A new era is set to begin in East Lansing. The Michigan State football program, under new head coach Jonathan Smith and nine new on-field assistant coaches (wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins was retained from the previous regime), will open on March 19 with its first of 15 spring practice sessions.

With the new staff and plenty of transfers and early enrollee freshmen, there are a fair amount of storylines heading into spring practice to watch. Here are three storylines that Spartans Illustrated will be keeping a close eye on throughout spring practices.

New offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren had a tough task right when he touched down in mid-Michigan: He had to build an entirely new quarterbacks room. With Noah Kim, Katin Houser and Sam Leavitt — who all saw snaps for MSU during the 2023 season — all at other schools now, the Michigan State quarterbacks room has been injected with an excitement and an anticipation that has not been felt in a long time.

Most of that excitement and anticipation lies on the shoulders of young Aidan Chiles, who comes to East Lansing by way of Oregon State. As a true freshman, Chiles unsurprisingly did not win the starting quarterback job in Corvallis. He backed up veteran D.J. Uiagalelei, but the former four-star prospect played in nine games and threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. Maybe the more impressive statistics were his 68.6% completion percentage and his zero interceptions. He is confident with his legs as well, as he ran for three scores in 2023. Chiles played in 100 offensive snaps in total in 2023, gaining valuable experience at the college level.

Landing Chiles was huge for Smith, Lindgren and the Spartans. He will be the heavy favorite heading into spring camp to eventually land the starting job as a true sophomore in the fall. Getting a glimpse of Chiles in the Green and White will only increase the excitement and anticipation for the quarterback position this upcoming season.

A quarterback room isn’t just one player, though. In addition to adding Chiles from the transfer portal, the new staff landed North Dakota transfer Tommy Schuster. He spent five years with the Fighting Hawks and became North Dakota’s all-time leading passer with in his time spent in Grand Forks. Schuster holds the North Dakota record for career passing yards (9,075 yards), career touchdowns (63) and career completions (843). Schuster opted to spend his final year of college eligibility in East Lansing as he will act as the veteran of the quarterback room.

To round out the quarterback room, Lindgren and the staff added two true freshmen: Ryland Jessee from California and Alessio Milivojevic from Illinois. Both will be going through their first full team practices this spring as they adjust to college football.

There were several true freshmen who showed flashes of their potential last season. A lot of times, players make their biggest jump from year one to year two. Here are three now second-year players who could make that big jump and become starters and major contributors on defense.

Defensive lineman Jalen Thompson totaled 19 tackles in his true freshman season in 2023. Thompson started the final four games of the season at defensive end. In his eight games played, he racked up 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Expect Thompson to be right in the mix, getting reps with the top defensive ends on the team this spring.

Linebacker Jordan Hall is another guy who stood out last season as a true freshman. Hall finished fourth on the team in tackles in 2023 with 67. Additionally, he had 7.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. How exactly Hall fits into new defensive coordinator/linebacker coach Joe Rossi’s system will be interesting to watch as spring rolls on. He was important player for the Spartans' new coaching staff to retain, and is one of the most promising young players on the roster.

One more young player to keep an eye on is cornerback Chance Rucker. He started eight games at cornerback in 2023 and racked up 23 tackles, four pass break-ups and one interception. Rucker played all 74 defensive snaps for Michigan State against Minnesota, which was a season-high for him. He recorded 576 total defensive snaps last year, which gave him a lot of experience to build upon. With another offseason of work, Rucker could help improve a secondary that has struggled in recent years.

The past few seasons have been frustrating for Michigan State in regard to the injury situation. Some of that is just poor injury luck, but at what point is that on the coaching staff or strength and conditioning staff? Did they overwork the players? Were the players not ready enough for the grind of the season?

These were legitimate questions for the previous regime, but with a new staff now in the door, what will the players' durability look like? Newly-hired head strength and conditioning coach Mike McDonald, who joins Smith in East Lansing after spending the previous six seasons with him at Oregon State, is highly-regarded. Perhaps there will be improvements in this area. Time will tell.

Another question heading into spring ball is the format of the "Spring Showcase" on April 20. Will there actually be a traditional spring game as opposed to an open practice? While Smith was at OSU, the "Spring Showcase" games did seem to operate as more of a traditional game. However, under the previous regime, Michigan State had the open practice format, which limited the risk of injury, and MSU often couldn’t afford to have any additional guys to miss time.

While player durability and overall team health will be tested more during the season than in the spring, it is reasonable to bring up the question given the boatload of injuries the Spartans have suffered in recent springs.

If the players are durable and more available for practice and eventually games, the more they will develop their skills. It seems like common sense, but it’s often overlooked. If Michigan State’s injury luck reverses, common sense says this team will be much better if all else is equal.

Michigan State will open its first spring practice under Smith on Tuesday, March 19.

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