Spring Football: Deep dive on Els and special teams
Jim Comparoni • SpartanMag
Publisher
@JimComparoni
Fans are wondering whether there will be a football season in the fall, but Michigan State coaches are doing what football coaches are trained to do - coach like there IS a tomorrow.
SpartanMag’s continuing series on Michigan State football for the spring of 2020:
EAST LANSING - It’s probably easy for a casual Spartan football fans to overlook one guy when counting up the number of coaches on the Michigan State coaching staff with defensive coordinator experience.
We know about Mike Tressel and Harlon Barnett. They’ve been the d-coordinator or co-coordinators at Michigan State in recent years.
Scottie Hazelton is the new defensive coordinator, coming to Michigan State from Kansas State. And of course, head coach Mel Tucker was defensive coordinator at Georgia (2016-18), at three stops in the NFL (Bears, Jaquars, Browns) and was co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State (2004).
Don’t overlook the fact that new Michigan State linebackers coach Ross Els served as defensive coordinator at Purdue for one year in 2016 under Darrell Hazell. Purdue went 3-9 that year, and Hazell was fired after four unsuccessful years. But Els’ experience as a Big Ten defensive coordinator, combined with four years as an assistant at Nebraska, helps beef up the Spartan defensive staff. He’s been a respected assistant in the Big Ten before.
“I just know what the Big Ten delivers - physical, smart football,” Els said. “That’s what we play in this league and I’m glad to be back in it. I really am.”
Els also has head coaching experience, with tremendous success. At the age of 32 in 1997, after assistant stints at Northern Iowa and Nebraska-Omaha, he became head coach of Hastings College in Hastings, Neb.
Els went 32-9 in four years at Hastings, including 10-1 and 11-1 seasons in 1998 and ’99, helping Hastings advance to the NAIA Playoffs.
SpartanMag asked Els if he ever had an itch to get back into head coaching.
“Gawd no,” he said. “Do you know what these guys go through all day long? They’re putting out fires all day long. I want to coach ball, you know?”
But seriously.
“It’ll happen again, I think,” he said. “But I’m really, really happy with where I am right now, to be able to work with a guy like Mel and Scottie Hazelton. Scottie’s been phenomenal. Scottie’s an incredible defensive coordinator and has had a lot of success, and he leaves a lot of things open as to, ‘How do you guys want to do this? How do you want to do that?’
“I’m in such a good position right now that I’m not looking to go back to that head coaching gig right now. I would rather coach football and recruit than deal with administrators and the like. I almost said media, but I didn’t.”
NEW SPECIAL TEAMS DIRECTION
Ross Els has been special teams coordinator at Nebraska and Colorado, and defensive coordinator at Purdue.
Els’ coordinator experience includes being special teams coordinator at Nebraska under Bo Pelini from 2012-14, and last year at Colorado. He now holds the special teams coordinator tag at Michigan State.
Els indicated that special teams coaching will be delegated throughout the staff, as has been the case at Michigan State in recent years, and is commonplace throughout college football.
“I’m not ready to say who’s going to do what unit,” Els said. “We are getting through the introductory phase with our players right now. The coaches have bought in. They have been great in meetings.”
Tressel oversaw special teams throughout the Dantonio era.
“This is a veteran staff and they’re all excited about (special) teams,” Els said. “(There’s) a lot of advice because a lot of guys have done a lot of special teams. As far as divvying up responsibilities, we will be doing that.”
Els will have access to the full roster for special teams roles.
“One of the great things about working for a guy like Mel Tucker is he understands the importance of special teams and working with him for the year I did at Colorado, he never said, ‘Don’t use this guy,’” Els said. “Now we’re going to use common sense on offense, defense and special teams to make sure they’re not over-played but that doesn’t mean that special teams will take the back seat.
“Everybody’s going to be available. We get the best that are available. We made that very clear to the team, both the head coach and myself. It gives them an opportunity to continue to do some of the skills that they do at their position. If they are a wide receiver that blocks, they are going to block on kickoff return. If they are a running back that runs, they are going to run the football. It also helps their resumé because everybody in the NFL if you’re a skill position are going to play on special teams.”
Five starting defensive players played on the punt coverage team in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl: Safety Xavier Henderson, linebacker Noah Harvey, linebacker Antjuan Simmons, linebacker Tyriq Thompson and safety David Dowell.
