Spartans Finish Spring Practice
4/24/2021 6:13:00 PM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State football team wrapped up spring practice on Saturday afternoon with an open practice and scrimmage held at Spartan Stadium. It marked the 15th and final practice of the spring.
The event, which was televised live on the Big Ten Network, began with eight periods of drills and individual position work, and concluded with five periods of live scrimmage situations.
Following protocols and guidelines established by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), a limited number of spectators attended Saturday's practice. Michigan State Athletics distributed approximately 6,000 digital tickets to the event (8 percent capacity of Spartan Stadium; 11 percent capacity of the lower-bowl seating area). In addition, the Spartan Marching Band and dance and cheer teams performed, putting the total attendance well under MDHHS capacity limits (currently set at 20 percent capacity).
"You can tell there was a little extra pep in their step, seeing the fans out there," said Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker. "Our fans are so important to us, they are so passionate about the Green and White and Spartan football…That's what Michigan State football is all about, just playing hard nose football, just everybody moving in the same direction, just pulling for the Spartans. It was excellent to see our fans back out there."
Although Tucker is entering his second season with the Spartans, last year's spring practice was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this marked the first spring he has had to work with the team.
"It's critically important, because you establish the standards of performance," Tucker remarked on having spring practice. "How we meet, how we practice, each and every day, just how we continue to gain ground just in a relentless manner, just getting better in all facets of our game. You practice a lot more than you play, and it's important to get those practices in and that's how we get an opportunity to teach, motivate, and develop our team. So we made the most of all 15 practices that we had. I feel really good about how efficient we were. I'm really proud of our coaches and I'm really proud of our players."
The Spartans are scheduled to open the 2021 season at Northwestern on Sept. 4.
Additional quotes by Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker:
Opening statement...
It was great to get out there, practice 15 to wrap up the spring. It was incredible to have our fans out there and the band and the cheer team. That was something that we were all looking forward to just getting back to normal. Our fans are so important to us. The Big Ten Network, carrying the game, the exposure for our program, for our young men. They were just working so hard this spring. I thought it was just a great way to wrap it up, and I felt like we got a lot of work done today, practice 15. We want to be efficient; we want to get better. And just continue to gain ground and can continue to build and in a relentless manner, so I felt like we were able to get a lot accomplished today.
On the play of the quarterbacks today...
I tell you what, you can see we have really good competition at that position, with all three of those guys that you mentioned, as well as Theo (Day), as well as Hamp Fay. I thought they all showed some good things, and made some good throws, made some good decisions. I am sure we had a couple throws we like to have back. But just overall, I thought they were efficient, that they ran the offense, and took what the defense gave us. You can see where I feel good about that position. I feel like we're gonna have really good production from the quarterback position this season.
On the play of Ian Stewart at wide receiver...
He has done a really nice job; he's a very hard worker. You know, we moved him to tight end last season for a little bit, and we moved him back to receiver. He's got a big body. He's got good hands, plays really hard, and so it's always good to see those young guys step up and make some plays.
On starting practice with a no-huddle approach...
It was a great way to get this practice going and start with a fast tempo and guys getting the signals getting lined up. It's just something that we do quite a bit, and that's just kind of the way that we operate. So it's just a really good way to get things started.
On how the team has grown over the 15 spring practices...
Yeah, I'll tell you what, the spring practices is a way to come out of our winter conditioning program, and then get on the field, and just get better as a football team. We focus on being in the best condition. We're really focused on improving our technique and fundamentals. We want our players to play fast, and they play fastest when they know what to do. And so it's about teaching, motivating, developing, knowing when our guys play smart. So that's no foolish penalties, knowing the tempo of practice - just real, real disciplined. The physicality of the game, it needs to show up in our spring practice when we have the pads on. So that was really our focus. It was the aggregation of marginal gains, so we kept preaching, relentlessly, just every day each guy getting one or two percent better each day, every time they were out. And then if you can do that collectively, that's how you have significant improvements, and so that's what we want to do this spring. Our culture is being cemented right now, our practice culture, on the field and off the field, as we as we grow together as a team, so I felt like we got a lot done this spring.
On what the calendar looks like from the summer to the fall...
Yes, we're gonna have finals coming up this next week, and then we'll have three discretionary weeks after that, and then we'll start our summer conditioning program, our Spartan Training Program for the summer, which will expand about eight weeks, and then we'll get rolling into camp.
On the outlook of the team after have finished spring practice and heading in to summer...
Yes, we just want to continue to build and gain ground. And our players know what's expected from them. And we have a standard of performance. So our guys are going to stay in shape during a discretionary period, and then we'll come back and we'll hit the ground running. We'll pick up where we left off. They'll continue to work on our schemes - offense, defense special teams. Our strength and conditioning, getting bigger, stronger, faster, and also our team chemistry and our culture. We will have some newcomers joining us in May and June, and they will join our culture, and then we'll move forward together throughout the summer, just get ready for fall camp.
