Spring Practice Officially Underway for Spartans
3/18/2025 3:14:00 PM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State football team opened spring practice on Tuesday morning inside the Greg and Dawn Williams Indoor Practice Facility.
Following practice, second-year head coach Jonathan Smith met with the media to give a preview on spring practice for the Spartans.
"We are excited to get started – we did practice one this morning," said Smith. "A lot of work goes into that, these guys (have been) in the weight room January, February and half of March, and so it was great to get back out there with them.
"I actually told the team at the end of practice, so many guys, body changes, faster, explosions, you could just see it and feel it out at practice. Coach Mac (head strength and conditioning coach Mike McDonald) and his staff have done a great job getting us ready for this part.
"It's always an exciting time, just the first look. We have 27 new guys (who arrived in January), and it's not just all about the first look at those guys, it's the opportunity to see the guys who have been in the program now for a year, and some of them have played college football for two or three years, across the board on our roster, just to see the development and working with them for 15 practices."
The Spartans will have 15 practices spread across five weeks, ending on April 19.
"Through the preparation of practices and thoughts going into it, I wanted to take advantage of all 15 practices," said Smith. "We're going to finish spring ball without a spring game, and there were some considerations with that. Some of it, you only get 15 of these; some of the logic is when you do those (spring games), you prepare for those the back half of the spring. We think the best for this current unit is to take advantage of all 15 practices and not prepping like you're going into a game. There's some logistics going on at the stadium, which we're excited about, the scoreboards, some things to the press box (tower), so that can create some challenges. And you're always working with numbers, with availability, and what's best for the team. We're definitely going to do a couple of scrimmages amongst ourselves throughout the 15 practices, we're spreading those out a little bit, and we're excited to get started."
The Spartans are returning 36 letterwinners from last season's team, including 23 on defense, 10 on offense and three on special teams. In addition, MSU has 20 position players returning with starting experience wearing the Green and White, including 10 on offense and 10 on defense.
Michigan State welcomed 16 transfers to the team in January, and 11 freshmen who signed in December also enrolled for the spring semester to compete in spring practice. | 2025 Midyear Enrollees
MSU opens the 2025 season on Aug. 30 against Western Michigan in Spartan Stadium.
Following practice, second-year head coach Jonathan Smith met with the media to give a preview on spring practice for the Spartans.
"We are excited to get started – we did practice one this morning," said Smith. "A lot of work goes into that, these guys (have been) in the weight room January, February and half of March, and so it was great to get back out there with them.
"I actually told the team at the end of practice, so many guys, body changes, faster, explosions, you could just see it and feel it out at practice. Coach Mac (head strength and conditioning coach Mike McDonald) and his staff have done a great job getting us ready for this part.
"It's always an exciting time, just the first look. We have 27 new guys (who arrived in January), and it's not just all about the first look at those guys, it's the opportunity to see the guys who have been in the program now for a year, and some of them have played college football for two or three years, across the board on our roster, just to see the development and working with them for 15 practices."
The Spartans will have 15 practices spread across five weeks, ending on April 19.
"Through the preparation of practices and thoughts going into it, I wanted to take advantage of all 15 practices," said Smith. "We're going to finish spring ball without a spring game, and there were some considerations with that. Some of it, you only get 15 of these; some of the logic is when you do those (spring games), you prepare for those the back half of the spring. We think the best for this current unit is to take advantage of all 15 practices and not prepping like you're going into a game. There's some logistics going on at the stadium, which we're excited about, the scoreboards, some things to the press box (tower), so that can create some challenges. And you're always working with numbers, with availability, and what's best for the team. We're definitely going to do a couple of scrimmages amongst ourselves throughout the 15 practices, we're spreading those out a little bit, and we're excited to get started."
The Spartans are returning 36 letterwinners from last season's team, including 23 on defense, 10 on offense and three on special teams. In addition, MSU has 20 position players returning with starting experience wearing the Green and White, including 10 on offense and 10 on defense.
Michigan State welcomed 16 transfers to the team in January, and 11 freshmen who signed in December also enrolled for the spring semester to compete in spring practice. | 2025 Midyear Enrollees
MSU opens the 2025 season on Aug. 30 against Western Michigan in Spartan Stadium.
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