Thompson and Dowell have graduated.
Henderson, Harvey and Simmons will be back in 2020, as will sophomore long snapper Jude Pedrozo.
“As far as the personnel that we have right now, I’m excited because whenever you have good defense you usually have good special teams,” Els said. “Michigan State is known for their good defense so we should be able to be good in the special team area.”
INSIDE THE ROSTER
Davion Williams was a fixture on special teams in 2019, and is due to make a run at regular playing time on defense in 2020.
Davion Williams and Dominique Long were the gunners for the punt coverage team last year and will be back in 2020, each with a chance to compete for a starting job at cornerback on the defense.
Long, Williams and other reserve defensive players such as Chase Kline, Marcel Lewis and Jack Mandryk played on the kickoff coverage team in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.
Linebacker Jeslord Boateng and defensive end Drew Beesley played on the punt coverage team last year.
Kline, Mandryk, tight end Trenton Gillison, tight end Parks Gissinger, wide receiver Jahz Watts and back-up punter Tyler Hunt played on the kickoff return team, with Jalen Nailor as the deep return man.
Nailor is likely a leading candidate to be a return specialist in 2020. He played in only four games last year - the first two and last two of the season. Michigan State was 4-0 in games in which Nailor played.
Nailor returned two punts in the season opener against Tulsa for a total of 17 yards. He returned two kickoffs, including a 28-yarder, but then was lost until mid-November.
INSIDE MSU’s RETURN STATS
Michigan State ranked No. 10 in the Big Ten in kickoff return average and ninth in punt return average at 5.4 yards per. Interestingly, Ohio State was 10th, Cinderella story Minnesota was last at 1.3 on only seven punt return attempts on the year).
Iowa was No. 1 in punt return average at 9.1, but the Hawkeyes have been known over the years for selling out to set-up for returns, occasionally becoming susceptible to fakes.
Michigan ranked second in punt return average at 8.9 and easily had the most return attempts (26) and return yardage (232). No other Big Ten team had more than 140 yards on punt returns.
Michigan has been successfully aggressive in its punt return game in recent years. Michigan State has tried to make Michigan pay by faking punts against the Wolverines, often with good results. But Michigan almost always comes out ahead in the punt exchange game against its opponents.
Michigan State was conservative in the return game for most of the Mark Dantonio era. Michigan State didn’t have a kickoff return of more than 31 yards in 2019. After Nailor was lost to injury, Michigan State customarily called for fair catches on kickoff returns. Darrell Stewart led the team in kickoff return attempts with just eight.
Losing Nailor to a lower body injury after the first game of the 2019 season probably had something to do with Michigan State buckling things down in the return game.
In the punt return game, Michigan State often played “punt safe” when the opponent faced four down. Michigan State put high priority on getting the ball back. That meant avoiding a roughing the punter penalty, and not leaving themselves susceptible to a fake.
Even when Wake Forest was in fourth-and-eight midway through the first half, Michigan State played it safe. Michigan State kept 10 defensive regulars on the field. They played at a careful depth and made sure a punt was attempted, rather than sending athletes to go for a block, or retreating to set up for a return. Deep man Brandon Sowards didn’t have much room for a return. But Michigan State got the ball back.
However, Spartan punt returners in recent years have struggled at fielding punts on the fly, resulting in negative hidden yardage after the ball hits the ground and rolls.
With Els, MSU’s special teams philosophy might change from week to week, rather than a season-long mode of operation.
“As far as a general philosophy, (we are) no different than anyone else - we want to run and hit,” Els said. “We want to be aggressive as we possibly can. We are not a passive special teams unit. There aren’t many like that, but there are some. We want to keep attacking.”
But some of that philosophy includes at least a portion of the Tressel/Dantonio mindset.
“The most important thing about a punt return is getting the ball back to the offense and not creating something stupid,” Els said. “When I hear that some program is great at punt returns and all that, or they block all these punts, but they also had three roughing-the-punter penalties. I’m not saying one philosophy is better than the other.”
ANY HAPPY RETURNS?
When healthy, Jalen Nailor was a dangerous return man in 2019.
During a teleconference last week, Els was asked twice about MSU’s inability to generate touchdowns in the return game. R.J. Shelton’s game-opening 90-yard kickoff return against Penn State in 2014 marks the last time a Spartan returned a kickoff for a TD. Shelton’s TD was the first since Keshawn Martin did it against Minnesota in 2009.
