Michigan State WR Montorie Foster Jr. ready to make his mark for Spartans
In Michigan State's new look wide receivers room, senior Montorie Foster Jr. knows he has a chance to make a big impact in 2023.
Now healthy after dealing with a Lisfranc injury and having to play with two screws in his foot last season, Foster is ready to make his mark in East Lansing.
He doesn't feel like too much has changed, but he knows an opportunity awaits.
"It's pretty much the same, but especially for me being a vet, I know what to expect," Foster said after the first day of practice on Aug. 3. "So, it's the same intensity, same thing we do every day."
A three-year letterwinner, Foster enters his fourth year as one of the older and most experienced players in the wide receivers room. He has played in 30 career games, with four starts, and recorded 19 career receptions for 262 yards and two touchdowns.
In fact, the younger receivers in the room even call him by a special nickname: "Unc" (short for uncle).
"It's crazy, I got the young guys calling me 'Unc' now," Foster said with a laugh. "I embrace it, though, for sure."
Michigan State offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson is expecting a healthy Foster to pair nicely with redshirt senior Tre Mosley, and is looking forward to seeing what the wide receivers room can do as a whole in 2023.
"I'm excited that the receiver core is really continuing to grow," Johnson said. "I'm excited about Montorie Foster. We know about Tre (Mosley). I mean, Tre has been steady as it can be, and then you've got the young influx and even the newcomers."
Last week, Foster discussed his health, outlook for 2023, the quarterback competition, his fellow wide receivers and more
Expectations for a healthy and "different Montorie" in 2023
The changes at the wide receiver position have been covered at length. The Spartans saw departures from Keon Coleman (Florida State) and Germie Bernard (Washington) through the transfer portal, and lost Jayden Reed to the NFL's Green Bay Packers.
Coleman and Bernard weren't the only transfer portal departures, as two-year staring quarterback Payton Thorne decided to move on and enroll at Auburn.
When Thorne and Coleman left, Foster knew that many others on the team would need to step up, including himself, but that the squad needed to remain focused.
"We kind of heard about it a little bit after spring ball, with them making that decision (to transfer)," Foster said about Thorne and Coleman. "But with us, we just kind of put our best foot forward and we just kept chopping. That's our motto. So we just wanted to do what we can do this year to put our best foot forward for sure."
That is a lot of production to replace in the wide receivers room, particularly with Coleman and Reed, who combined for 113 catches, 1,434 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns in 2022.
Foster doesn't feel the need to be Coleman or Reed, though. He simply wants to play his game, help his team win games and do what he can to support his teammates. If he can do that, he expects the rest to take care of itself.
"I feel like there's no pressure for me, honestly," Foster said when asked if he feels the need to replace the production of the departing wide receivers. "I'm kind of worried about what I'm gonna do here and stuff like that. I want to make my footprint here, so I'm just really focused on myself right now."
Last season, Foster played in 10 games and accumulated 120 offensive snaps. He caught seven passes for 98 yards and a touchdown. Due to the lingering injury, those numbers were down from 2021 when he played in all 13 games, recorded 302 offensive snaps and amassed 12 catches for 164 yards and a score.
Now fully healthy, with the screws removed, Foster is ready to show what he can do in 2023.
“I can’t wait to get on the field to show a different Montorie this year,” Foster said. “Being healthy, not having two screws in my foot, going through that pain and stuff like that. I just can’t wait to get on the field and show people what I can do.”
Foster spoke about the challenges of the foot injury as well. While he was in some physical pain, it was more the mental side of the game that took a toll.
"It was pretty tough, just mentally," Foster said about the injury. "It was (tough) physically, too, but I feel like mentally, it just prepared me for now, really. Just pushing through nicks and pains and stuff like that and just being ready for the season."
Foster believes that having a whole offseason to heal, build up his body and work on his overall game will pay dividends this season.
“I benefitted a lot, just being more in shape, taking care of my body more, just honing in on the little stuff with my body and preparing myself for this long season for sure,” Foster said about the offseason.
