Preseason Camp Update: Jonathan Smith Press Conference Coverage
8/11/2025 4:56:00 PM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Following the 12th practice of preseason camp for the Michigan State football team on Monday, MSU head coach Jonathan Smith met with the media to provide an update on the Spartans.
MSU head coach Jonathan Smith
On how he is managing motivation with the season underway in under 20 days…
Yeah, it's an important piece, and we've been going, I think today is day 12. We kind of hit them strongly on Sunday (in the team meeting), with this idea of not just kind of getting through it, but in truly improving through this week. I was happy with today coming off the scrimmage (on Saturday). We got a bunch of reps on Saturday, and I thought it was crisp. We're going to go in full pads again, because we do, we need to improve. There's some competition. I kind of described it as 'a week of separation' to the team in regard to, I think I've got charts, but also just teams themselves. What team (position group) can separate in regard to getting better through these dog days at camp?
On what questions did Saturdays scrimmage answer…
I thought our depth defensively showed up. A lot of guys, a lot reps there, played sound defense pretty much throughout. And so that kind of reconfirmed some of our feeling. I think we may have took some steps in the run game, to be honest with you. There were some quality carries out of the backfield, offensive line was doing some stuff, especially in the middle part of the scrimmage, so that was good to see. I think we have progress in there. There's still a lot to work on, though.
On what him and the staff learned about the defensive backs…
We have a lot of guys and a decent amount of rotation. On the corner piece, I was really pleased with their tackling. They got guys on the ground, balls in the perimeter in space, contested some, which actually caused a fumble on one. So, we were pleased with the physicality on the corners.
On any standouts from the scrimmage…
I think Marcellus (Pulliam) had a really nice scrimmage. He had a turnover there, and I thought he played at a high level. Defensive line wise, again, multiple guys, but plays in the backfield kept on showing, especially in the pass game. We need to be better at affecting the passer, and there's some steps there. Really, the top two quarterbacks, I thought did some good things. This was the first time we kind of did two-minute drill. That wasn't the best to start the scrimmage, but as these those guys settled in, we had a couple scoring drives they put together, and Alessio (Milivojevic) had a touchdown throw. So, that was good to see.
On the depth of the offensive line…
We're still going through close to 10 guys, to be honest with you. One's up, two's up, multiple guys are playing not just the same spot, but multiple spots across the line. So, that's still up in the air. Back to this idea of separation this week, guys continue to battle, and some them feel good that we still got 10 guys that are continuing to kind of compete to be the top five.
On if the second scrimmage is where he starts identifying the starters on the offensive line…
We're going to scrimmage the second time this Saturday. We've got I think one or two practices after that. And then, yeah, we'll start to solidify, and everything transitions from training camp to our first opponent.
On the balance between seeing both sides of the ball succeed when going against each other in practice…
I mean, you can't (have success on both sides on every play)…Probably, overall, if you looked at it, defense probably had an upper hand just from the way they've started and finished. There was some quality pushback and play from the offense. You're looking for that clean play. Procedurally, early in the scrimmage, not great offensively. That got way better. So, you're looking for those things that, like, can you stay onsides. Overall, penalty wise, I mean, we had a whole Big Ten crew out there. Penalty wise, I thought that was pretty clean, so I liked that about the scrimmage. We got a good amount of work on the special team side, punt and punt return and kickoff and kickoff return, and there were some quality reps there.
On if the scrimmage was 'live' (full tackling) …
We did two-minute situations that were not live. Everything else was live; I think we got close to 100 snaps of live tackle for football."
On the defensive line…
Interior defensive line, we're pretty deep. I mean, we've got some guys there, even the young ones, like Derrick (Simmons), we like where Mikeshun (Beeler) is coming along, and they've got some of the veterans in front of them. I like the additions. Cam (Williams), Isaac (Smith), they've contributed at that kind of rush edge position along with, Gilley's (Tyler Gillison) coming along and then Nelu (Anelu Lafaele). Feeling that we have options there, that's competitive. This is another week for see who kind of steps up in the in that spot.
On if the strength of the defensive interior will help the rest of the defense…
Yeah. Well, particularly for that position, we want to play all out every snap, go until you get tired, because they know someone's coming in and it's a really quality player. We want to rotate that position. This game starts up front, so it starts with the interior, the offense and defense, and those guys, we're going to count on in a big way.
On the running game…
We had some efficiency on first down. I'm not saying it was overly explosive. We didn't have a bunch of 30, 40-yard runs, but we had some quality 5, 6-yard runs that were blocked cleanly, and ended up getting the ball to the second level, forcing the secondary to make the tackle, not just the defensive line and linebackers. We're getting those guys covered up, and we like that part of it.
On the emphasis of the red zone in scrimmage No. 1…
We kind of ended the scrimmage with a little competition thing in in the red zone. Defense made a few stops. They scored a couple of times. We start the ball on the 25, so that's an important part. I mean, the difference is, seven, three, or zero points in that in that range, which is game changing stuff. So, obviously, back to the question, we're trying to score them. We got to clean up a couple things. But defense did a nice job on some stops.
