Michigan State football uses bye week to get 'revitalized,' turn focus to final 7 weeks
EAST LANSING — Mark Dantonio called Harlon Barnett during Michigan State football’s bye week to check in and chat.
It took Barnett a few days to take heed of his former boss’s message and finally get his first chance to decompress after being thrust into a new role as the Spartans’ interim head coach following Mel Tucker’s suspension and eventual firing.
A whirlwind month. A Saturday without a game. A lot to process.
For himself. For his team.
“(Dantonio) said, ‘Just think about what's going on with you, man. You just got thrown right into it. It wasn't like you got hired in December or January, had nine months to build up to the season,’” Barnett recalled Monday. “And I've never thought about it until he said it, because it was just, ‘Go.’ And I'm not an excuse-maker. …
“But when you get a chance to sit back and think about it a little bit, it's like, OK, I see what the situation is. Let's learn from it, and then let's get better from it.”
WHO'S THE QUARTERBACK: Harlon Barnett and Michigan State football players know who will start at QB vs. Rutgers
Barnett delivered his directive to the Spartans to start the home stretch: Seven weeks and seven games remain. The time to think about the past month is over. Start focusing on the now and what’s ahead.
Starting Saturday, when MSU (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten) hits the road again to face Rutgers (4-2, 1-2) to try and end the three-game losing streak since Tucker’s situation sent the program into disarray after two wins to start the season.
“To be honest, I didn't think there was much that needed to be done to process what happened,” sophomore right guard Kevin Wigenton II said Tuesday. “We got a full team here. I'm counting on every dude in that locker room to get their job done, as they're counting on me. So I can't be sitting around worried about stuff that I can't control. I need to just be focused on this team and getting a win at Rutgers. That's what we're focused on.”
For some, the bye week arrived at a key moment.
The promise of opening the season with two wins torn asunder. The defense working to rebound from giving up a school-record 713 yards against Washington. The offense dealing with the inability to score and a continuing conundrum at quarterback that led to an open competition again following the Spartans’ 26-16 loss at Iowa in its last game Sept. 30. Players who were receiving money from an MSU-affiliated NIL collective a day before that first road trip of the season having their deals “being taken from us,” as freshman linebacker Jordan Hall said Tuesday.
All of that compounded by the dismissal of the man who brought many of the players to MSU and the uncertainty of a coaching search in its infant stages that could dictate the future for many of the players.
“I think a lot of people just kind of needed this break to kind of reset,” Hall said. “We haven't really had a time to really take in what has actually happened. I know me personally, I got away for the weekend and just kind of self-isolated a little bit and kind of reflected on the things that have happened and to fully and finally take in what happened and just leave that in the past and continue to move forward.”
How they are doing it, freshman cornerback Chance Rucker said, is to keep sight of their primary purpose for being at MSU.
“We just simpled it down. Basically just to stick with football. Just stay focused to that,” said Rucker, who like Hall has emerged as a starter with injuries on the defense. “We didn't come here to do anything else — academics and football, that's it. So we're just sticking to that and keep continuing to grind.”
Defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton on Tuesday pointed to how frequently coaching changes can happen in football, pointing to the NFL as a model for how players who chose a certain situation can have circumstances change after signing contracts. At the same time, he and the rest of the remaining coaching staff also have their own professional futures left in limbo following Tucker’s termination.
“Our role is really to try to make these guys on our team the best players they can be,” Hazelton said. “We ask them to block out the noise all the time whenever people are doing whatever they do outside or on social media. Well, they block that stuff. Well, that's the same thing we do when we go to work. We really gotta show up to work and say, listen, we gotta have energy. Coach Barnett brings it every day to the team. So that's our job to make these guys the best.
“Whatever is going to happen, all that stuff is nothing we can control so we can just control what we do and show up every day.”
WHO'S LEAVING: Michigan State RB Jordon Simmons 3rd player planning to transfer since Mel Tucker firing
Barnett emphasized and empathized that he wants the Spartans to get back to winning for the players. He said Monday’s practice showed they are “revitalized” despite three players — running back Jordon Simmons, long snapper Hank Pepper and defensive back Justin White — leaving the program in preparation of entering the transfer portal.
“Things are gonna happen in life, stuff you don't envision happening is just gonna happen,” Wigenton said. “But you got to fall back on your training and your technique. And really, I just look to my teammates, my brothers, just making sure we're all united. We met as a team that Sunday (after Tucker’s suspension), and we were all focused on what we had to get done, because everything that happened was out of our control.
“No one's gonna go out there and play for us, no one's gonna feel sorry for us. We gotta go get the job done.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Scarlet Knights
Matchup: Michigan State (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten) at Rutgers (4-2, 1-2).
Kickoff: Noon Saturday; SHI Stadium, Piscataway, New Jersey.
TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WJR-AM (760).
Line: Scarlet Knights by 5½.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football uses bye to get 'revitalized,' focus on future
