1. michael geiger
If you didn’t know Michael Geiger, and met him for the first time as he was
lacing up his Nike HyperVenoms on game day, you’d think he was heading to
DeMartin Stadium with the Michigan State men’s soccer team, not to
Spartan Stadium as the senior kicker for the Spartans.
“I love soccer. If you would have asked me in high school what I would
have played in college, I would have told you soccer,” he laughed. “But then,
it just worked out that I was good at kicking too.”
So, why football?
“Actually, my mom is the reason I play football. Surprisingly, my dad
wanted me to play soccer. My mom signed me up for pee-wee football, and
ever since then, fifth grade, I’ve been playing both sports.”
When the opportunity to play college football came knocking on Geiger’s
door in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, he answered.
“I was pretty widely recruited. I had a couple opportunities. But, I grew up
a Big Ten football fan, and of any of the programs that I talked to, Michigan
State was definitely the one that I wanted to go to,” Geiger recalled. “To have
Coach Dantonio be here for all my four years is pretty special. That was one
of the reasons that I chose it, because I knew that he would stay the course.”
Little did he know, number four on the field would have such an impact on
Spartan Nation, and his four years as a Spartan would have such an impact
on him.
Why number four?
“I was born on October fourth, and so I’ve always been number four.
Growing up, I’ve always liked Brett Favre, and he was number four. And then,
Adam Vinatieri, who started to become one of my role models, the most
clutch kicker of all time, number four as well.”
It’s safe to say, we can add another football player to that list of great
athletes wearing number four, Michael Geiger.
As a freshman, Geiger set a single-season record by making 93.8 percent
of his field-goal attempts, which ranked first in the Big Ten and tied for fourth
in the NCAA FBS.
By Kacy Kobakof, MSU Athletic Communications Student Assistant
A True
Spartan
2016 MICHIGAN STATE FOOTBALL 8 WWW.MSUSPARTANS.COM

2. Freshman year not only gave him the
opportunity to play football at the collegiate level,
it taught him valuable life lessons.
“When you’re a freshman, you might be late to
things or make a mistake. You kind of learn to
hold other people accountable, because it’s not
just about you,” Geiger said, who ranked second
on the team in scoring with 81 points his freshman
year.
“You learn by being late, the whole team is
punished. So I think as you become an
upperclassman, and you go through all the
strength training, it really is boys to men. You just
stop kidding yourself. You get up on time, you’re
not late, you make sure your boys are there and
they’re not late. It’s just an accountability you
learn and a maturity.”
Geiger closed his freshman season by making
13 consecutive field goals, finishing just
two short of the school record, and
also ranked tied for third in the Big
Ten with 15 field goals made.
Sophomore year proved more of
a challenge. Although he tied for
fourth in MSU single-season
history with 114 points, most by a
placekicker, an injury kept him
from feeling up to par.
“I had a hip injury. It happened
pretty early on in the year, and I didn’t
know what it was. I just kept telling
myself that, ‘you’re hurt, you’re not injured,
just tough it out.’ So I went through the whole
year telling myself that, and I just didn’t feel right.
Those were hard times because I knew I could be
better, but my body was physically just hurting
me, it just didn’t feel right.”
An injured Michael Geiger was still a strong
Michael Geiger. He finished his sophomore
season by setting an MSU single-season
record with 72 extra points, which ranked
second in the Big Ten and fifth in the NCAA
FBS.
As his junior season arrived, no one
could have predicted that thousands of
people would be glued to their phone
screens retweeting his game-winning kick
against Ohio State, the play that he was later
named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the
Week for.
“After I kicked it, I was just so unbelievably
excited and pumped. The best I can describe it,
is I just took off running. And I don’t know what,
normally you think before a kick, like long before,
in the game week, what’s my celebration going to
be, you’ll have something ready. And I hadn’t
thought about it at all. And of course, just raw
emotion just running down the field, that’s what
came out. Just windmill celebrating. As
hysterically as possible. I knew it was a big game,
big spotlight, but didn’t know the celebration
itself would go viral.”
Finishing his junior season ranked first on the
team and seventh in the Big Ten in scoring with
87 points, Geiger became confident in his role on
the team.
“I always try to impart what little bit I can learn
from them into the specialist room, which is
primarily where I can lead, and with the kickers to
just be a role model, and be vocal. I also help with
some of the freshmen if they ever need help.”
Geiger has left his mark in the MSU record
books in several places, including making a
school-record streak of 98 consecutive point-
after attempts. The 98-straight PAT
streak is also tied for the ninth longest
in Big Ten history, a mark that came
to an end during his junior season.
In the second game of his
senior season, Geiger
added his name
atop another
Spartan record
list, becoming
MSU’s record
holder for career
extra points, making
his 165th in the game at
Notre Dame, passing the previous
mark of 164 by Brett Swenson set
from 2006-09. Geiger now has
170. He is focused on adding to that total by
continuing the mindset that he has had since he
first became a Spartan.
“Like I told myself freshman year, our motto
was, ‘got to find the inches,’ and I knew the year
before we had lost I think five games by thirteen
points, and I just told myself, no matter what, if
you play or not your freshman year, every kick is
going to matter and they’re going to need every
point. That was just my mindset and I’ve had the
same mindset ever since, and I think you know,
our points are so valuable whenever we can get
them. I’ve tried my best to accomplish that.”
Geiger has left an impact on Spartan Nation
that will forever be remembered, and one on his
teammates that they will never forget.
“I’m pretty positive, barring any game-winning
kicks this year, most people who watch the
games will remember me for the Ohio State kick,
which I’m fine with because that was an awesome
moment,” he laughed.
“But the people that I came in contact with and
the fellow players, I hope they just remember me
as someone who was reliable and someone who
worked hard and still had a good time. Who
kept things light, but still brought an
intensity and was confident. For the
most part, just somebody that was
a good teammate and a hard
worker and everything you would
want and expect from a kicker.”
2016 MICHIGAN STATE FOOTBALL 9 www.msuspartans.com