East Lansing, Mich. - A differently demanding flavor of preseason camp has carried over into Rutgers week.
Veteran Michigan State players, who are hoping to help deliver something better than the .500 conference record the Spartans compiled over the past two combined seasons, have enjoyed the ramped-up calls for physicality and efficiency under first-year head coach Mel Tucker.
Tucker said on a Spartan Media Network radio show on Monday that he plans to be careful to avoid maxing out his players’ legs prior to Saturday’s season opener against Rutgers (noon, Spartan Stadium, BTN). He plans to taper down the intensity later this week in order to get the Spartans primed and fresh for Saturday. But the week began with calls for the type of intensity that seems destined to be the calling card of the Tucker era.
“Practice is not easy for anybody,” said senior linebacker Antjuan Simmons.
No one has noticed like the seniors, and their vast frame of reference.
“I can tell by the way we’ve been practicing and the way he’s been taking control of things and having us do certain drills, we’re going to be relentless,” senior center Matt Allen said of Tucker’s tactics. “We’re going to stay after the ball and stay after guys through the end of the whistle and through the end of the fourth quarter.”
“We have worked very hard,” Tucker said. “ We’ve been efficient.”
Example: In past years, when certain periods midway through practice call for special teams players to work on field goal protection or punt coverage, players who aren’t involved in those special teams traditionally take a break, stand around, and watch.
Not this year. Not this week.
Simmons isn’t part of the special teams unit that repped on Tuesday. He didn’t get to take a break.
“Today during the special teams drill, instead of just standing there and watching the period like I’ve been doing the past few years, I had to work pass rush the whole period,” Simmons said with satisfaction.