MSU Spring Football: 3 Most Interesting Things Mel Tucker Said On April 10

The Spartans enter their final week of spring football practice...

As Michigan State entered its final week of spring practice, head coach Mel Tucker provided an update on how things have progressed for the Spartans over the last four weeks.

Here are the things that stood out most from Tucker's media availability:

1.) "Those two additions to our staff, for me, have been home runs."

Michigan State had some staff turnover this offseason, despite Tucker's declaration in December that he wasn't anticipating any coaching changes in 2023.

Defensive line coach Marco Coleman and pass rush specialist Brandon T. Jordan each left for other coaching opportunities, and Tucker responded by hiring new D-line coach Diron Reynolds and cornerbacks coach Jim Salgado.

Tucker raved about the pair on Monday, noting the NFL experience that both guys bring — Reynolds coached 11 years in the NFL, Salgado spent the last six years with the Buffalo Bills.

“The NFL is really a developmental league," Tucker said. "You have to be able to develop players, and that’s how you make your name as a coach in the NFL. There’s a lot of undrafted free agents and late round picks in the NFL…because of the salary cap and things like that. You have to be able to take younger players and develop them."

That's what he hopes and believes Reynolds and Salgado will do for Michigan State.

The Spartans have a lot of intriguing options along the defensive line, which might be the most talented position group on the team. Reynolds is tasked with fitting those talented pieces together in the most beneficial way possible.

Salgado, meanwhile, will take his shot at turning around a cornerback position that has struggled mightily through Tucker's first three seasons in East Lansing. Michigan State has some young guys who could play bigger roles at corner and nickleback in 2023.

2.) “The quarterback situation is still open competition. It’s going to be that way for a while, but all the guys are competing at a high level. I think they’re all developing. I think they’re all getting better.”

If you were hoping for a substantial update on how the quarterback competition is playing out, we weren't provided that by Tucker on April 10.

This wasn't a surprising answer, but it would have been nice to have gotten a little more information out of Michigan State's head coach. But, it's understandable why Tucker would keep things close to the chest this early in the year.

Regardless of who wins the starting job in 2023, the Spartans would like to maintain their depth at quarterback this season. There's a transfer portal window that will open immediately following the conclusion of MSU's spring practice (April 15-30).

It would not be shocking to see one of the three starting QB candidates — Payton Thorne, Noah Kim and Katin Houser — hit the portal at the conclusion of spring practice, if one of those players has gotten the impression that he has little chance to win the job.

For now, it sounds like this battle will carry on into the summer and likely into fall camp as well.

3.) "There’s always going to be change. That’s just the only thing that’s constant, whether it’s recruiting or on the coaching side of it...There’s always movement. But, the constant is me and the vision that I have for this football team. I know what championship football teams look like, so we have to recruit to that.”

Tucker was asked about the changes to Michigan State's recruiting department after the contracts for general manager/recruiting coordinator Saeed Khalif and his right-hand man Jensen Gebhardt were not renewed.

What stood out most from this quote was Tucker's assertion that, "the constant is me and the vision that I have for this football team. I know what championship football looks like..."

Last season's disappointing 5-7 campaign has certainly not dampened Tucker's belief in himself or his belief that Michigan State football can compete at the highest level of the sport.

Self-confidence is a good thing, as are high standards. But lofty expectations come along with those things as well. The 2023 season is a massive one for Tucker and the Spartans, and the head coach's confidence needs to be backed up by his team on the football field.

Michigan State is recruiting at a high level under Tucker. He brought the reputation of an excellent recruiter with him to East Lansing. But the only way to continue recruiting at a high level is to get the job done on the field.

“Recruiting is extremely important. We need to recruit at a very high level. We need to get better every year in recruiting," Tucker said. "We need to be able to win the recruiting battles that we need to win in order to win the games that we need to be able to win during the season. Recruiting is critically important. The people that we hire in those positions are going to be huge hires for us.

“We have a clear idea [of the types of players we want to recruit]. It always starts with me in terms of, ‘What type of football team do I want to have?’ and what the team’s going to look like. And then we go out to identify those players, recruit them and hopefully sign them.”