How MSU's Poteat Bonded with Spartans Long Before Joining Staff

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- The world of football can be small sometimes.

Michigan State wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins and cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat have not been on the same staff before, but they have been teammates.

Both of them were with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2000. Hawkins was in the final season of his nine-year NFL career. Poteat was a rookie. Twenty-six years later, they are back together and coaching two positions that are diametrically opposed to one another.

Pat Fitzgerald was also not a stranger to Poteat when he accepted the job at MSU. Fitzgerald tried to recruit Poteat's son, Tre, to Northwestern for a while. Tre was in the class of 2025 and chose Tennessee, so Fitzgerald's involvement was early in the process before his firing at NU. Alas, Poteat and his wife, Jasmine, were impressed with Fitz.

Fitzgerald's Easy-To-Remember Energy

"My wife remembered sitting in the auditorium [at Northwestern], and him presenting to the families and to the players, and she loved his energy," Poteat said about Fitzgerald. "She loved the things that he was saying and what he was about. A lot of times, through that process, I was working, and my son and my wife, they would go up to a lot of different events, being so close from Wisconsin to Illinois."

"My wife would always come back and give me feedback. So when this opportunity came up, she was excited, just because of what she remembered through the recruiting process with my son."

Bringing Along Tre Bell

Poteat also brought one of his own players. He was previously at Iowa State and coached Tre Bell this past season for the Cyclones. After ISU head coach Matt Campbell landed the Penn State job, Poteat went to East Lansing. Bell wasn't all that far behind.

Bell and Charles Brantley are likely to be Michigan State's two starting corners this upcoming season, though Brantley has been limited this spring. Don't panic if you don't see him out there during Saturday's "Spring Showcase." His status for the fall isn't in question.

Brantley has already proven he can play the position at an elite level for MSU. Bell is new, though he started eight games for Iowa State in 2025 and played well.

"He knows what I'm looking for," Poteat said about the benefits of having Bell in the room. "He knows the mindset when I'm talking about dawg mentality. He understands the technique... He's familiar with my terminology. He's a player-coach off the field helping me out."

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