The event, which was televised live on the Big Ten Network, began with eight periods of drills and individual position work, and concluded with five periods of live scrimmage situations.
Following protocols and guidelines established by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), a limited number of spectators attended Saturday's practice. Michigan State Athletics distributed approximately 6,000 digital tickets to the event (8 percent capacity of Spartan Stadium; 11 percent capacity of the lower-bowl seating area). In addition, the Spartan Marching Band and dance and cheer teams performed, putting the total attendance well under MDHHS capacity limits (currently set at 20 percent capacity).
"You can tell there was a little extra pep in their step, seeing the fans out there," said Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker. "Our fans are so important to us, they are so passionate about the Green and White and Spartan football…That's what Michigan State football is all about, just playing hard nose football, just everybody moving in the same direction, just pulling for the Spartans. It was excellent to see our fans back out there."
Although Tucker is entering his second season with the Spartans, last year's spring practice was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this marked the first spring he has had to work with the team.
"It's critically important, because you establish the standards of performance," Tucker remarked on having spring practice. "How we meet, how we practice, each and every day, just how we continue to gain ground just in a relentless manner, just getting better in all facets of our game. You practice a lot more than you play, and it's important to get those practices in and that's how we get an opportunity to teach, motivate, and develop our team. So we made the most of all 15 practices that we had. I feel really good about how efficient we were. I'm really proud of our coaches and I'm really proud of our players."
The Spartans are scheduled to open the 2021 season at Northwestern on Sept. 4.
Additional quotes by Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker:
Opening statement...
It was great to get out there, practice 15 to wrap up the spring. It was incredible to have our fans out there and the band and the cheer team. That was something that we were all looking forward to just getting back to normal. Our fans are so important to us. The Big Ten Network, carrying the game, the exposure for our program, for our young men. They were just working so hard this spring. I thought it was just a great way to wrap it up, and I felt like we got a lot of work done today, practice 15. We want to be efficient; we want to get better. And just continue to gain ground and can continue to build and in a relentless manner, so I felt like we were able to get a lot accomplished today.
On the play of the quarterbacks today...
I tell you what, you can see we have really good competition at that position, with all three of those guys that you mentioned, as well as Theo (Day), as well as Hamp Fay. I thought they all showed some good things, and made some good throws, made some good decisions. I am sure we had a couple throws we like to have back. But just overall, I thought they were efficient, that they ran the offense, and took what the defense gave us. You can see where I feel good about that position. I feel like we're gonna have really good production from the quarterback position this season.
On the play of Ian Stewart at wide receiver...
He has done a really nice job; he's a very hard worker. You know, we moved him to tight end last season for a little bit, and we moved him back to receiver. He's got a big body. He's got good hands, plays really hard, and so it's always good to see those young guys step up and make some plays.
On starting practice with a no-huddle approach...
It was a great way to get this practice going and start with a fast tempo and guys getting the signals getting lined up. It's just something that we do quite a bit, and that's just kind of the way that we operate. So it's just a really good way to get things started.
On how the team has grown over the 15 spring practices...
Yeah, I'll tell you what, the spring practices is a way to come out of our winter conditioning program, and then get on the field, and just get better as a football team. We focus on being in the best condition. We're really focused on improving our technique and fundamentals. We want our players to play fast, and they play fastest when they know what to do. And so it's about teaching, motivating, developing, knowing when our guys play smart. So that's no foolish penalties, knowing the tempo of practice - just real, real disciplined. The physicality of the game, it needs to show up in our spring practice when we have the pads on. So that was really our focus. It was the aggregation of marginal gains, so we kept preaching, relentlessly, just every day each guy getting one or two percent better each day, every time they were out. And then if you can do that collectively, that's how you have significant improvements, and so that's what we want to do this spring. Our culture is being cemented right now, our practice culture, on the field and off the field, as we as we grow together as a team, so I felt like we got a lot done this spring.
On what the calendar looks like from the summer to the fall...
Yes, we're gonna have finals coming up this next week, and then we'll have three discretionary weeks after that, and then we'll start our summer conditioning program, our Spartan Training Program for the summer, which will expand about eight weeks, and then we'll get rolling into camp.
On the outlook of the team after have finished spring practice and heading in to summer...
Yes, we just want to continue to build and gain ground. And our players know what's expected from them. And we have a standard of performance. So our guys are going to stay in shape during a discretionary period, and then we'll come back and we'll hit the ground running. We'll pick up where we left off. They'll continue to work on our schemes - offense, defense special teams. Our strength and conditioning, getting bigger, stronger, faster, and also our team chemistry and our culture. We will have some newcomers joining us in May and June, and they will join our culture, and then we'll move forward together throughout the summer, just get ready for fall camp.
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