MSU head coach Jonathan Smith
On how he is managing motivation with the season underway in under 20 days…
Yeah, it's an important piece, and we've been going, I think today is day 12. We kind of hit them strongly on Sunday (in the team meeting), with this idea of not just kind of getting through it, but in truly improving through this week. I was happy with today coming off the scrimmage (on Saturday). We got a bunch of reps on Saturday, and I thought it was crisp. We're going to go in full pads again, because we do, we need to improve. There's some competition. I kind of described it as 'a week of separation' to the team in regard to, I think I've got charts, but also just teams themselves. What team (position group) can separate in regard to getting better through these dog days at camp?
On what questions did Saturdays scrimmage answer…
I thought our depth defensively showed up. A lot of guys, a lot reps there, played sound defense pretty much throughout. And so that kind of reconfirmed some of our feeling. I think we may have took some steps in the run game, to be honest with you. There were some quality carries out of the backfield, offensive line was doing some stuff, especially in the middle part of the scrimmage, so that was good to see. I think we have progress in there. There's still a lot to work on, though.
On what him and the staff learned about the defensive backs…
We have a lot of guys and a decent amount of rotation. On the corner piece, I was really pleased with their tackling. They got guys on the ground, balls in the perimeter in space, contested some, which actually caused a fumble on one. So, we were pleased with the physicality on the corners.
On any standouts from the scrimmage…
I think Marcellus (Pulliam) had a really nice scrimmage. He had a turnover there, and I thought he played at a high level. Defensive line wise, again, multiple guys, but plays in the backfield kept on showing, especially in the pass game. We need to be better at affecting the passer, and there's some steps there. Really, the top two quarterbacks, I thought did some good things. This was the first time we kind of did two-minute drill. That wasn't the best to start the scrimmage, but as these those guys settled in, we had a couple scoring drives they put together, and Alessio (Milivojevic) had a touchdown throw. So, that was good to see.
On the depth of the offensive line…
We're still going through close to 10 guys, to be honest with you. One's up, two's up, multiple guys are playing not just the same spot, but multiple spots across the line. So, that's still up in the air. Back to this idea of separation this week, guys continue to battle, and some them feel good that we still got 10 guys that are continuing to kind of compete to be the top five.
On if the second scrimmage is where he starts identifying the starters on the offensive line…
We're going to scrimmage the second time this Saturday. We've got I think one or two practices after that. And then, yeah, we'll start to solidify, and everything transitions from training camp to our first opponent.
On the balance between seeing both sides of the ball succeed when going against each other in practice…
I mean, you can't (have success on both sides on every play)…Probably, overall, if you looked at it, defense probably had an upper hand just from the way they've started and finished. There was some quality pushback and play from the offense. You're looking for that clean play. Procedurally, early in the scrimmage, not great offensively. That got way better. So, you're looking for those things that, like, can you stay onsides. Overall, penalty wise, I mean, we had a whole Big Ten crew out there. Penalty wise, I thought that was pretty clean, so I liked that about the scrimmage. We got a good amount of work on the special team side, punt and punt return and kickoff and kickoff return, and there were some quality reps there.
On if the scrimmage was 'live' (full tackling) …
We did two-minute situations that were not live. Everything else was live; I think we got close to 100 snaps of live tackle for football."
On the defensive line…
Interior defensive line, we're pretty deep. I mean, we've got some guys there, even the young ones, like Derrick (Simmons), we like where Mikeshun (Beeler) is coming along, and they've got some of the veterans in front of them. I like the additions. Cam (Williams), Isaac (Smith), they've contributed at that kind of rush edge position along with, Gilley's (Tyler Gillison) coming along and then Nelu (Anelu Lafaele). Feeling that we have options there, that's competitive. This is another week for see who kind of steps up in the in that spot.
On if the strength of the defensive interior will help the rest of the defense…
Yeah. Well, particularly for that position, we want to play all out every snap, go until you get tired, because they know someone's coming in and it's a really quality player. We want to rotate that position. This game starts up front, so it starts with the interior, the offense and defense, and those guys, we're going to count on in a big way.
On the running game…
We had some efficiency on first down. I'm not saying it was overly explosive. We didn't have a bunch of 30, 40-yard runs, but we had some quality 5, 6-yard runs that were blocked cleanly, and ended up getting the ball to the second level, forcing the secondary to make the tackle, not just the defensive line and linebackers. We're getting those guys covered up, and we like that part of it.
On the emphasis of the red zone in scrimmage No. 1…
We kind of ended the scrimmage with a little competition thing in in the red zone. Defense made a few stops. They scored a couple of times. We start the ball on the 25, so that's an important part. I mean, the difference is, seven, three, or zero points in that in that range, which is game changing stuff. So, obviously, back to the question, we're trying to score them. We got to clean up a couple things. But defense did a nice job on some stops.
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