Why Michigan State football players felt refreshed after Jonathan Smith's first practice

EAST LANSING — It was a new beginning, a fresh start, a reset.

“A totally clean slate, man,” Michigan State football defensive tackle Maverick Hansen crowed Tuesday.

After the Spartans’ first spring practice under head coach Jonathan Smith, Hansen and his teammates were recharged.

Running back Nathan Carter gushed about the West Coast offense Smith brought with him from Oregon State, calling it more “explosive.”

Safety Dillon Tatum raved about the defense new coordinator Joe Rossi imported from Minnesota, describing it as “a lot more” aggressive.

Receiver Montorie Foster chirped about the palpable energy he felt on the field.

“Dudes flying around,” he said. “It was definitely fun.”

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Only 3½ months after the Spartans flatlined during the depressing epilogue of Mel Tucker’s doomed tenure, they seem reborn. A catharsis of sorts took place in the immediate aftermath of MSU’s 4-8 crash last fall, when a toxic combination of scandal and upheaval sowed the seeds for dysfunction between the lines. Tucker’s abrupt suspension and subsequent firing last September following a sexual harassment claim against him left the program rudderless as it entered the meat of their schedule. In cataclysmic losses to Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, the Spartans were outscored by a combined 126 points.

“Things just got weird,” former running back Harold Joiner III recalled. “Everybody just went in their own direction. …You kind of need that core, that nucleus to hold everything together.”

As soon as he signed on with MSU less than 24 hours after its demoralizing season finale against the Nittany Lions in late November, Smith aimed to reestablish that. The bulk of his staff at Oregon State followed him to East Lansing, where they faced a major rebuild.

The task ahead was daunting. But it wasn’t exactly unfamiliar, as Smith noted. In Corvallis, he inherited a team that went 1-11 the previous fall and endured a midseason coaching change. Over time, he transformed the Beavers into a perennial bowl participant.

“Definitely applied a few things I learned through that experience,” Smith said Monday. “Trying to work to build some trust.”

But he already seems to have made significant progress towards that end. Players who had become fully indoctrinated in Tucker’s program have now invested their faith in Smith’s brand of football. Hansen is excited about operating in Rossi’s multi-front system where his main objective is to attack and penetrate instead of holding the point and occupying multiple blockers. Carter is intrigued by offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren’s wide-zone running game, noting that it has big-play potential and “can really hit anywhere.” Foster, the team’s most prolific pass-catcher last season, is eager to see what he can do in a West Coast system, saying it “definitely favors a lot of wide receivers.”

From his vantage point on the other side of the line of scrimmage, Tatum even seems bullish about the reconstituted offense, believing it has the capability “to score a lot” and also keep the defense off the field. That would be a welcomed change for a porous unit that was taxed throughout Tucker’s tenure.

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“We were put in a lot of bad positions,” Tatum explained.

But he is beginning to believe those days are over. An optimistic smile was affixed to his face as he stood in the gleaming green-and-white atrium of the Tom Izzo Football Building, a state-of-the-art facility that was recently completed. The Spartans’ new digs have served as an ideal setting for their reboot, which Foster said was necessary.

“We just needed somebody new in here just to build a new culture and take the next step and kind of build a better program, for sure,” said Foster, a fifth-year senior.

As Hansen said, “It’s like a whole new book, man. We’re starting from scratch. … We’ve got a whole new offense. We’ve got a whole new scheme on defense. Everything’s different.”

Whether it will all be better is uncertain.

In the coming weeks, Smith and his staff have plenty to ascertain. They must evaluate the personnel and determine how to tailor the systems around the players’ strengths. Right now, Smith only has a rough sketch of what his first team will look like, which helps explain why he has offered few details outside of identifying transfer Aidan Chiles as the expected starter at quarterback.

“I’m excited to dive in with these guys,” he said.

They are just as eager to take the plunge with him.

“Everyone in here wants to win, wants to take this place to the next level,” said Hansen, who is entering his sixth season.

Most of all, they are ready to leave their past behind them and start anew. On Tuesday, that process began in earnest when spring practice kicked off and the page was officially turned.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football players seem to love new vibe within program