Mel Tucker lauds upgraded talent, depth at Michigan State at Big Ten Media Days

Indianapolis, Ind. – Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker expressed confidence in his football team on Wednesday at Big Ten Media Days ahead of the start of practice next week. Tucker cited a high care-factor, improved talent, and more competition at positions on both sides of the football as reasons for optimism for the Spartans coming off a disappointing 5-7 season last year.

“We have a hungry, determined, and very focused football team heading into camp,” said Tucker, who is entering his fourth season as football coach at Michigan State. “We have competition at every single position. No doubt, the most talent top to bottom that we’ve had on our roster. We needed more quality depth on our roster and we addressed that this out of season.”

Defense is where improved depth at Michigan State is most notable according to Tucker, who believes the front seven will be the strength on that side of the ball.

“We are a lot healthier now,” Tucker said. “We really addressed some issues with our front seven. We needed to get better. We’ve added three 6-5, 300-pound plus defensive tackles who have all played major college football. We’ve added four defensive ends, three of them four stars. Then Tunmise Adeleye, a transfer from Texas A&M who walked in the door at 280 pounds. Then Aaron Brule decided to come back. Jacoby Windmon decided to come back along with Cal Haladay and Jordan Hall. I think our front seven is going to be much more stout, which should help us stop the run and make teams more one dimensional. That should help us in the back end.”

Tucker did not tip his hand when asked about the competition at quarterback between Noah Kim, Katin Houser, and freshman Sam Leavitt. But he did sing the praises of Kim, who is the frontrunner for the starting job coming off a strong spring performance in which he pushed Thorne for a starting job.

“Noah is a tremendously talented young man, a winner,” Tucker said. “Lot of arm talent, athletic. He is one of the fastest players on our team. He knows the offense. He is going to do what we ask him to do. He is going to execute.”

Tucker is pleased with Michigan State’s ability to avoid injuries during the off-season and the steps that were taken at the program level to stay healthy.

“Football is a game of attrition, and injury is a part of the game. We had to modify the way we practice. We wanted to make sure we can get our players to the game, to the games. So we changed the way we did some things in spring ball, which was very effective. How we hit, when we hit, how often we hit. We did a much better job of staying up and staying off the ground.

“The studies that we did with our team in the out of season showed that, when players are on the ground in practice, that’s when they get hurt the most. So we just modified the way we did some things in spring ball, which really helped us be more productive, keep guys more healthy, staying on the field getting better. We’re going to carry that into fall camp. I think that’s going to be a huge benefit for us moving forward.”

Tucker expects as much competition during training camp as he’s had during his time at Michigan State.

“I feel like competition pushes you to be your best every single day and that’s how we will reach our potential,” Tucker said. “I believe that we have more team chemistry going into the season.”

Regarding team chemistry, Tucker indicated that the Spartans have had more team-building activities during the off-season.

“Just whether they’re dinners or dodgeball tournaments or kickball games or going to movies and things, just activities, just getting our guys together along with the staff, getting to know each other, especially when you have so many newcomers every year, whether it’s the freshmen or the transfer guys,” Tucker said. “It’s important that we connect. We want the players to get to know each other outside of football, which is very important.”