A new era of Michigan State football will begin Friday night in East Lansing under first-year head coach Jonathan Smith as the Spartans will look to get him his first victory.

The preseason workouts, fall camp practices, coaching hires, and the transfer portal subtractions and additions are in the rear view mirror. Now, it’s time for the world to see the results of all the work the coaching staff and players have put in since Smith was hired in late November 2023.

“Well, it’s always an exciting time of year,” Smith said at his press conference on Monday. “(We are) getting closer to kicking off Friday night and I know our guys are excited about 7:00 (kickoff time). There’s been a lot of work put in, not just this last month, you look at all the months we had all the way back to January. (I am) really proud of these guys for the work they put in.

“I was pleased with how fall camp went. I thought there was some competition in it throughout. These guys have been working against each other, and now, I know they’re excited to get someone else on the other side of the line of scrimmage.”

That team on the other side of the line of scrimmage on Friday night will be the Florida Atlantic Owls out of the American Athletic Conference. The Owls went 4-8 in 2023 in head coach Tom Herman’s first season. Herman has coached in tough environments before. He spent two years at Houston (22-4 overall record) and four years at Texas (32-18 overall record).

“Coach Herman, got a bunch of respect for him,” Smith said. “He’s done it at a high level at multiple places. He’s in year two at Florida Atlantic. I know they’ll be bringing in a challenge for us. We’re going to have to be ready.”

Michigan State will be led by its five newly minted captains – running back Nate Carter, quarterback Aidan Chiles, defensive lineman Maverick Hansen, offensive lineman Tanner Miller and linebacker Jordan Turner. Those five players were recently voted on by their teammates to be captains for the 2024 season.

“Those five guys I think will represent us well,” Smith said. “They were a huge part as we try to build this culture and doing it together. Those five guys stood out with a vote that was from their teammates.”

The good news heading into the first game for the Spartans is that they haven't incurred any long-term injuries. However, the team did pick up some “bumps and bruises” throughout the week.

In terms of playing rotations, Smith said that he and the coaching staff are “getting close” to figuring out who will play the first snaps on offense and defense. No matter who starts the game, though, there are multiple positions where Smith feels comfortable rotating players in and out of the game.

“We talk about 22 starters, which yeah, we’ll throw 22 guys out there, but I feel good that we’re going to play multiple guys in some positions,” Smith explained. “I think about the defensive line. We’re going to rotate through that. We feel five, six guys could rotate in the interior of the (defensive) line. Linebacker, same way. Receiver-wise, we will play more than two or three guys. Even the tight end spot, with (Jack) Velling, (Brennan) Parachek coming along here, Mola’s (Ademola Faleye) had a great camp, Mike (Masunas), you’re going to see multiple guys there. I mean, shoot, you might even see more than just five throughout the game at (offensive) line.”

Chiles will start his first college game of his career on Friday night. He did play nine games as a true freshman with Oregon State. However, there is a difference between playing as a backup and being the starter.

“I think he’s definitely ready for this,” Smith said about Chiles. “He’s a competitive player and true competitors understand it’s not going to go perfect every snap and things are going to take place. There’s going to be some really good plays too, but there’s nothing like experience and the guy’s been out on the field playing big time football before. It just hasn’t been on the first snap, so we’ll be there for him to get him adjusted and we’re confident that in his preparation, in his instincts and how competitive he is, he’ll give us a chance to score some points.

“I think he’ll settle in. Again, he knew last year he was going into games, and so just like a starting quarterback, you know you’re going out there. He’s just taking the first snap (this year). He’s definitely going to have some nerves, excitement, just like everybody on the field is going to have. He’ll be confident in these opening plays because he’ll weigh in on what those plays are and then he needs to just go let it rip.”

Smith has spent a lot of time around the team dating all the way back to when he was hired. He knows more about the Spartans than anybody does. However, there are still some things he is curious to find out on Friday night.

“Game, live-action, the mechanics of that,” he said. “Talk about the communication and the personnel, we need to settle in and be great on that. (I’m) curious to find out the response from this team and I talked about it being 14-0, whether you’re up or down, kind of how we respond and do that. I want to be a team that finishes games and plays well at the end of the fourth quarter.”

Here are two must-reads before the season kicks off:

1. Nine months in: How Jonathan Smith is building Michigan State Football - an exclusive look behind the scenes at how Jonathan Smith has spent his last nine months rebuilding Spartan football.

2. Spartan Cheat Sheet: What you need to know before the season kicks off - a quick glance at everything you need to know about the new Spartan football team.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Join the discussion on this article in our premium forums by clicking here.

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, and Instagram.

For video content, including our Red Cedar Radar podcast, find us on YouTube and consider subscribing.