Is that drought a big deal? Consider this: There were only five kickoffs returned for touchdowns in conference games in the entire Big Ten last year, two by Maryland.
There were no punt returns for touchdowns in Big Ten conference games last year.
“I’m hearing some negativity toward Michigan State and I have not watched any of their film so I do not know what they have done well or what they haven’t,” Els said. “That’s not my job.
“I can tell you this, though, without telling you exactly how we’re going to do things is: We will be aggressive. We will be aggressive in return game, we will be aggressive in coverage games. What you decide to do, to me, is dictated by the opponent. If they are a bad protection team, we’ll come after them. If they are a bad coverage team, we probably won’t. If they’re very sound, we’ll mix it up.
“Our kids will have the opportunity to do both - set up returns, go after punts. It just depends on what the opponent gives us, and how good are we at holding people up? How good are we at returning? How good are we at bursting off the line of scrimmage? How good are we at blocking punts? So it’s going to be awhile before I know the answers of us, and then we can go to the opponent and find out what they do poorly.”
* Michigan State was No. 12 in the Big Ten in net punting average in 2019 (36.0). Michigan State was last in punt return average allowed at 3.6 per punt.
* Michigan State was No. 10 in kickoff coverage, allowing a net average of 38.3 yards per return. Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin were the best in the big Ten. Maryland, Rutgers an Nebraska were the worst.
* Kicker Matt Coghlin wasn’t in top form in 2019. He was 22-of-32, for just 68.8 percent, ranking No. 10 in the Big Ten in field goal percentage. However, his 22 successful kicks are tied for second most in single-season school history.
Coghlin bounced back from a mid-season slump to hit four field goals in a 19-16 victory over Maryland, including the game-winning 33-yarder with 2:10 to play. He has three game-winning field goals in his career (including 2017 against Penn State and 2019 against Indiana). However, he missed three field goals in a disturbing 10-7 loss to Arizona State.
“I’m assuming Matt will come back and be ready to do a great job with our kicking,” Els said. “Matt had a great year two years ago and this year, at least on paper, not as good. But we have a lot of confidence in Matt. He’s going to line up there, and he’s going to win some games for us. Games in this league are going to come down to the wire.
“He’s a leader in that room, too. That’s what I like about Matt. When I first met him, he said, ‘Coach, put this room on my shoulders. I’ll take care of these guys and get these guys ready to go.’ So we’re excited with Matt’s future.
“We do have some specialist positions to fill. That’s one of my biggest concerns right now. I don’t know who our punt returner is going to be, I don’t know who our punter is going to be.”
With Jake Hartbarger having graduated, Australian Jack Bouwmeester was in line to take the job as a redshirt freshman in 2020. But he abruptly left school during spring semester. Michigan State expects to activate Match Crawford, a graduated transfer from UTEP. Because that transfer is not yet official, Michigan State coaches aren’t able to comment on him.
“(I) don’t know who’s going to be the guy lining up there (at punter),” Els said. “(I’ve) never seen a punt (here). I don’t know that Jack (Bouwmeester) would have been the guy. I have no idea. I guarantee you this: If we have to punt, we will have somebody back there who can kick the ball. I just don’t know who it is yet.”
Kickoff specialists Evan Morris and Cole Hahn will be back. Morris played in two games and had five touchbacks on 11 kickoffs. However, he didn’t see action after the Arizona State game. Hahn kicked for the rest of the year and had nine touchbacks in 52 kickoffs.
More SpartanMag Spring Football Coverage:
* Els keeping some things quiet at LB
* Gilmore ramping up the tight ends.
* Hawkins bullish on young, hungry wide receiver group
* Coach Kap sees potential in o-line he is inheriting
* Coaching at Michigan State gives Hawkins goosebumps
* Antjuan Simmons moving it forward, keeping it normal
* Barnett officially moves to CB; shake-up taking place at punter
* Spartans add former UTEP punter as grad transfer
* Tucker optimistic during Detroit TV appearance
* Allen getting after it with coaching from big brother
* New staff inheriting a good leader in Antjuan Simmons
* What we learned about o-coordinator Jay Johnson
* Tucker drawing on NFL experience during practice stoppage
* For Hazelton, ’It’s all ball’
* New o-coordinator Jay Johnson ‘looking for a CEO’ at QB
Jim Comparoni • SpartanMag
Publisher
@JimComparoni
Fans are wondering whether there will be a football season in the fall, but Michigan State coaches are doing what football coaches are trained to do - coach like there IS a tomorrow.
