* Get a FREE 30-day SpartanMag trial using promo code: Green2018
* (Past Subscribers, sign in and use promo code here. )
CHICACO - Former honorable mention All-Big Ten linebacker Jon Reschke is back on Michigan State's roster, but not fully cleared to play for the Spartans this fall, Mark Dantonio said Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days.
"Whether it comes to fruition or not remains to be seen," Dantonio said.
Reschke left the team in January of 2017 after what Reschke said was “an insensitive and totally regrettable comment involving a former teammate."
Sources tell SpartanMag.com that Reschke's comment was racially offensive.
After a year away from the program, initial plans to transfer, and a knee injury that kept him off of any practice field in 2016, Reschke expressed interest in returning to the Spartans in early 2017.
"At that point in time, we started asking ourselves as a program, not me, but as players as well, ‘Did we want him back in our program, or did we not?’" Dantonio said
Dantonio said he told his players if they wanted him back, "you would have to bring him back. It has to be a decision made by African-American players, led by them. They have to support that."
He said Reschke had "looked things in the eye and asked for forgiveness. He apologized to our football team last spring, tearfully apologized.”
Dantonio confirmed that Reschke has been cleared for a sixth year of eligibilty by the NCAA, due to the injuries he suffered in 2016 and '17. Dantonio said Reschke will not be on scholarship, whether or not he makes a full return to the field.
Dantonio said he thinks the players have forgiven Reschke.
"Every month, I revisted the situation and asked them how they feel, and they said they feel the same," Dantonio said. "But it's a step-by-step process."
Dantonio said African-American players have "weighed in" on this decision.