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00:00 I am truly honored to be here at Big Ten Media Football Days representing the broadcast team
00:06 at CBS.
00:07 Now, I have had my fair share of experiences around Big Ten country, hosting a show on
00:13 Big Ten Network called Campus Eats for four seasons.
00:16 So I told all of our guys that I got the reservations taken care of.
00:20 I cannot wait and I look forward to experiencing some of these great college campuses this
00:24 fall.
00:26 Our next speaker at the podium is Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker.
00:30 He's entering his fourth season at the helm at East Lansing.
00:33 Now the Spartans, they begin their season on Labor Day Friday and are returning four
00:38 all-conference performers from just a season ago.
00:42 Coach?
00:43 Thanks everyone for being here today.
01:09 It's great to see everyone again as we begin the season.
01:12 We have a hungry, determined, and very, very focused football team heading into preseason
01:17 camp.
01:19 Our players have worked extremely hard in this out-of-season and are very, very well
01:23 prepared to start camp next week.
01:27 We have competition at every single position and probably no doubt the most talent that
01:35 we've had top to bottom on our roster.
01:38 We needed more quality depth on our roster and we addressed that this out-of-season.
01:43 I believe competition forces you to be at your best each and every day and that's how
01:48 we'll reach our full potential.
01:51 I believe we have more team chemistry going into the season, which is very important.
01:55 We've done more team building activities and events than we've ever done and it's really
02:02 brought our team close together.
02:05 Not just the players, but the coaches and the support staff as well.
02:09 Last season was a tremendous learning experience for us.
02:14 Not just for the players, but for the coaches and the support staff.
02:20 Again, we're really, really hungry and excited to get going.
02:24 I know one thing about this group of players, this group of coaches, we're going to roll
02:29 our sleeves up and come to work every single day with a relentless mindset.
02:35 We have three core values at Michigan State.
02:37 Three core values.
02:38 Tough, disciplined, and selfless.
02:41 That's what we're all about.
02:44 With that, I'm excited to get going next week and I'll open up for questions.
02:48 Yes?
02:49 Where are we?
02:52 We'll start down here in front.
02:57 Okay.
02:58 Jim, my man.
03:01 Thank you.
03:04 Jim Comperoni, SpartanMac.com.
03:06 Just talking about players, first of all, Noah Kim.
03:09 What do you see about him that leads you to believe that he's ready to compete for a starting
03:13 quarterback job at this point?
03:15 What do you like about him as a player?
03:17 Yeah, Jim.
03:18 Noah is a tremendously talented young man.
03:20 He's a winner.
03:22 He's got a lot of arm talent.
03:25 He's very poised.
03:26 He's very athletic.
03:27 He's one of the fastest players on our team.
03:29 He's in the top 20 fastest players on our team.
03:32 He's got some experience.
03:34 When he went in games last season, as you remember, he made it look easy.
03:38 He's just got the demeanor that we're looking for.
03:39 He's a guy that knows our offense and he's going to do what we ask him to do.
03:43 He's going to execute.
03:44 Hands up, please.
03:45 We'll go down over here.
03:46 Hi, Coach.
03:47 Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune.
03:48 Hey, Phil.
03:49 Hi.
03:50 Given what's happened at Northwestern with the hazing allegations, has that motivated
04:04 you to take a deeper look at the culture within your own program?
04:10 What conversations have you had with the university administration and the conference about hazing?
04:17 Our culture is very strong.
04:18 Our culture starts with connection and authentic relationships and mutual respect.
04:23 We have that.
04:25 We do have an anti-hazing policy at the university and on our football team.
04:30 Our players know that.
04:31 I've talked to our athletics director, Alan Howler.
04:35 That's going to be one of the topics that we're going to cover when we report to camp
04:40 next Wednesday.
04:45 Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press.
04:47 You mentioned about the lessons that you and your staff learn.
04:53 I'm wondering if you can expand on that a little bit.
04:57 What things do you feel like, as a coaching staff, you picked up that you can do better
05:01 or differently in year four than year three?
05:05 Yeah, well, football is a game of attrition and injuries are part of the game.
05:12 We had to modify the way we practice.
05:15 We wanted to make sure we can get our players to the games.
05:22 We changed the way we did some things in spring ball, which was very effective.
05:26 How we hit, when we hit, how often we hit.
05:29 We did a much better job of staying up and staying off the ground.
05:33 The studies that we did with our team in the out of season showed that when players are
05:38 on the ground in practice, that's when they get hurt the most.
05:42 We just modified the way we did some things in spring ball, which really helped us be
05:49 more productive, keep guys more healthy, staying on the field, getting better.
05:53 We're going to carry that in the fall camp.
05:55 I think that's going to be a huge benefit for us moving forward.
05:59 Hey Mel, Andy Wittry with Fallen 3.
06:04 When Matt Ishby approached the Phoenix Suns, he said he was going to step away from some
06:07 of those NIL deals due to a conflict of interest.
06:10 How does a school and a donor base try to step up when a billionaire has to step away
06:14 from NIL deals?
06:15 We have tremendous support at Michigan State with our donors, our supporters.
06:20 We're strong in the NIL space and we're going to continue to be strong.
06:25 We have a lot of our supporters, our donors that are willing to step up and help our young
06:31 men.
