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Published Feb 15, 2022
Spartan Training Period kicks off; Tucker says 'they had to strain'
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Jim Comparoni  •  Spartans Illustrated
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East Lansing, Mich. - The winter football period at Michigan State shifted to a new level of RPMs on Tuesday with the first day of the Spartan Training Period, or STP as the coaches call it.

The Spartans, coming off an 11-2 season and a victory in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, took the field at the Doug Weaver Indoor Facility in shorts and tucked-in black shirts for the first day of the next set of winter workouts.

“We really pushed the guys,” third-year Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker said during a guest appearance on The Valenti Show with Rico, Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket, the top-rated sports radio show in Detroit. “They had to strain. I was impressed with the way the guys worked, the attention to detail, the way they finished. It was very competitive. It’s like the old school winter workouts. We did some stations. I thought it was really good.”

The Spartans took part in individual and group strength and conditioning workouts through most of January and the beginning of February.

The STP program marks the second phase of Michigan State’s winter conditioning season. This week is the fifth of eight weeks of conditioning and strength training before spring practice begins on March 15.

The Spartans went through a full team workout Tuesday. In addition to the STP team workouts, the Spartans will continue to run, condition and lift in position and individual workouts heading toward spring football.

“The guys are in good condition,” Tucker said. “Right now, I didn’t see a bunch of guys bent over or anything like that. I saw a little bit of leadership out there. The guys were organized and they looked like they knew what they were doing. So it was a good day’s work.”

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GLAD REED AND X ARE BACK

Rico Beard, a longtime SpartanMag colleague and contributor who was the sole host of the Valenti and Rico show on Tuesday while Mike Valenti is on vacation, asked Tucker about the importance of having wide receiver Jayden Reed and safety Xavier Henderson come back to the Spartans after contemplating a jump to the NFL.

“It’s big,” Tucker said. “First and foremost they came back because they thought that was the best thing for them to do. And we wanted them back. So it was a win-win.”

Reed was third-team All-Big Ten at wide receiver and first-team All-American by the AFCA as an all-purpose player.

Reed led Michigan State in receptions (59) and receiving yards (1,026) and touchdown catches (10).

Henderson, who has started 33 consecutive games at Michigan State, was a game captain for 13 games and tied for the team lead in tackles with 96. He was third-team All-Big Ten by media and honorable mention by the coaches.

“Any time you have guys like those two, who are high-character guys, hard workers and they lead by example and they are vocal leaders and they know the culture and they know what the expectations are, you get guys like that back that are going to lead, you have a much better chance of having a player-led team as opposed to just a coach-led team,” Tucker said. “The player-led teams are typically going to go further than the player-led teams.”

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JORDAN, COLEMAN, REED HIT THE FIELD

The Spartans enter the developmental stages of the 2022 season with three new assistant coaches. Pass rush specialist Brandon Jordan, defensive line coach Marco Coleman and running backs coach Effrem Reed were on the field with the Spartans in their new roles, Tuesday.

Michigan State hired Jordan on Jan. 15. He specialized in training elite NFL defensive linemen while serving as founder and CEO of Brandon Jordan Trench Performance.

“BJordan is an awesome coach,” Tucker told Beard. “He has great energy. He has experience. He has a lot of credibility because of the guys that he has worked with.

“It’s been all word-of-mouth. I know one thing with NFL players, if you can’t help them, they don’t want anything to do with you. So obviously he knows how to get guys better and how to get guys paid.

“He’s a great guy and he wants to continue to develop as a coach and he really wanted to be here. So he’s an excellent fit.”

Michigan State hired Coleman away from Georgia Tech on Feb. 9. He is MSU’s new defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator.

Coleman, a member of Georgia Tech’s Hall of Fame as a player, played 14 seasons as a defensive end in the NFL (1992-2005). He was Georgia Tech’s defensive ends and outside linebackers coach for the past three seasons.

“Marco Coleman, I’ve known him since 2009,” Tucker said. "Obviously he was a great player in his own right and has developed into a really good coach. He brings a lot of energy, a lot of juice.”

Coleman, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was defensive coordinator at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2017. He worked as an assistant defensive line coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2018.

“He has a lot of credibility,” Tucker said. “All of these guys want to go to the NFL and when you look at BJordan and Marco, those are guys that have a lot of experience at the NFL level, working with the players, or playing, or coaching, or both. I’m really happy to have those guys.”

Jordan and Coleman replace Ron Burton, who left the program on Jan. 16 after nine years with the Spartans and is out of coaching at the moment.

Michigan State hired Effrem Reed as running backs coach on Jan. 13. He replaced William Peagler, who left to become tight ends coach at Florida.

Reed, 29, spent two seasons as an offensive analyst for Tucker’s program, working closely with Peagler and the running backs. Reed left Michigan State following the 2021 season to become the running backs coach at Georgia Southern.

However, when Peagler moved on, Tucker turned to Reed, a native of Baton Rouge, La., who played at the university of Louisiana from 2012-15. Reed played under current Michigan State offensive coordinator Jay Johnson when Johnson served as offensive coordinator for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

“Effrem Reed is one of the up-and-coming coaches, one of the rising stars in this profession,” Tucker told Beard. “High-character guy. Really, really sharp. He’s an aggressive coach. He’s an aggressive recruiter.”

As a player, Reed was a four-year letterwinner as a running back for Louisiana from 2012-15. He played in 44 games throughout his career and compiled nearly 1,000 all-purpose yards to go along with eight TDs.

“He has really good relationships with the players and with the staff. There was no doubt in my mind that he would be the best fit for us as our running backs coach.

“I feel really good about our new hires.”

STATE OF THE PROGRAM

Coming off the 16th Top 10 finish in program history, Tucker was asked by Beard where he saw the state of the program in 2022.

“We’re on the rise,” Tucker said. “We’re getting better. We’re hungry. We still have a chip on our shoulder. We are not where we want to be but we are moving in that direction on the field, off the field, recruiting, our culture. With everything, the arrow is pointing up but we are a work in progress. We have to work hard each and every day to get better in every aspect of our organization, whether it’s as players, coaches or support staff. We have to keep getting better.”

The Spartans were 6-2 in 2021 against teams that were invited to play in postseason bowl games.

“We have a high standard for performance here,” Tucker said during the radio appearance, which aired live at 5:45 p.m., during drive time in Detroit area. “Our goal is to reach our full potential as a program and I believe that our potential is extremely high. I believe that we are building a championship culture here.

“We are here to win championships, Big Ten Championships and National Championships. So that’s our mission, that’s our goal and we are working relentlessly toward that each and every day in every decision that we make, every player that we recruit, everything that we do from a scheme standpoint, or nutrition, or strength and conditioning, or rest and recovery - everything is pointed toward the goal of being champions. That’s the state of our program right now and that’s where we’re headed.”

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