Mel Tucker Knows MSU Needs Consistency and Relentless Recruiting
“Big games come down to execution,” Mel Tucker said.
Mel Tucker is coming to the end of his first season as Michigan State’s head coach having a 2-5 record; the last game being against Maryland during the Big Ten Champions week.
In Tucker’s post-game and weekly pressers, he said, “We need to play complementary football, and we have to do it for four quarters […] not just in spurs, consistently.”
While each quarter is only 15-minutes long, each game lasts an average of three and a half hours. Coaches expect their players to consistently exert the same amount of effort throughout these four quarters.
Looking at the Spartans' results and performance throughout this season, it was not consistent.
From the beginning in a loss against Rutgers to the second game, beating their in-state rivals Michigan, Michigan State really has kept everyone on their toes.
And Tucker knows it.
“Our fans don’t want excuses, we want results.”
He knows this team isn’t executing the way they should, and you can see the frustration and determination in his eyes to rebuild this team.
Tucker knows Michigan State needs to get something done right now, but also for him, “there’s a certain amount of patience you need to build and establish a culture.”
In establishing a new culture for Michigan State football, Tucker looks at players who want to develop and gives them a chance to prove themselves.
“Practice, compete, get better, you want to be ready.”
But how much patience does Tucker have?
“We are rebuilding the culture here, and certainly recruiting is a big part of that. In recruiting, we need to grind that out and be relentless.”
“Recruit every day” has been Tucker’s mantra, and he’s continuously brought up recruiting.
“Recruiting is competition […] we’re gonna fight for guys.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise how often Tucker has brought up recruiting given the record and performance of the season. With early signing day approaching, Tucker said, “recruiting is fluid. They’re not signed until they’re signed.”
With MSU’s class of 2021 currently having 19 prospects, there’s still a long recruiting journey ahead, and Tucker is prepared for that.
“We do have a plan in terms of how we’re going to address transfers in the portal. A portal is a viable market to better help your team.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tucker and Michigan State do decide to use the portal.
After having a couple athletes decommit from their class of 2021, and with one of their top commits Audric Estime receiving an offer from Notre Dame, things are still uncertain.
Michigan State might get lucky with a few players who decided to recently decommit from other programs like, Michael Myslinski, Kyion Grayes and Keon Coleman. Even staying on the lookout for players who recently put their names in the portal, John Lovett, Ma’a Gaoteote and Rashawn Williams.
Whether Tucker decides to use the portal or not to improve the roster, he will do what it takes to move the process forward to rebuild the culture.
“At some point, we will be consistent. We’ll figure out how we’re going to play, we’ll get back to work. Go green.”
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