Mel Tucker talks injuries, spring ball, DL coach and more with Jack Ebling

Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker was recently interviewed by Jack Ebling on “The Drive with Jack” show on Jan. 12. Tucker and Ebling had a great discussion and talked about various topics, including the injuries during the 2022 season, a possible new approach to spring football, the process of looking for a new defensive line coach, the quarterback position and much more.

Tucker enters his fourth year as Michigan State head coach in 2023. He has been coaching football since 1997 when he started his career at Michigan State as a graduate assistant under head coach Nick Saban.

Before returning to East Lansing in 2020, Tucker had various stops throughout the NFL and college ranks, including a stint as interim head coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 (after serving as defensive coordinator). He has also worked as the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears in the NFL. Additionally, Tucker has been the assistant head coach/defensive backs coach at Alabama (reuniting with Saban), defensive coordinator at Georgia and head coach at Colorado, among many other stops at college programs.

Tucker started off the interview segment by discussing why Michigan State is unlike any other program he’s ever been a part of in the past.

“Michigan State is the most, I would say, family-like university,” Tucker said. “Administration, coaches from different sports tied in with the community, former players, even with the media – it’s kind of like we’re all in this thing together. It’s not always what we want it to be, but I do feel like Michigan State is a place that everybody does want to get on the same page, and actually does want to pull in the same direction and everybody does want to win. Because when we win in football, we all win.”

During the interview, Ebling asked Tucker to describe the 2022 season in one word. One thing that immediately came to Tucker’s mind – and likely comes to the minds of MSU fans alike – is how injuries derailed the Spartans’ season.

“In one word?” Tucker asked. “I don’t think I can (describe the season) in one word, but I would say that injuries, for me, (is) the first thing that comes to mind. And I’m not talking about using injuries as an excuse, because I think you probably know as well anyone else (Jack) that's not what we're all about here, but it's been a long time since I've been in a situation where injuries played such a huge factor on the team so early in the season. That really threw us through a loop.”

Michigan State dealt with several injuries to key players during the 2022 season, particularly on the defensive side of the ball with players like safety Xavier Henderson, linebacker Darius Snow, defensive tackle Jacob Slade, defensive ends Khris Bogle and Jeff Pietrowski, and countless others.

There were also injuries on the offensive side with wide receiver Jayden Reed early in the season and along the offensive line later in the season.

Additionally, Michigan State lost eight players on the defensive side due to suspension following the tunnel incident after the game against Michigan in Ann Arbor, including linebacker/defensive end Jacoby Windmon.

Tucker said the injuries and adversity actually brought the team closer together, but having limited players available obviously hurt Michigan State’s performance on the field.

“We got closer and tighter (as a team) as the season went, going through some of the adversity that we had.”

With a tough non-conference game at Washington, and playing in the Big Ten Conference – particularly in the Big Ten East Division – did not allow for any easy games in 2022. Tucker doesn’t use injuries as an excuse for the team’s performance, but he knows that it played a big role.

The program will put an emphasis on keeping players healthier moving forward.

“With the schedule that we play and that we had, it was quite a challenge,” Tucker said about the injuries. “That’s the first thing that really pops in mind (injuries) about this (2022) season. That’s one of the things that we’re really focused on this out-of-season – how to keep our players available and how to better develop the entire roster, and have more depth and more competition at each position.

“It does matter who's on the field, obviously,” Tucker added.

Michigan State began its winter strength and conditioning earlier this week. It will be seven weeks of strength and condition – running and lifting – before spring practice begins in March. The coaches will also be able to meet with players during this time and start to discuss and install schemes for offense, defense and special teams.

This is an especially important time for the mid-year enrollees who arrived to East Lansing in early January – freshman and transfers who came to campus early – but it is also very important for the development of the returning players.

One way Tucker and his staff hope to keep the team healthier through spring ball is by using more of an NFL style of management, similar to how professional franchises operate Organized Team Activities (OTA) during the offseason.

"This is something that's an ongoing discussion with us right now that I'll let you in on,” Tucker said to Ebling. “With the training staff, Rod Scott, our new (head athletic) trainer who spent 16 years in the NFL – I worked with him for four years in Jacksonville (with the Jaguars) – (we) got (head strength and conditioning) Coach (Jason) Novak, who’s a great strength coach and his staff, he was like 11 years in the league, and I had like 10 years in the league.

“We are looking at maybe some different ways to go about the spring. We may look more like NFL OTAs than a traditional spring practice like you usually see in college. Those are some things that we are going to be considering as we go.”

So far during the Mel Tucker era, the Spartans have not had traditional spring games. Instead, it has been more of an “open practice” setting for the public to watch. He is unsure about what the game will look like in 2023.

“I don’t know at this time if we’re gonna be able to have a (traditional) game (in spring),” Tucker said.

The staff is considering its options and wants to limit the amount of contact throughout the spring to try to avoid injuries, but it is also still important to get players used to contact and refine technique and fundamentals. Tucker is trying to find the perfect balance.

