MSU's Jonathan Smith on Rebounding From Spring Transfer Portal Losses
Things weren't looking great for the start of the Jonathan Smith regime in East Lansing when more than 15 players entered the transfer portal after Michigan State football's "Spring Showcase" back in April.
Smith, who had just wrapped up his first spring camp with the program, had to watch as this abundance of players decide to leave what he had been trying to build in the early stages of his coaching tenure at Michigan State. Even so, it didn't come as a surprise to the first-year Spartan coach.
"In ways, deflating maybe," Smith said at Big Ten Football Media Days on Wednesday. "But ultimately, in this day and age, in a Year 1, it wasn't shocking. And again, you want to be around guys that want to be here. And some of those guys did want to search for a different opportunity, and got to [have] respect for that. In this day and age, you can add to your roster as well."
Smith and the Spartans responded admirably, though, bringing in a hefty amount of quality transfers of their own. 247Sports currently has Michigan State ranked 12th in the nation in 2024 transfer portal rankings.
"We replaced -- and every program's the same -- you're doing some replacing, and we did that," Smith said. "We feel good about where we landed at multiple positions -- line of scrimmage and the back end. And so, we're headed toward -- what we feel like -- we've got a roster that has some depth at multiple positions, and now we got to get them playing at a high level."
It's not easy to have to pick yourself up after losing some key players just after what had been a promising spring camp. But Smith had a duty as the Spartans' leader, and he executed.
Between the transfers Michigan State brought in post-spring camp and those who were added shortly after Smith came to East Lansing, the former Oregon State coach made a huge statement this offseason, earning players' trust and luring them a program he would be running for the first time. It says a lot about his ability to communicate his vision and his recruiting ability.
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