When head coach Jonathan Smith and his staff took over the Michigan State program in November, there were many initial tasks to complete in the restoration process. One of the biggest and more difficult priorities was retaining players from the previous regime and selling them on a new opportunity.

Defensive tackle Derrick Harmon and offensive lineman Geno VanDeMark both flirted with the transfer portal following the end of the 2023 season. In late November of 2023, Harmon and VanDeMark announced their intention to enter the the transfer portal, and each player officially did so when the portal window opened on Dec. 4, 2023.

However, ultimately, both VanDeMark and Harmon decided to withdraw their names from the transfer portal on Dec. 27, 2023 and return to East Lansing. Both players enter their redshirt junior campaigns in 2024. They were sold on what the new system had to offer under Smith and company.

“The environment has been different since day one,” Harmon said about the new regime. “Last year, with everything going on we couldn’t really find anything to be happy about. Now guys are happy to come in and put in work.”

The comfortability of players being able to talk to coaches in an open-door type of way stuck out to Harmon as well.

“Guys go upstairs and meet with the coaches a lot," Harmon explained. "Last year, there wasn’t a lot (of that) ... that was a big plus for us.”

The Detroit native is coming off a career best year, recording a career-high 40 tackles, most among Spartan defensive linemen. That included 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

He said the biggest reason for him to return was to remain close to home so his family can attend his games. In terms of the selling point from the new staff, the words that stuck out to Harmon were simple: "We’re gonna win some games here."