Michigan State football: Vets keep expectations high despite new coach, roster turnover

EAST LANSING — Entering the fifth and final year of their Michigan State football careers, Montorie Foster and Cal Haladay already have been through three preseason camps, two coaching changes and just one winning season.

Returning the Spartans to glory — or at least a bowl game — is one of the biggest missions for the veterans before they leave campus.

“We do have a high expectation to win every game this year,” Foster said Tuesday after the first practice of preseason camp. “The expectation is that (for) every year, so it’s not like it’s a difference from year to year. It’s kind of how you go about your day-to-day grind and how you put in the work every day to get those wins, to make big plays on the field. … The expectation is there. We’re trying to win this year. So that’s what it is.”

Michigan State’s Cal Haladay runs a drill during the first day of football camp on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in East Lansing.

FOR OPENERS: Michigan State football opens camp with new coach, fresh perspective and plenty of changes

Amid the turmoil of Mel Tucker’s firing last season, MSU went 4-8 and missed a bowl game for the third time in four years. Tucker’s lone winning season, an 11-2 campaign with a top-10 finish and Peach Bowl win in 2021, is the only reasons the Spartans are 24-22 since Mark Dantonio’s retirement after the 2019 season. The program has gone 51-46 with four losing seasons since making the College Football Playoff in the 2015 season, which featured the last of three Big Ten titles under Dantonio. MSU is 31-39 in conference play over the eight seasons since making the second four-team CFP, finishing above .500 against league foes just three times.

But the 2023 season and Tucker’s unraveling, which led to his dismissal and the eventual hiring of new coach Jonathan Smith in November, has left even…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-state-football-vets-keep-100716424.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-08-01 10:07:16

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