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EAST LANSING − Nine months ago, Jonathan Smith took over Michigan State’s beleaguered football program and began to point it in a new direction.
The air of exhaustion from a period of confusion and frustration last fall is gone, replaced by the excitement of the annual renewal that comes with the dawn of a new season.
“It’s something that we’ve been working really hard (on) and getting there,” Smith said Monday in his first game-week press conference with MSU. “I was pleased with how fall camp went. I thought there was some competition in it throughout. These guys have been working against each other, and now I know they’re excited to get someone else on the other side of the line of scrimmage.”
Michigan State’s head coach Jonathan Smith gives a thumbs up to the crowd as he enters the field during the football Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
The Spartans turn the page Friday night with a 7 p.m. kickoff against Florida Atlantic at Spartan Stadium (Big Ten Network). It comes after they endured a tumultuous 2023, in which previous head coach Mel Tucker was fired for off-field issues during the season and almost the entire staff let go once it finished. Smith was hired away from his alma mater Oregon State on Nov. 25, one day after MSU finished 4-8 and without a bowl berth for the third time in four seasons.
After going through 15 spring practices, having 38 players leave from last year’s team through the portal and bringing in 61 new faces either as transfers or freshmen, much of this month for Smith and his staff has been about building cohesion and communication among his new players. Friday’s opener, he said, is about finding out how well they acclimated during that process.
“Well, the hay is not in the barn. There’s a sense of urgency,” said Smith, who…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jonathan-smith-expects-nerves-michigan-191029411.html
Author : Lansing State Journal
Publish date : 2024-08-26 19:10:29
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