Team bonding and an important trip to Virginia
One of the bigger points of emphasis for Michigan State this offseason and throughout fall camp has been building team chemistry and making time for the players to bond with each other. This is something that is important to head coach Mel Tucker, and something that many of the players have recently brought up.
Foster noted the improved camaraderie within the team has been noticeable. He also mentioned MSU's brand new locker in the Tom Izzo Football Building will help bring the players together even more.
"Really, for us, I think our team chemistry is a lot different (compared to last year)," Foster said. "We just got a new locker room. It's nice in there for sure. But, just our team chemistry, we're closer together. We have team events and stuff that kind of builds our team chemistry, so it's going pretty good right now."
When pressed for his opinion on the locker room, Foster discussed some of the things he liked about it.
"It was nice," Foster said about the new locker room. "We needed that. It was so exciting. We saw the cold tub and all our lockers glow up like LEDs and stuff. So it was a real cool experience for sure."
Foster noted that his favorite feature of the locker room is the cold tub, which helps the players' bodies recover after practices.
Speaking of team-bonding activities, Foster took a four-day trip to Centreville, Virginia with Mosley, redshirt junior quarterback Noah Kim and redshirt junior wide receiver Christian Fitzpatrick in May.
Last week, Kim and Foster discussed the trip in more detail.
"It was more of a bonding kind of thing," Kim said. "They came to my home, my Dad was cooking good food for for them and we were treating them right. We took them out to (Washington,) D.C., and aside from all the football, training and lifting and all that stuff, we made sure that we were bonding, getting to know each more and just experiencing new things with each other.”
The trip was Kim's idea and the wide receivers were willing to make the roughly nine-hour drive from East Lansing, Michigan to Centreville, Virginia for some extra work and bonding time.
"I just kind of sent a text out like, 'If you guys aren't doing anything, drive down,'" Kim said. "It's a far drive, but they were like, 'We're not doing anything, we'll drive down.' So they split the gas money with those three guys and took one car. We spent four days (together there)."
Kim and Foster both recalled the sleeping arrangements, which they couldn't help but laugh at.
"I was on the bed," Foster said with a laugh. "It was me on the bed and Tre (Mosley) on the little blow-up mattress and then Fitz (Christian Fitzpatrick), we had him on the couch. So, that's how it kind of went ... I just ran to the bed."
Jokes aside, it was an important trip for the veteran wide receivers on the team to bond with their potential new starting quarterback in Kim.
"It was definitely important because we always wanna be on the same page with our quarterback," Foster said. "When (Kim) asked us do we want to come down there to Virginia, throw the ball and run some route, I was like, 'Of course. We definitely gotta go down there and get some work in.'"
Foster feels like that trip helped him improve the details of his route running, such as getting in and out of his breaks quicker. He also noted that it was about the bonding experience with Kim and the others, and that he was able to get to know Kim's family.
Kim's dad is a chef and prepared jerk chicken wings, steaks, spaghetti and more for the group. The jerk wings were Foster's personal favorite.
Kim and Foster were both part of Michigan State's 2020 signing class. Both players were recruited under former head coach Mark Dantonio, but have only played under Tucker.
With the players coming in together and now each entering their fourth year in the program, Foster and Kim have grown close. They also live near each other and see each other often.
“Me and Noah's relationship, that’s my neighbor," Foster said. "I see him every day. I see him at the facility all the time. Our relationship definitely is tight right now."
Kim also mentioned that Foster has stepped up as a vocal leader for the team, and that he is showing the younger guys the proper way to do things.
"I see Montorie Foster (as an emerging leader)," Kim said. "He's been working hard. He's being a little bit more vocal now. He's showing the young guys basically the ropes of how they need to do things, how they need to practice, how they need to run the routes. He's very intentional with everything.
