The staff did a great job of hosting over 50 of us on the tour. The facilities were top of the line. The best parts were the presentations by the staff in all the areas of the building. Recruit area, Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning with McDonald, Practice facilities, and Video room. The presentation by the three GA's in Offense, Defense and Special Teams was anther highlight.
I found it interesting that the nutrition staff does a sweat analysis of every player several times a season. They are able to measure what nutrients are being expended and match the use with food and supplements to replenish the players. The meals and matching needs and the various game day meals and feeding was also great information.

Since we have a vast range of Spartans who pay attention to this board I was wondering what should Smith do with football traditions and the culture this year? I think that while it is beloved Thunderstruck shouldn’t our walkout song anymore, am I crazy?

Michigan State men's basketball has announced the hiring of Saddi Washington as the new assistant coach.

Doug Wojcik has been elevated to associate head coach and Jon Borovich and Austin Thornton are both now assistant coaches alongside Thomas Kelley.

Article by @Dr. Green and White

Michigan State Athletics was the focal point of Friday’s Detroit Economic Club meeting at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

The speaking program in the concourse of the home of the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Red Wings featured Director of Athletics Alan Haller, women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick, hockey coach Adam Nightingale, volleyball coach Leah Johnson, and men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo.

After the event, Izzo discussed with Spartans Illustrated the new additions to his program including assistant coach Saddi Washington, who was officially hired on Thursday, the two incoming transfers – Frankie Fidler and Szymon Zapala, and more.

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This weekend, Michigan State hosted its first round of official visitors in the 2025 class, with nine prospects arriving in East Lansing. That list included speedy three-star Ohio wide receiver Braylon Collier out of Perkins High School.

The Spartans offered Collier on May 3 and he wasted little time setting up an official visit with Michigan State.

On May 18, Collier announced a top-three of Michigan State, Iowa and Iowa State.

Collier had a great time on his official visit to MSU, and took some time to discuss the trip with Spartans Illustrated.

"I’d say what stuck out to me the most was the real family feel that MSU had," Collier said. "Every college harps on that 'family' and 'brotherhood' (atmosphere), but MSU's got it figured out for sure."

He's not sure on his commitment timeline yet, but as Dylan and I mentioned, we like where Michigan State stands here.

More here:

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/michigan-state-women-s-soccer-announces-2024-season-schedule

Michigan State women's soccer today announced their schedule for the 2024 season. The schedule features a tough non-conference with the Spartans going up against multiple conference champions from last season and two games against new members of the Big Ten Conference.

When Tom Izzo was at the EBYL Tournament in Indianapolis to scout 2025 power forward Niko Bundalo, Saddi Washington was apparently at his side. Izzo has said he wants to look at a handful of candidates, and it is unsure whether this is a foregone conclusion or if Izzo is checking out Washington's evaluation skills.

Washington was also apparently near or at Izzo's side for a basketball tournament in Texas. Believe it or not, although he was not a big man as a player, he has a penchant for working with big men and front court players.

Washington was an Assistant Coach for the University of Michigan, originally hired by John Beilein and retained by Juwan Howard.

Washington is also a native of Lansing, Michigan, and graduated from Lansing Sexton High School in 1994. and was offered by MSU and Jud Heathcote, but he chose to go to Western Michigan.

A two-time MAC All-Academic team (1997, '98) selection, Washington played in 102 games at WMU, finishing with 1,688 career points (16.5 ppg), 413 rebounds (4.0 rpg) and 258 assists (2.5 apg). He made 144 three-pointers and shot 78.0 percent on free throws (394-for-505).

Washington still ranks among Western Michigan's all-time top 10 in seven categories -- points (1,688; 6th), steals (173; 5th), minutes per game (32.7; 2nd), field goals made (575; 5th), field goal attempts (1,323; 5th), free throws made (394; 7th) and free throw attempts (505; 9th).

Washington also had a double major at WMU. Business Management & Marketing

Stay tuned! We will see what happens with this coaching vacancy...

Michigan State defensive back Malcolm Jones has entered the transfer portal.

Jones played in three games in 2022 as a freshman to preserve his redshirt. He played 14 snaps on special teams and made two tackles.

In 2023, he played in eight games and recorded four tackles. Jones played 56 special teams snaps and nine defensive snaps.

Jones was a former three-star recruit by Rivals. He had other offers from Kent State, Liberty, Middle Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Western Kentucky.

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The jury decided on $250,000 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

Lynch sued both his employer, Penn State Health, and the boss who removed him from his Penn State medical roles, Dr. Kevin Black.

Lynch maintained his ouster from his dual football roles had followed repeated clashes with Franklin over medical decisions and treatment plans for injured players after the head coach took over in 2014. Lynch claims he was terminated because he refused to “allow a coach to interfere with his medical treatment and return to play decisions,” referring to Franklin.

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We are 12 Saturdays away from college football kicking off and some preseason power ratings have been released, which always excites me.

These are not the end all, be all, but it does give a good sense of how talented teams are compared to the rest of the country.

In ESPN's Football Power Index, Michigan State is 68th in the country and 17th in the Big Ten with a projected win-loss record of 4.8-7.2. According to the FPI, there is a 36.4% chance Michigan State reaches six wins

In Kelley Ford's ratings, it has Michigan State at 74th in the country and 17th in the Big Ten. Ford has not released projected records yet.

Both of these ratings are predictive and forward-looking. Obviously, the projected win-loss record in the FPI takes into account strength of schedule.

Here is the link for both sets of power ratings:
FPI: https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi
KFord: https://kfordratings.com/power

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Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are up for election to the College Football Hall of Fame for the first time.

2009, Heisman winner Mark Ingram from Alabama, originally from Flint, Michigan, was also on the ballot.