06:32 That's not going to be an issue for us.
06:35 Next question.
06:37 Can you get your hands up high please?
06:40 Yep, right over here.
06:41 Tim May, Letterman Rove.
06:42 Mel, do you feel like Deion Sanders kind of took your template for turning a team around
06:49 and ran with it?
06:51 And what are the pluses and minuses of the transfer portal and going heavily into it?
06:56 Yeah, Tim, it's good to see you again.
06:59 Always good to see you.
07:00 Yeah, you know, Pram has done a great job so far.
07:03 I'm pulling for him and the buffs to get that thing going again.
07:10 And you know, he's got his own process that he's following, obviously, and I think he's
07:16 going to be wildly successful there.
07:19 The portal has been a benefit for us.
07:24 We've used it to help upgrade our roster.
07:28 We can feel some needs immediately.
07:31 Some of the downside is that we all know there's hundreds, if not thousands of players that
07:37 have entered the portal and haven't found a home.
07:40 And that's disturbing.
07:41 But for us, the portal is here and we're going to use it to benefit our program any way that
07:48 we can.
07:49 Over here, please, in the back.
07:55 Yeah, Mel, Tom Crawford, Press Pass Fox 47.
08:01 Relinquishing the Penn State home game to Ford Field.
08:05 I know talking to Michigan State alumni, there's some pro and con to that.
08:09 Is this something that you think every time Penn State comes to Michigan State, this would
08:14 be a good option?
08:15 And what are the pluses and minuses of that, giving up an actual home game at Spartan Stadium?
08:19 Yeah, well, this season is going to be a tremendous opportunity for our players, great exposure
08:23 for our program, a national audience and a pro football arena, which I think is going
08:30 to be great for our team.
08:31 It's going to be a great game.
08:33 We're in the Detroit area where we recruit.
08:37 We have a lot of fans there.
08:39 So I think that it's a great opportunity.
08:42 We'll see how it goes, but I'm looking forward to it.
08:49 One more question, sorry, in the back over here.
08:56 You can get your hands up early and we can get the mic to you so we don't have a lag.
09:01 Morning, Coach.
09:02 Paul Fentzen from Spartans Illustrated.
09:03 You mentioned in your opening statement that you and your team went through some team building
09:08 exercises in the offseason.
09:09 Could you expand upon some of those activities and how you think that'll impact the season
09:13 this fall?
09:14 Yeah, just whether they're dinners or dodgeball tournaments or kickball games or going to
09:24 movies and things, just activities, just getting our guys together along with the staff, getting
09:30 to know each other.
09:31 And especially when you have so many newcomers every year, whether it's the freshmen or transfer
09:35 guys, it's important that we connect.
09:38 Want the players to get to know each other outside of football, which is very important.
09:44 We organize more of those activities than we've ever done.
09:49 And in addition to that, the players have done things on their own, which is even more
09:54 significant I think.
09:55 And we've also brought in, we use an outside firm, firms that come in and work with our
10:00 players on team building and leadership and team cohesiveness.
10:03 And so with all those things, I feel like our team is closer than we've ever been.
10:09 Yeah, thanks.
10:10 Chairman.
10:11 Good morning, Coach.
10:12 Morning.
10:13 LA Clough, Iowa.Rivals.com.
10:16 Your first away game for the season is in Iowa City at Kinnick Stadium.
10:20 That's also Iowa's first home Big Ten game for the season.
10:24 With new faces on the roster, how do you prepare them for that sort of environment?
10:28 Yeah, well that's the tough place to play.
10:30 We all know that.
10:31 Even when I played for Coach Alvarez at Wisconsin, you always knew you had to strap it up when
10:35 you went there.
10:36 But that game's a ways away.
10:39 And right now we're focused on camp.
10:41 We start up on Wednesday and we're going to take it one game at a time.
10:44 But our guys will be prepared and they're going to play hard.
10:48 We have time for one final question if we have one.
10:54 Down in front over here.
11:00 Jim's double dipping.
11:05 Thanks for your time.
11:06 Just one more question about the team as a whole.
11:08 The defense, what leads you to believe that the defense is ready to take a step and improve
11:12 over the past two years?
11:13 I know injuries were a big part last year, but what did you see this spring and offseason
11:17 about the defense?
11:18 Jim Comforty, Spartanbac.com.
11:19 Thanks.
11:20 Yeah, thanks Jim.
11:21 We're a lot healthier now.
11:23 And we're at full strength.
11:25 We really addressed some issues with our front seven.
11:29 We needed to get bigger.
11:32 We've added three, six, five, 300 plus defensive tackles that have all played major college
11:39 football.
11:40 We added four defensive ends, three of them with four stars and one Tamisha Adelaide,
11:46 a transfer from Texas A&M who walked in the door at 280.
11:50 And then Aaron Brule decided to come back.
11:53 Jacoby Winmont decided to come back for another year along with Cal Holliday.
11:57 And then Jordan Hall you saw in the spring had a really good spring.
12:01 Ma Otayote is still there.
12:02 So I think our front seven is more stout, which is going to help us stop the run and
12:08 make things more one dimensional.
12:09 It's going to help us in the back end.
12:12 All right.
12:13 Thank you, coach.
12:14 Thank you so much.
12:15 Go green.
12:15 Go away.