"And so I think that's the one of the things (wide receivers) Coach (Courtney Hawkins) and (offensive coordinator) Coach (Jay) Johnson all want to see out of Montorie and some of the other receivers in there. To point out one guy (stepping up as a leader), though, it would be Montorie."
Foster's thoughts on the quarterback competition
Speaking of quarterbacks, Foster was asked several questions about the competition at that position between Kim, redshirt freshman Katin Houser and true freshman Sam Leavitt.
Of course, with Thorne as the starter over the past two seasons, it will be a bit of an adjustment period to get used to the new starting quarterback. However, Foster noted that not much is changing for him.
"It's not really different," Foster said about the quarterback situation. "Every college has competition, so it's just who's the better man, really, at the end of the day. (With) the competition there, whoever's the best will start the first game."
As mentioned, Foster already has strong chemistry with Kim. He's also been working hard throughout the offseason and early days of fall camp to build a connection with Houser.
"It's not really a hard reset with me because I came in with Noah Kim," Foster said. "My freshman year, we used to go to the field all the time, run routes, throw all the time. So our chemistry has always been there. And then with Katin (Houser), I still try to get reps in with him, too. He's a talented quarterback, too, so we're on the same page all the time."
Speaking last week, Houser was also very complimentary of Foster and expects to see a jump up in his game.
"I feel like Montorie Foster has definitely improved, he's a really good guy," Houser said.
Foster likes the competitive spirit that each of the quarterbacks show, and he knows whoever eventually wins the starting job will have earned it.
"Everybody, (with) their competitive nature, they come here to work every day and they just try to make the best out of their opportunity every day," Foster said about the quarterbacks. "So that's pretty much what I'm seeing right now. (The quarterbacks) have a different mentality coming in. It's the best man wins, so that's what they're pretty much focused on right now."
Just like at his position with the wide receivers, Foster noted that the person who wins the quarterbacks job will be the one who can consistently out-execute and out-perform the others.
"To win this job, it's just consistency," Foster said about the quarterbacks and every position. "That's what it all comes down to, with all of us. If you want to be the starter, you've gotta be consistent on a day-to-day basis, from the first day of camp to the last day of camp ... It's just a dawg mentality. Who's gonna come out on top? They're competing more, it's high intensity every practice. So, I just can't wait to see them play."
The wide receivers room is ready to prove doubters wrong
With several young guys fighting for player time in the wide receivers room — including second-year players Tyrell Henry, Antonio Gates Jr. and Jaron Glover, along with true freshmen Jaelen Smith and Aziah Johnson — Foster knows it is important to step up as a leader and help them.
Foster, a standout high school basketball player, recalls how hard it was to get used to the pace and physicality of the college game as a young player. Having to leave basketball behind and focus solely on football took some time to adjust to for the Ohio native.
“It was (a transition), definitely," Foster said when asked if it was difficult to focus solely on football on football after high school. "Just like (fall) camp, really. Freshman year, coming to camp is an eye-opening experience, just having some years under my belt, it prepared me to do the best I can every day."
Speaking of transitions, Michigan State also added Nebraska transfer Alante Brown to the wide receivers room this offseason.
When asked specifically about what Brown brings to the field, Foster had a lot of praise to give.
"He's just explosive, like super explosive," Foster said about Brown. "He has the ability to make big plays, take it 60 (yards). I just can't wait for everybody to see him because he definitely is going to shock a lot of people with his abilities."
With the quarterback and wide receiver positions still being figured out, there is some mystery to exactly what MSU's passing game is going to look like this season. However, with the mix of experience and youth in the room, Foster feels like the group of wide receivers is going to surprise people this season.
"I mean, all of our guys, we're all ready," Foster said about the wide receivers. "We've got a chip on our shoulder this year. So, we just can't wait to show you guys (how we can play) when it's game time.
"It's a competition in our room. That's what our coach says every day. The best man wins and the best man's gonna start in the first game. We're just all coming in with a chip on our shoulder because there's a lot of people counting us out, so we're just ready to prove people wrong."