SpartanMag’s continuing series on Michigan State football for the spring of 2020:
EAST LANSING - It’s probably easy for a casual Spartan football fans to overlook one guy when counting up the number of coaches on the Michigan State coaching staff with defensive coordinator experience.
We know about Mike Tressel and Harlon Barnett. They’ve been the d-coordinator or co-coordinators at Michigan State in recent years.
Scottie Hazelton is the new defensive coordinator, coming to Michigan State from Kansas State. And of course, head coach Mel Tucker was defensive coordinator at Georgia (2016-18), at three stops in the NFL (Bears, Jaquars, Browns) and was co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State (2004).
Don’t overlook the fact that new Michigan State linebackers coach Ross Els served as defensive coordinator at Purdue for one year in 2016 under Darrell Hazell. Purdue went 3-9 that year, and Hazell was fired after four unsuccessful years. But Els’ experience as a Big Ten defensive coordinator, combined with four years as an assistant at Nebraska, helps beef up the Spartan defensive staff. He’s been a respected assistant in the Big Ten before.
“I just know what the Big Ten delivers - physical, smart football,” Els said. “That’s what we play in this league and I’m glad to be back in it. I really am.”
Els also has head coaching experience, with tremendous success. At the age of 32 in 1997, after assistant stints at Northern Iowa and Nebraska-Omaha, he became head coach of Hastings College in Hastings, Neb.
Els went 32-9 in four years at Hastings, including 10-1 and 11-1 seasons in 1998 and ’99, helping Hastings advance to the NAIA Playoffs.
SpartanMag asked Els if he ever had an itch to get back into head coaching.
“Gawd no,” he said. “Do you know what these guys go through all day long? They’re putting out fires all day long. I want to coach ball, you know?”
But seriously.
“It’ll happen again, I think,” he said. “But I’m really, really happy with where I am right now, to be able to work with a guy like Mel and Scottie Hazelton. Scottie’s been phenomenal. Scottie’s an incredible defensive coordinator and has had a lot of success, and he leaves a lot of things open as to, ‘How do you guys want to do this? How do you want to do that?’
“I’m in such a good position right now that I’m not looking to go back to that head coaching gig right now. I would rather coach football and recruit than deal with administrators and the like. I almost said media, but I didn’t.”
NEW SPECIAL TEAMS DIRECTION
Ross Els has been special teams coordinator at Nebraska and Colorado, and defensive coordinator at Purdue.
Els’ coordinator experience includes being special teams coordinator at Nebraska under Bo Pelini from 2012-14, and last year at Colorado. He now holds the special teams coordinator tag at Michigan State.
Els indicated that special teams coaching will be delegated throughout the staff, as has been the case at Michigan State in recent years, and is commonplace throughout college football.
“I’m not ready to say who’s going to do what unit,” Els said. “We are getting through the introductory phase with our players right now. The coaches have bought in. They have been great in meetings.”
Tressel oversaw special teams throughout the Dantonio era.
“This is a veteran staff and they’re all excited about (special) teams,” Els said. “(There’s) a lot of advice because a lot of guys have done a lot of special teams. As far as divvying up responsibilities, we will be doing that.”
Els will have access to the full roster for special teams roles.
“One of the great things about working for a guy like Mel Tucker is he understands the importance of special teams and working with him for the year I did at Colorado, he never said, ‘Don’t use this guy,’” Els said. “Now we’re going to use common sense on offense, defense and special teams to make sure they’re not over-played but that doesn’t mean that special teams will take the back seat.
“Everybody’s going to be available. We get the best that are available. We made that very clear to the team, both the head coach and myself. It gives them an opportunity to continue to do some of the skills that they do at their position. If they are a wide receiver that blocks, they are going to block on kickoff return. If they are a running back that runs, they are going to run the football. It also helps their resumé because everybody in the NFL if you’re a skill position are going to play on special teams.”
Five starting defensive players played on the punt coverage team in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl: Safety Xavier Henderson, linebacker Noah Harvey, linebacker Antjuan Simmons, linebacker Tyriq Thompson and safety David Dowell.
Thompson and Dowell have graduated.
Henderson, Harvey and Simmons will be back in 2020, as will sophomore long snapper Jude Pedrozo.
“As far as the personnel that we have right now, I’m excited because whenever you have good defense you usually have good special teams,” Els said. “Michigan State is known for their good defense so we should be able to be good in the special team area.”
INSIDE THE ROSTER
Davion Williams was a fixture on special teams in 2019, and is due to make a run at regular playing time on defense in 2020.
Davion Williams and Dominique Long were the gunners for the punt coverage team last year and will be back in 2020, each with a chance to compete for a starting job at cornerback on the defense.
Long, Williams and other reserve defensive players such as Chase Kline, Marcel Lewis and Jack Mandryk played on the kickoff coverage team in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.
Linebacker Jeslord Boateng and defensive end Drew Beesley played on the punt coverage team last year.
Kline, Mandryk, tight end Trenton Gillison, tight end Parks Gissinger, wide receiver Jahz Watts and back-up punter Tyler Hunt played on the kickoff return team, with Jalen Nailor as the deep return man.
Nailor is likely a leading candidate to be a return specialist in 2020. He played in only four games last year - the first two and last two of the season. Michigan State was 4-0 in games in which Nailor played.
Nailor returned two punts in the season opener against Tulsa for a total of 17 yards. He returned two kickoffs, including a 28-yarder, but then was lost until mid-November.
INSIDE MSU’s RETURN STATS
Michigan State ranked No. 10 in the Big Ten in kickoff return average and ninth in punt return average at 5.4 yards per. Interestingly, Ohio State was 10th, Cinderella story Minnesota was last at 1.3 on only seven punt return attempts on the year).
Iowa was No. 1 in punt return average at 9.1, but the Hawkeyes have been known over the years for selling out to set-up for returns, occasionally becoming susceptible to fakes.
Michigan ranked second in punt return average at 8.9 and easily had the most return attempts (26) and return yardage (232). No other Big Ten team had more than 140 yards on punt returns.
Michigan has been successfully aggressive in its punt return game in recent years. Michigan State has tried to make Michigan pay by faking punts against the Wolverines, often with good results. But Michigan almost always comes out ahead in the punt exchange game against its opponents.
Michigan State was conservative in the return game for most of the Mark Dantonio era. Michigan State didn’t have a kickoff return of more than 31 yards in 2019. After Nailor was lost to injury, Michigan State customarily called for fair catches on kickoff returns. Darrell Stewart led the team in kickoff return attempts with just eight.
Losing Nailor to a lower body injury after the first game of the 2019 season probably had something to do with Michigan State buckling things down in the return game.
In the punt return game, Michigan State often played “punt safe” when the opponent faced four down. Michigan State put high priority on getting the ball back. That meant avoiding a roughing the punter penalty, and not leaving themselves susceptible to a fake.
Even when Wake Forest was in fourth-and-eight midway through the first half, Michigan State played it safe. Michigan State kept 10 defensive regulars on the field. They played at a careful depth and made sure a punt was attempted, rather than sending athletes to go for a block, or retreating to set up for a return. Deep man Brandon Sowards didn’t have much room for a return. But Michigan State got the ball back.
However, Spartan punt returners in recent years have struggled at fielding punts on the fly, resulting in negative hidden yardage after the ball hits the ground and rolls.
With Els, MSU’s special teams philosophy might change from week to week, rather than a season-long mode of operation.
“As far as a general philosophy, (we are) no different than anyone else - we want to run and hit,” Els said. “We want to be aggressive as we possibly can. We are not a passive special teams unit. There aren’t many like that, but there are some. We want to keep attacking.”
But some of that philosophy includes at least a portion of the Tressel/Dantonio mindset.
“The most important thing about a punt return is getting the ball back to the offense and not creating something stupid,” Els said. “When I hear that some program is great at punt returns and all that, or they block all these punts, but they also had three roughing-the-punter penalties. I’m not saying one philosophy is better than the other.”
ANY HAPPY RETURNS?
When healthy, Jalen Nailor was a dangerous return man in 2019.
During a teleconference last week, Els was asked twice about MSU’s inability to generate touchdowns in the return game. R.J. Shelton’s game-opening 90-yard kickoff return against Penn State in 2014 marks the last time a Spartan returned a kickoff for a TD. Shelton’s TD was the first since Keshawn Martin did it against Minnesota in 2009.
Is that drought a big deal? Consider this: There were only five kickoffs returned for touchdowns in conference games in the entire Big Ten last year, two by Maryland.
There were no punt returns for touchdowns in Big Ten conference games last year.
“I’m hearing some negativity toward Michigan State and I have not watched any of their film so I do not know what they have done well or what they haven’t,” Els said. “That’s not my job.
“I can tell you this, though, without telling you exactly how we’re going to do things is: We will be aggressive. We will be aggressive in return game, we will be aggressive in coverage games. What you decide to do, to me, is dictated by the opponent. If they are a bad protection team, we’ll come after them. If they are a bad coverage team, we probably won’t. If they’re very sound, we’ll mix it up.
“Our kids will have the opportunity to do both - set up returns, go after punts. It just depends on what the opponent gives us, and how good are we at holding people up? How good are we at returning? How good are we at bursting off the line of scrimmage? How good are we at blocking punts? So it’s going to be awhile before I know the answers of us, and then we can go to the opponent and find out what they do poorly.”
* Michigan State was No. 12 in the Big Ten in net punting average in 2019 (36.0). Michigan State was last in punt return average allowed at 3.6 per punt.
* Michigan State was No. 10 in kickoff coverage, allowing a net average of 38.3 yards per return. Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin were the best in the big Ten. Maryland, Rutgers an Nebraska were the worst.
* Kicker Matt Coghlin wasn’t in top form in 2019. He was 22-of-32, for just 68.8 percent, ranking No. 10 in the Big Ten in field goal percentage. However, his 22 successful kicks are tied for second most in single-season school history.
Coghlin bounced back from a mid-season slump to hit four field goals in a 19-16 victory over Maryland, including the game-winning 33-yarder with 2:10 to play. He has three game-winning field goals in his career (including 2017 against Penn State and 2019 against Indiana). However, he missed three field goals in a disturbing 10-7 loss to Arizona State.
“I’m assuming Matt will come back and be ready to do a great job with our kicking,” Els said. “Matt had a great year two years ago and this year, at least on paper, not as good. But we have a lot of confidence in Matt. He’s going to line up there, and he’s going to win some games for us. Games in this league are going to come down to the wire.
“He’s a leader in that room, too. That’s what I like about Matt. When I first met him, he said, ‘Coach, put this room on my shoulders. I’ll take care of these guys and get these guys ready to go.’ So we’re excited with Matt’s future.
“We do have some specialist positions to fill. That’s one of my biggest concerns right now. I don’t know who our punt returner is going to be, I don’t know who our punter is going to be.”
With Jake Hartbarger having graduated, Australian Jack Bouwmeester was in line to take the job as a redshirt freshman in 2020. But he abruptly left school during spring semester. Michigan State expects to activate Match Crawford, a graduated transfer from UTEP. Because that transfer is not yet official, Michigan State coaches aren’t able to comment on him.
“(I) don’t know who’s going to be the guy lining up there (at punter),” Els said. “(I’ve) never seen a punt (here). I don’t know that Jack (Bouwmeester) would have been the guy. I have no idea. I guarantee you this: If we have to punt, we will have somebody back there who can kick the ball. I just don’t know who it is yet.”
Kickoff specialists Evan Morris and Cole Hahn will be back. Morris played in two games and had five touchbacks on 11 kickoffs. However, he didn’t see action after the Arizona State game. Hahn kicked for the rest of the year and had nine touchbacks in 52 kickoffs.
More SpartanMag Spring Football Coverage:
* Els keeping some things quiet at LB
* Gilmore ramping up the tight ends.
* Hawkins bullish on young, hungry wide receiver group
* Coach Kap sees potential in o-line he is inheriting
* Coaching at Michigan State gives Hawkins goosebumps
* Antjuan Simmons moving it forward, keeping it normal
* Barnett officially moves to CB; shake-up taking place at punter
* Spartans add former UTEP punter as grad transfer
* Tucker optimistic during Detroit TV appearance
* Allen getting after it with coaching from big brother
* New staff inheriting a good leader in Antjuan Simmons
* What we learned about o-coordinator Jay Johnson
* Tucker drawing on NFL experience during practice stoppage
* For Hazelton, ’It’s all ball’
* New o-coordinator Jay Johnson ‘looking for a CEO’ at QB