Flozell Adams and Darryl Rogers are also up for nomination.

It includes 77 players, nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 101 players, and 34 coaches from the divisional ranks, including the Championship Subdivision and Divisions II and III.




https://www.espn.com/college-footba...aron-donald-college-football-hall-fame-ballot

This weekend's official visit to Michigan State was a family affair for class of 2025 four-star cornerback and Rivals250 protect LaRue Zamorano III.

The California product brought his mother, Brittani, his father, LaRue II, his grandmother, Yvette, and all four of his siblings (three brothers and one sister) with him to East Lansing. He is the oldest out the five children in the family.

The Centennial High School standout was offered by the Spartans back in January, but his relationship with Michigan State cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin and secondary coach Blue Adams goes back much further than that. He is also beginning to build a good bond with head coach Jonathan Smith and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Joe Rossi.

This was Zamorano's second trip to East Lansing. He also made the trek from California to mid-Michigan for Michigan State's spring game in April. With that said, the official visit gave Zamorano and his family a closer look at what life would be like as a student-athlete at MSU, and the Spartans did not disappoint.

Spartans Illustrated spoke with Zamorano on the phone after his official visit to Michigan State. He recapped the weekend and talked about what is next in his recruitment.

"What stands out to me about Michigan State's program is how they make me feel like a priority there," Zamorano said. "They feel like I can fit there — their football scheme fits me very well and stuff like that. I would say those things are what stands out to me the most."

More here:

Michigan State baseball recently announced their team awards for the 2024 season.

Is Darius Snow still on the team?

Please join us to celebrate the life and legacy of Mike Sadler on July 21, 2024 from 12-3 p.m. Atwater Brewery, local producers of Hey Diddle Diddle, will again host this year's 8th Annual Mike Sadler Legacy Celebration. Click here for tickets!
Each paid ticket includes admission, two free drinks (soda, Hey Diddle Diddle or a 8th year surprise brew), a world-famous Pronto Pup, a Sadler wristband and a souvenir pint glass. Original and new Sadler #3 gear will also be available for purchase. You can meet special Spartan guests, have your picture taken with Sparty, MSU Cheerleaders & Dancers, and Zeke the Wonder Dog! Rock with the Spartan Marching Band, and bid on your favorite silent auction items while you enjoy the festive atmosphere in celebration of Mike Sadler's life and legacy.

This is a fundraiser to support our work with youth in the Grand Rapids and Lansing communities. We're teaching kids how to start building their own meaningful legacies - like Mike did - each day. Our impact to date is more than 6000 students, and our goal is to increase that number by 1000 in the next year. Your ticket purchase will help us reach that goal!

If you can't be in Grand Rapids for this event but would like to contribute to our goal, please consider an online donation at https://www.michaelsadlerfoundation.org/donate

We hope to see you on July 21!! Thank you for remembering Mike Sadler's legacy and for supporting our work in honor of it.

Credible sources say Szymon Zapata, a 6'11-7'0 240-pound portal transfer from Longwood University who played three seasons at Utah State, may be coming to MSU. He is originally from Poland and shot 62.9 percent from the field. He averaged 9.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game at Longwood and was 74-113 from the free-throw line (65.5%). Stay tuned.

Michigan State men's basketball has landed some much-needed transfer portal help, as forward Frankie Fidler announced his commitment to the Spartans on Tuesday.

Fiddler took an official visit to MSU during the weekend of April 12, and he ultimately decided that East Lansing is where he wants to call his new home.

The University of Nebraska Omaha transfer wing averaged 20.1 points per game, 6.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game as a junior during the 2023-2024 season. He started all 33 games for the Mavericks, and shot 45.2% overall from the field, 35.6% from 3-point distance and 85.4% from the free-throw line.

More here:

Class of 2025 high-three-star athlete Bradley Gompers and his parents made the trip from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to East Lansing, Michigan this weekend for an official visit with Michigan State.

Gompers, who currently attends Central Catholic High School, was offered by MSU back in January and is being recruited by the Spartans as a linebacker. However, other schools are recruiting him as a tight end and he has a decision to make about which side of the ball he wants to play at the college level.

This was the second time Gompers was able to visit Michigan State. He also took a trip to East Lansing during the spring to watch the Spartans participate in a spring practice.

Following the official visit, Gompers spoke to Spartans Illustrated on the phone to recap the trip and provide an update on what is next in his recruiting process.

Throughout his recruitment, Gompers has built a strong relationship with Michigan State defensive coordinators and linebackers coach Joe Rossi. He's also gotten to know head coach Jonathan Smith and likes where the program is headed under the new regime.

"I really like Coach Rossi, he's been great throughout this whole process," Gompers said. "Out of all the coaches I've met, he's up there at the top of the board as one of the best and one of my favorite coaches I've gotten to know through this process. So, he's been great, and Coach Smith is great as well."

More here:

Spartan Dog con just got announced, what will it be like now? I can’t imagine it will be the same flashy thing as what Mel did

Rivals' @Greg Smith was in Detroit with @Ryan OBleness and I earlier this week for the National College Showcase event.

He had some Michigan State content in his latest recruiting rumor mill featuring Jayden Savoury, Corey Sadler and more.

Check it out:

I see volleyball added what looks like an excellent outside hitter from the SEC with 3 years eligibility. My question is, what are the scholarship limits for volleyball. I count 14 returnees, 4 new freshman, and 3 transfers. I don't know who is on scholarship, NIL status , or if any have left since the spring season. Any one know anything. No matter what, it sure looks like the roster has been upgraded.

Ryan and I are at Wayne State for the National College Showcase.

There are a ton of staffs here from several Big Ten, MAC, D2, D3, etc. programs including Michigan State.

The media caught up with Jonathan Smith at Wayne State earlier today

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