“We're gonna be very deliberate about when we have contact, what type of controlled contact, who’s ready for contact, who’s not ready for contact,” Tucker said. “Some of these guys coming out of high school, they’re here, they wanna compete, (but) some of these guys aren't ready to go in there and bang with some of these other guys. We’re gonna take a hard look.”

As Tucker mentioned, a lot of the current coaches, trainers, strength and conditioning staff members, etc. have NFL experience and know how to run things in that manner while still developing the players in the most efficient way.

"A lot of us have been through OTAs and know you can get it done that way, get guys to fall camp with just the right amount of contact because you gotta have a tough team, you gotta know who can deliver a blow,” Tucker said. “But we're going to spend a lot of time on technique – blow delivery, tackling technique – so we can keep guys off the ground, so that we keep guys safer.

“We're still analyzing and evaluating the injuries we had, and seeing if there's any trends there, and if there’s anything we can do to help mitigate some of those things. So, I'm not sure exactly how spring is gonna look, but it’s gonna be different than what we’ve done in the past."

While fans still may not be able to see a normal spring game, Tucker plans to put together an event that will put the 2023 Spartans on full display for viewers.

“What we do on practice 15 (for the spring game), I’m not sure what that’s gonna look like,” Tucker said. “But people will be able to see the talent that we have. We’ll have some things on display.”

In addition to better injury management, Tucker feels that Michigan State has improved its roster ahead of the 2023 season. The Spartans were once again active in the transfer portal, signed 14 high school recruits (including six four-star prospects) and even went to the junior college ranks to land top-ranked JUCO offensive lineman Keyshawn Blackstock.

Additionally, Michigan State has many veteran players who decided to return for their final year of eligibility, such as Windmon, linebacker Aaron Brule, offensive linemen Nick Samac and J.D. Duplain, and others.

“We’ve addressed the issues that we had in terms of personnel,” Tucker said. “(We did that) through recruiting and we have a significant amount of guys coming back (in 2023).”

Tucker felt the 2022 team was “good,” but as mentioned, injuries depleted the team and the MSU was not able to reach its full potential.

“I felt like we had a good team going into this past season (2022),” Tucker said. “Our second game of the year (against Akron), we had a shutout, but we lost a ton of players in that game. We just weren’t as good (afterward). We fell below the line. Defensively we were above the line in terms of being able to play winning football. I don’t want to disparage the Mid-American Conference, but we were at a different level, especially defensively, and (the injuries) affected our whole team in order to play complementary football.”

Tucker said that in order to get back to being a top-10 team, Michigan State has to “evolve” its schemes and continue to recruit extremely hard in both the high school ranks and in the transfer portal. Tucker said that the 2023 recruiting class was “no doubt the strongest class we’ve had so far.”

Also, with the veteran players who decided to return in 2023, Tucker feels that the roster is strong. There will likely be a few more additions before fall camp opens in August as well. The key is now for the team to stay healthy next season.

Tucker and Ebling also briefly discussed the defensive line coach opening on Michigan State’s staff following the departure of Marco Coleman, who decided to return to his alma mater, Georgia Tech.

“I’m working on it,” Tucker said about looking for a new defensive line coach. “We don’t have any shortage of candidates, that’s for sure.’

Tucker did not give away any names that he is considering, but he did detail what he is looking for in his next hire.

“I don’t have any names yet, but we’re working on it,” Tucker said. “We’re looking for, first of all, high-character guys that love young people, love to teach and coach and help guys – really good staff guys. We have a very low drama staff here, which is good. We have a really good culture, good working environment here. It’s a very team-oriented staff.

“We want guys that can teach technique and fundamentals and that love to recruit, they have to enjoy recruiting. NFL experience is always good – we have a lot of it on the staff and it’s very appealing to recruits when they know that you’ve coached in the NFL and you know what it takes to get there, know what it takes to stay there.”

There is currently not a known timetable for when the defensive line coach hire will be finalized, but it will likely come fairly soon.

During the interview with Ebling, Tucker also touched on the quarterback position, and discussed the competition between Payton Thorne, Katin Houser and Noah Kim. True freshman Sam Leavitt will also join the fold, but he will likely redshirt in 2023.

Thorne has been the starter for the past two seasons, but after struggling with consistency in 2022, he is not going to just be handed the starting job in 2023. There will be a competition at quarterback, starting in the spring and perhaps going into fall camp.

“That job, like every other job on the team, is open,” Tucker said about the quarterback spot.

Tucker discussed what he is looking for in terms of the starting quarterback role. Tucker, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson and the rest of the staff will evaluate through spring and likely into the summer and fall before the Spartans name a starter.

“Consistency and performance, and competing like crazy,” Tucker said about what he is looking for at the quarterback position. “There’s certain things that we need our quarterback to be able to do – mentally and physically – on a consistent basis. We need to know what we’re gonna get from that position every day.”

Tucker also spoke about his strong relationship with Tom Izzo and other topics.

The full interview on “The Drive With Jack” show can be listened to below: