MSU's Jonathan Smith: Fall Camp Was 'Huge' For Team Unity
Michigan State football has 61 newcomers on its roster -- tied for the seventh-most among FBS programs -- and 36 letterwinners from last year's roster.
Talk about turnover.
Whatever each of these players' backgrounds is, they are all Spartans now, and together, they will be looking to bring Michigan State football back to prominence.
The team recently announced its five captains for the 2024 season -- quarterback Aidan Chiles, running back Nate Carter, offensive lineman Tanner Miller, linebacker Jordan Turner and defensive tackle Maverick Hansen. Of those five, three were transfers.
Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith, who, of course, is new the program himself, said on Monday that the fact that the majority of captains were newcomers this offseason says more about the team's faith in its elected leaders.
"The impression those guys have made in the short period of time," Smith said, " -- and again, I just think, we've got a lot of influence throughout. And you could almost cut this roster in half of first-year players here at Michigan State and then other guys who have been here a while. And there's respect on, really, both sides coming together. This camp has been huge, I think, for establishing that this is the ultimate team game, we've got to do it together, we're going to need all 11 on every snap. And not just those three [transfer captains], all five captains really represent that."
The most important captain, of course, will be Chiles. Not only was Chiles elected as a newcomer, but he was chosen despite being just 18 years old and only having experience as a backup.
"Coach [Jonathan] Smith, I mean, he talked about it, he chose the captains off of how the team chose -- I believe the team chose everybody they wrote who they wanted as captains," Chiles said. "And it just shows that this team really believes in me as a leader and believes in my abilities to help them grow as a team. And also help me grow as a person, as a player. So, it just shows that I have the traits and that the team also has the traits, and they believe that I have the traits and we can do this thing."
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AIDAN CHAMPION