MSU Football: Developing Entire Roster Amidst COVID-19

With COVID-19 causing multiple college football games to be postponed, Mel Tucker is coming up with a plan to help improve his football team's depth and versatility.

As we have quickly found out from our country and around the world, COVID-19 affects everything, including sports.

It's already caused more than 20 college football games to be postponed, and in other contests, teams were forced to play without critical components due to the virus.

Multiple conferences have already experienced this fate, so it's safe to assume the Big Ten probably won't be the exception.

The league also requires its student-athletes to sit out for 21 days if they test positive for COVID-19, making it even more important that teams stay healthy.

So how do Michigan State and Mel Tucker plan for their depth to be compromised concerning the coronavirus? By preparing for every possible outcome in his first year as head coach.

"We've talked as a staff from early on that we were going to need to develop the entire roster this year, this season. All the scholarship players, walk-ons, everybody's going to have to be developed in some way, shape or form to be able to at some point go in the game and play winning football for us if their number is called," Tucker said.

With less than three weeks before the Spartans face Rutgers, he wants players to be well versed, which is why Tucker told reporters the team would begin "cross-training" soon.

It's a process where players will learn different positions close to their own such as running backs learning to play wide receiver or a defensive tackle learning to play the end spot.

In an attempt to improve his contingency plan, Tucker will take it a step further, asking his team to learn positions on both sides of the ball.

"If guys know multiple positions, then you have more flexibility," said Tucker. "Are you able to handle injuries or anything that may be COVID-related?"

It makes sense and leads back to his depth chart being more of a "rep chart," showing where his guys have been working out in practice.

One thing is sure; Tucker believes in his coaching methods.

"I feel very confident about our operation and our process," Tucker said. "We're very process-driven."

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