This is the 42nd in a 50-day summer series counting down the top players in Michigan State football history, as I see them. As with last year’s MSU basketball top 50, the criteria is performance and impact at MSU only, professional career irrelevant. Have your own opinion? Leave a comment or tweet at me @Graham_Couch.

No. 9 - Brad Van Pelt

Safety, 1970-72, Owosso

The skinny: Van Pelt was an athletic anomaly — a 6-foot-5, 220-pound safety, and in the early 1970s no less. Rangy, fast and strong, he was twice an All-American, by consensus as a senior in ’72, when he was also the first defensive back honored with the Maxwell Award, given annually to the best player in college football. - Read more at LSJ.com