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From the highs of the 2021 season to the lows of the past two seasons, wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr. has been through a lot during his time with Michigan State.

He arrived as a true freshman in 2020 and played in all seven games during the shortened season.

Then, Foster experienced an 11-win season in 2021, followed by back-to-back losing seasons in 2022 and 2023. So, why did Foster return for a fifth season in the Green and White, and his first under new head coach Jonathan Smith?

“Just the offense,” he said when asked why he returned to MSU in 2024. “We got (quarterback) Aidan Chiles. I can’t wait to play with him. Just everything around here, coaching staff, our culture around here has been a lot better. Just being able to grow as a player, grow as a man has been great.”

More from Foster:

@Seth Berry spoke to class of 2027 quarterback Trae Taylor about his "Spartan Dawg Con" visit and recent offer from Michigan State.

Taylor already has well over 20 scholarship offers, but the Spartans are standing out to him early on.

"The coaching staff alone, it just has a different type of feel around it," Taylor said. "It’s hard to explain, but definitely more energy, and you could tell that they’re bringing something new to the Big Ten, and I’m excited to see how it works."

More here:

Among the highlights include a non-conference matchup for the women when the team hosts Arkansas (2023 SEC Champs regular season and runner-up in SEC tourney before the Razorbacks advanced to second round of NCAA).

On the men's side of tv broadcast highlights, MSU hosts Michigan on Oct. 22 for the Battle for the Big Bear.

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New NFL kickoff rules: -

1) Onside kicks are illegal before 4th quarter.

2) The team must be losing to kick an onside kick.

3) The team must announce the intention to kick an onside kick ahead of time.

Previewing Michigan State's defensive backfield for the 2024 season.

From Buckeye Scoop: Central Michigan QB Coach Jake Kostner fired days before fall training camp.

“Kostner is a Grand Haven, Michigan, native with deep ties in the state after working four years under former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh as a student-assistant in the Wolverines football program.“

He's also a um grad. Most likely taking the fall for Stalions showing up on the CMU sidelines in E.L.

Good Evening,

Tomorrow morning, Michigan State opens fall camp.

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Video from Smith, Foster and Haladay pressers:

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"LB Cal Haladay isn’t in “College Football 25” because he forgot to opt in before the deadline. He said he hasn’t played the game but is going to try to get added in the next update."

MY TAKE: Cal, tackle well in the real games, and it will work out fine.

(Shout out to Chris Solari for the update)

The MSU section of Big Ten media days was held on July 24th in Indianapolis. Here are five MSU takeaways from what we heard out of Jonathan Smith, Nathan Carter, Jack Velling, and Dillon Tatum.

More by Lucca Mazzie:

Really looking forward to watching our MSU decathlon athlete compete. Really liking the coverage so far. Nothing like the summer games.

Michigan could reportedly receive a one or two-year postseason ban as the NCAA is expected to issue a Notice of Allegations against the Wolverines this week.

Michigan State will host its fourth annual "Spartan Dawg Con" event on July 26 and July 27.

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One of the top offensive lineman in the 2026 class, four-star in-state offensive tackle Gregory Patrick, tells Spartans Illustrated he is back in East Lansing for an unofficial visit today (June 13).

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Patrick, out of Portage Northern High School, is a Rivals250 prospect (No. 222 overall) in the 2026 class. He also ranks as the No. 4 player in the state of Michigan and the No. 24 offensive tackle in the cycle.

He has visited Michigan State's campus many times, both under the previous coaching staff and new coaching staff, and is a priority target for the Spartans' current regime. Patrick is a Spartan legacy, as his dad, Joe Patrick, played guard for Michigan State in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

It's early, but Michigan State remains in a good spot with Patrick.

Here are a few of our recent articles on Patrick from Greg Smith, Seth Berry and myself.

I had a chance to talk to Dillon Tatum during the player podium interviews at last week's Big Ten Media days. It is always a pleasure to talk to these young men. They honestly all do an awesome job. I have a hard time imagining myself as a 20-year old college student having to sit at a table while mid-aged dudes fire questions at them for 30 minutes.

Dillon gave some pretty juicy quotes about some of the things that went wrong last year and how he plans to lead the charge to right the ship. Check out the full article here:

How's everyone's summer going? I seen some of Harn's TikTok's and I ain't even on that app too much. Had to cancel a trip to England because my parents are having some issues and was up in Traverse City for about four weeks. My girlfriend was with me and her momo suddenly got sick so she had to fly home and made it just in time to say goodbye to her mom. Been dealing with a bunch of stuff with my parents including beginnings of dementia and disabilities. Prior to that I was in metro NY for a month and seen a few Mets games just as they got hot. Best record in baseball since June 7. Taking my kid canyoneering and rock climbing in Utah in a few weeks and probably rent a jet ski at Lake Meade on the way up there for 1/2 day.

Michigan State guard Tre Holloman scored 47 points at the Flint City Pro-Am, while former Spartan Dawg Marcus Bingham scored 29, including a crazy put-back dunk.

Tre Hollomon: "Miles [Bridges] put out a flier talking about he was coming back [to Flint], so we pulled up and we showed out!"

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Good piece here by Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports. He highlights new details on a college sports model.

Info on:

“-Scholarship expansion & new roster limits
-$17-22M rev-share cap
-$2.9B~ damages tab
-Deadline: ~40 days
-Implementation no sooner than fall 2025”

Link:

With the dead period briefly lifting and allowing prospects to make late-July visits, class of 2026 four-star athlete David Davis decided to make a trip to East Lansing and check out Michigan State for the program's "Spartan Dawg Con" event, which brings many former players back to campus to connect with recruits, current Spartan players and current Spartan coaches.

Davis was offered by Michigan State back in January, but this was the first trip to MSU for the Imani Christian Academy (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) athlete.

Davis is one of the top overall prospects in the 2026 class, ranking as the No. 6 player in the state of Pennsylvania, No. 15 athlete and No. 197 recruit overall in the Rivals250.

He has many suitors already, but the Spartans had a chance to impress Davis while he was in mid-Michigan.

"The visit was nice," Davis said about Michigan State. "I love their facilities and got to talk to some players and also talked to some coaches."

I wrote this one for the national Rivals site, but put it on our homepage here at Spartans Illustrated as well:

I am currently reading the book "Magic: The Life of Marvin "Magic" Johnson.

Very interesting, covers his early childhood playing basketball in Junior High, at Everett High School, at MSU and The Lakers.

It's a great insight into the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of all his various experiences, to include testing positive for HIV. His relationships with his parents, Cookie, Charles Tucker, Jerry Buss and all the players and coaches he had, were highlighted.

It's a long read - almost 800 pages.

A True Spartan!!!!

What does a successful first year under Jonathan Smith look like in Alan Haller's eyes?

"A product that we can all gravitate towards to."

Haller spoke about expectations, the future of college sports and more at Big Ten Media Days: