Why Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith's easiest staff hire may be his most beneficial

Excitement can be detected in Nick Marsh’s voice because the River Rouge wideout can finally picture his life with Michigan State football in the coming years.

He sees himself hitting the weights as soon as he steps on campus in January, when he plans to enroll at the university. He imagines himself diving into new coach Jonathan Smith’s offense and making an immediate impact. He envisions himself developing into a top-flight receiver under the guidance of the man who recruited him, convinced him to commit to MSU twice and kept him in the fold during a tumultuous period when the program bottomed out in the aftermath of Mel Tucker’s firing this past September.

Yes, Marsh said, his future in East Lansing looks so much better now that he knows receivers coach Courtney Hawkins will be a part of it.

“I was really happy and excited to hear about it,” Marsh told the Free Press. “Coach Hawk is someone I am familiar with and everyone else is familiar with.”

While Smith’s move Tuesday to retain Hawkins as the first — and for now — only holdover from Tucker’s on-field staff was more of a no-brainer than a stroke of genius, it was still a smart play that does more than just satisfy the most prized prospect in Michigan State’s patchwork recruiting class. Hawkins infuses the Spartans’ new regime of Pacific time zone imports with some needed local flavor that will help Smith’s effort to foster relationships with area high school coaches and build multiple talent pipelines within a four-hour radius of East Lansing.

In a scrum with reporters following his introductory news conference, Smith earmarked that as a priority, saying, “I’ve got some ground to make up. I mean, there is no other way to say it.”

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Hawkins can provide his new boss, a man with West Coast roots, entrée to an unfamiliar world. After all, the former NFL wideout grew up in Genesee County, starred at MSU and eventually took over Flint Beecher’s football program before leading the Buccaneers to the playoffs in 12 of his 14 seasons on the sideline. Within the circles Smith hopes to travel, Hawkins carries considerable clout. His name is recognized around the state and particularly in metro Detroit.

“He’s known as a great guy, an honest guy who’s definitely known to take care and follow through on the promises he makes,” River Rouge coach Eric Pettway said. “Coach Hawk has been one of the guys who come into the city, recruit guys from the city and make sure they’re at a place they call home.”

The kinship Marsh feels with Hawkins is particularly strong.

They bonded over their shared backgrounds as Michigan natives and their intertwined connections.

Marsh has grown so close to Hawkins that he describes his future position coach as an “uncle.”

“Like a family member,” Marsh gushed.

The four-star recruit, rated by 247Sports as the No. 2 prospect in Michigan, is set to become Hawkins’ newest project as well. The MSU assistant has already nurtured the talents of future NFL draft picks, Jalen Nailor and Jayden Reed. He also cultivated Keon Coleman, a gifted receiver who transferred to Florida State last spring and then became a social media sensation with a series of spectacular catches that highlighted the Seminoles’ march to a 13-0 record.

As the rest of Tucker’s staff struggled to turn players into pro prospects and enhance their repertoires, Hawkins established a consistent track record of development.

“He played in the league for nine years,” Reed said last March at MSU’s Pro Day. “He knows the ropes. He knows everything. Being in the room almost every day, he showed and taught me a lot. Just listening to him prepared me to be here.”

Marsh hopes he’ll get there, too, with Hawkins by his side.

MORE RECRUITING: Jonathan Smith gets first MSU commits: RB Makhi Frazier, TE Wyatt Hook

The two remained in constant communication as MSU endured a period of upheaval over the past three months. The scandal that led to Tucker’s dismissal triggered a collapse on the field, where the Spartans lost eight of their final 10 games and looked uncompetitive in crushing defeats to Washington, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. It also created a climate of uncertainty away from it, which led to seven defections in MSU’s deteriorating recruiting class.

Marsh, who had reneged on his original commitment last March and re-upped with MSU in July, didn’t know what to think as the program he pledged to join was in a state of flux. But he kept an open line of communication with Hawkins, who gave him the inside scoop on what was unfolding behind the scenes.

“He was my only source of information,” Marsh said. “Just grateful that he was there at the time and just being able to talk to him throughout the whole thing. He was just telling me the ups and downs about it and how we could work through it.”

Both clung to the hope Hawkins would retain his job and be on the ground floor of MSU’s impending rebuild. But it didn’t seem guaranteed until Marsh took an official visit to East Lansing this past weekend. Once he got there, he met the man who was the point person in his recruitment and would soon become Smith’s easiest — and perhaps most important — hire.

Yes, Marsh said, he was glad to see Hawkins was still there now and for the foreseeable future.

“I’m just excited,” he said.

Knowing all that Hawkins brings to the table, MSU should be, too.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why keeping Courtney Hawkins is smart move for Michigan State football