EAST LANSING — One of Brian Wozniak’s first memories of Spartan Stadium came from the sidelines during one of the most iconic plays in Michigan State football history.
A night game Oct. 22, 2011. The play call: “Rocket,” a Hail Mary from Kirk Cousins to Keith Nichol off a ricochet and stretch as time expired for the game-winning touchdown.
The result: A 37-31 Spartan victory. And anguish for the young tight end standing on the stunned and defeated Wisconsin sideline.
“The battles against Michigan State I’ve tried to forget,” Wozniak recalled Thursday, “just because they’re so painful.”
Now nearly 13 years later, Wozniak has traded the Badger red and white for a green Gruff Sparty hat and MSU hoodie. And his missions are to get the Spartans’ tight ends back to making big plays as a position coach and reestablish connections to his home state Ohio as recruiting coordinator and one of Jonathan Smith’s assistant coaches with Midwest ties.
New Michigan State football tight ends coach Brian Wozniak played collegiately at Wisconsin and was coaching at Oregon State since 2015 before he followed new Spartans head coach Jonathan Smith to East Lansing.
“For me, it’s just every day, you come in with a smile because because you kind of back in these roots,” said Wozniak, a native of Loveland, Ohio, a bit northeast of Cincinnati. “My family’s coming up this weekend, we got another set of family coming up next weekend. We just we didn’t get that luxury when we were out west.”
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Over the past few years, the Spartans’ efforts in Ohio have dwindled.
Of the 54 high school players signed by former MSU coach Mel Tucker — a Cleveland native — in his first three recruiting classes in 2021, 2022 and 2023, just two were from Ohio…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-state-footballs-want-win-101206760.html
Author : Detroit Free Press
Publish date : 2024-04-15 10:12:06
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