that night, laying the chip on his shoulder that would build him into a three-time NBA All-Star and champion. “I've had to grind and work for everything I've got, and this is another opportunity for me to keep grinding and working.”

Mark Mulder

This goes back to when Kobs Field was ringed by a few bleachers and a two-level RV that served as a press box. From all I gathered at the time, there had not been as big a buzz over MSU baseball or a singular player since Kirk Gibson when Mulder arrived for the 1997 season. Just listening to the pop of the catcher’s mitt from the left-handed pitcher and the crack of the bat when he would DH or play first base showed why. And he kept a grounded sense of self as his star began to rise.

Mark Mulder ends 2015 comeback, 'content' to retire

Mulder spent just two seasons as a two-way threat for the Spartans but earned third-team All-American honors and became the No. 2 overall pick in the 1998 MLB draft, getting fast-tracked to the big leagues by Oakland to begin a nine-year, two-time All-Star career. He and Gibson helped recruit the funding to build McLane Stadium, and Mulder continues to show high-level athletic ability into his 40s while on the celebrity pro golf circuit these days and is just a phone call away to give his strong opinions on baseball.

From walk-on to All-American:Kenny Willekes out to prove doubters wrong again

Kenny Willekes

The first time I heard Dantonio or anyone on MSU’s football staff mention Willekes came before the Spartans played Alabama in the 2015 College Football Playoff. A true freshman without a position at the time, he was one of the players on the scout team who pretended to be All-American running back Derrick Henry in practice, and I sought him out for his first college interview at Cowboys Stadium before that game. His simulation helped the Spartans hold Henry to just 75 yards on 20 carries but couldn’t help them from getting blown out through the air, 38-0.

More:Kenny Willekes goes from viking haircut to a Vikings teammate of Kirk Cousins

Over the next four years, Willekes developed from a footnote walk-on into a two-time All-American defensive end and a seventh-round NFL draft pick of the Vikings this spring. Every time I’ve talked with him, it’s easy to see his infectious energy that impressed his coaches — a rare football player who could deftly toe the line between wild child on the field and introspective and studious off it. So astute he still recalls that conversation we had before anyone knew who he was. And, five years later, still as excited to play the game and prove himself worthy of the attention.

Cassius Winston

Winston was a rare four-year star who arrived with wisdom beyond his age and blossomed into an All-American. I wrote about his ability to make a personal connection just before what turned out to be his last game, the Big Ten title-clinching win over Ohio State on March 8, that put an abrupt end to a roller coaster senior year that began with the death of his beloved brother, Zachary.

From his early glimpses in a second-half takeover against Connecticut in Portland as a sophomore to leading MSU to the Final Four as a junior and then playing through the emotional turmoil final season that came with a third-straight conference title, Winston managed to elevate his game while consistently elevating those around him.

Second five

Jack Allen (football), Miles Bridges (basketball), Anson Carter (hockey), Mateen Cleaves (basketball), Jaren Jackson Jr. (basketball).

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.