Henderson, Reed bring veteran leadership to Michigan State football as spring ball approaches
Michigan State football’s outlook for the 2022 season drastically changed when wide receiver Jayden Reed and safety Xavier Henderson announced their intentions to return to East Lansing.
Reed, the Spartans’ leading receiver, allows Michigan State to retain some of the explosiveness they had on offense a season ago, even with the departures of star tailback Kenneth Walker III and second-leading receiver Jalen Nailor. Reed’s chemistry with quarterback Payton Thorne is well-documented – the pair grew up playing football together – and the Spartans have two natural offensive captains with those two guys back in the fold.
Henderson, meanwhile, was the only Michigan State player to serve as a captain in all 13 games last season. Playing amidst a secondary that had various struggles throughout 2021, Henderson was the steady, reliable veteran who you could always trust to do his job and hold others accountable.
Speaking as a radio guest on ‘The Valenti Show w/ Rico’ on 97.1 The Ticket, MSU head coach Mel Tucker spoke of the significance of Reed and Henderson returning to play another season with the Spartans.
“It’s big,” Tucker said. “First and foremost, they came back because they thought that was the best thing for them to do. And, we wanted them back if we thought that was the best move. So, it was a win-win.”
Tucker and his staff are doing an excellent job bringing in fresh talent to Michigan State, both in their recruitment of high school prospects and through the transfer portal, but Reed and Henderson will bring a quality to the 2022 team that couldn’t have been replaced from somewhere outside the Spartans’ football building.
“Anytime you have guys like those two guys, that are high-character guys, that are hard workers, they lead by example and they’re vocal leaders, they know the culture, they know what the expectations are – You get guys like that back, that are going to lead, you’ve got a much better chance to have a player-led team, as opposed to just a coach-led team,” Tucker said. “Player-led teams are typically going to go further than coach-led teams.”
Michigan State’s head coach has already seen that leadership show up in the early weeks of 2022, as the Spartans go through their winter conditioning program.
“We have the Spartan training program. It’s like the old school winter workouts. We…really pushed the guys, they had to strain,” Tucker said. “I thought it was really good. I was impressed with the way the guys worked, the attention to detail, the way they finished – it was very competitive.
“The guys are in good condition right now. I didn’t see a whole bunch of guys bent over, or things like that. I saw a little bit of leadership out there. The guys were organized and they looked like they knew what the heck they were doing.”
One month from today, Michigan State will begin its spring practice on March 15. The Spartans will have three practices per week for five weeks, culminating in the Green-White Spring Game on April 16. Tucker wants to make the spring game as competitive as possible, but said that will be determined by the Spartans’ health and depth come mid-April.
“We’ll have to see what our depth looks like. I would love to be able to play a game, divide the squad up so it’s competitive, and play a game,” Tucker said. “If we can do that, if we have enough guys available at that time of the spring, we’ll do that.”
Regardless of the format that the spring game will feature, Tucker is excited to give Spartan fans a preview of what to expect out of Michigan State football in 2022.
“Whatever we do, we’ll be able to compete,” he said. “We’ll be able to feature our players. Our fans will be able to see who we have, the progress guys have made. They’ll get a chance to see the new guys. They’ll get a chance to evaluate our schemes, our ability to coach, teach and motivate players. So, we’ll be on full display. We’ll be wide open, whatever the format is.”
