Pat Fitzgerald Recaps NSD, First Months on Job at MSU
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EAST LANSING, Mich. --- It's been a busy few months for Pat Fitzgerald.
It's been just over two months since he was formally introduced as Michigan State's new head football coach. In that time, he's pieced together a staff, the Spartans' 2026 high school recruiting class, brought in 30 players from the transfer portal, gotten winter workouts started, and has started the process of recruiting 2027 prospects.
Wednesday, also known as National Signing Day, was Fitzgerald's first official press conference since he first spoke while representing the green and white on Dec. 2, 2025. Normally, the purpose of this presser is to go over the incoming class. Of course, given all that's happened in the past two months, the topics ranged all over across a nearly press conference that nearly reached 40 minutes.
Spartan Nation was there and captured it all for you. A full video of Fitzgerald's press conference has been provided below.
Watch Pat Fitzgerald here:
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Spring Ball Plans
One of the first things fans want and need to know about is the team's spring ball schedule. Fitzgerald said that the team will have its first spring practice on St. Patrick's Day, which is Tuesday, March 17. The plan after that is to practice every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for five straight weeks.
That would place the 15th and final practice on Saturday, April 18. Fitzgerald doesn't seem to be planning on hosting an official "Spring Game" at Spartan Stadium, citing that his team truly needs all 15 practices, due to all the new players and coaches and changes.
Fitzgerald does say something is in the works, though. He described it as "more of a fan fest."
"We'll have more information to come out on that..." he said. "But, yeah, we want to give back to our fans. But I also need to make sure I'm doing what I think is best for the team with what we need, especially here in Year 1."
Samson Gash
The big highlight from NSD itself, though, was the signing of speedy four-star wide receiver Samson Gash. Michigan State had been battling Penn State for Gash's final pledge, but Fitzgerald and MSU were able to get Gash to sign with the same, but different, program that he first committed to this past June.
"To add Samson Gash today to the football program is a huge win," Fitzgerald said. "Really proud of the job our personnel staff did. Obviously, [wide receivers coach] Courtney Hawkins, great 'Spartan Dawg,' that relationship he built with the Gash family for a number of years. And I think our lead recruiter in Caleb [Gash], his older brother, really helped us to say the least."
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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