Tag: Darien Harris

Former Michigan State football LB Darien Harris taking new Assistant AD role at MSU

Former Michigan State football LB Darien Harris taking new Assistant AD role at MSU

After spending the last few years on Mel Tucker’s Michigan State football staff as the Director of Player Engagement and then the Director of Player Relations and Program Advancement, former MSU linebacker and captain Darien Harris is moving into a new role in the University’s athletics department.

On Thursday, it was announced that Harris, alongside Alex Brieske, will be named Assistant Athletic Director, and he and Brieske will be heavily focused on Name, Image and Likeness opportunities and coordination at MSU, as NIL continues to become a bigger and bigger part of college athletics.

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WATCH: How to give Michigan State football the best home field environment

How to give Michigan State football the best home-field environment

Mel Tucker has been very adamant about wanting to bring the best home-field atmosphere to Spartan Stadium. Tucker has a vision of building this program and building an atmosphere at Spartan Stadium is something that is a part of those plans.

Tucker has dubbed Spartan Stadium with the nickname ‘The Woodshed’ and now the student section is set to be known as ‘The Deep End’.

With all these branding changes, there is excitement around the program. Next, Coach Tucker wants to see Spartan Stadium be one of the loudest places in the country.

Led by former linebacker and current Director of Player Engagement Darien Harris, MSU took to Twitter to give the fans a video of what the team wants to see. You can watch the video here:

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Best Michigan State football recruit from every state since the year 2000

Michigan State is under a new national approach to recruiting. Take a look at the best recruit from each state since the year 2000.

Recruiting is an integral part of building a college football team and as many fans know, the way a team recruits is usually what makes or breaks them. Many Michigan State fans are used to the Spartans focusing heavily on recruiting the midwest, and Michigan or Ohio in particular. Mel Tucker has a new mindset when it comes to recruiting and it is expected that the Spartans will be going from coast to coast to find members of their recruiting classes going forward.

Michigan State will soon be building pipelines in many new states and Spartan fans will get used to seeing faces from many different areas of the country come to East Lansing.

With Michigan State taking this new approach to recruiting and signing day having recently just passed, it felt fitting that we go back and find the best recruit from every state on record according to the 247Sports composite rankings that go back to the year 2000.

There are 24 states represented on this list.

This list includes JUCO (Junior College) transfers and will include members of the 2021 recruiting class that have signed their letters of intent earlier this month.

WATCH: MSU Football assistant Darrien Harris hosts virtual ‘official’ visit

Michigan State football is looking for new ways to show the campus to recruits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Michigan State football program has done a lot of creative work to bridge the recruiting gap during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without the ability to formally hosts prospects on recruiting visits, MSU has turned to virtual visits, a strong graphic game, and now a virtual “official” visit hosted by former MSU linebacker and current Director of Player Engagement.

The video tour goes through the Skandalaris Football Center, Case Hall (where freshmen football players stay), the Broad School of Business, the Rock, the Spartan statue, and many other notable campus locations.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Michigan State Football Director of Player Engagement Darien Harris joins the show

MSU Football’s Director of Player Engagement tells us about his new role and what it’s like around the program these days.

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Wil and Matt answer a couple of listener questions and then welcome in MSU football’s Director of Player Engagement Darien Harris to talk about his first couple of months working under Mel Tucker.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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Former Michigan State linebacker Darien Harris returns to MSU as part of Mel Tucker’s support staff

Harris was a four-year player for Michigan State and co-captain of the 2015 College Football Playoff team.

An all-time Spartan Dawg is back to work in East Lansing.

In addition to the hiring of tight ends coach Ted Gilmore, Michigan State and Mel Tucker also announced the hiring of a few support staff members on Friday. Among them was new Director of Player Engagement Darien Harris.

Harris played linebacker for Michigan State from 2012-2015 and was a captain on the 2015 team that won the Big Ten and made the school’s only appearance in the College Football Playoff.

“Darien Harris is an outstanding role model for our current players,” said Tucker in a release from the school. “He was a captain on the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff team in 2015 and has demonstrated incredible leadership and mentoring skills. He’s a very good communicator and will be able to connect with our team. He recently completed his master’s degree and is ready to mentor our players during their time here on campus.”

Harris collected 154 tackles, including 13 for losses (28 yards), in 54 career games with 25 starts; the 54 career games played is tied for the most of any Spartan player in Michigan State history.

Following his Spartan career, Harris spent time in the Canadian Football League with Ottawa and served as an analyst for the Big Ten Network while finishing his master’s degree at MSU. He has also been an assistant coach at Walled Lake Western High School in Michigan.

Michigan State also made official the hiring of Geoff Martzen as Director of Player Personnel and Cody Cox as Director of Football Operations. Martzen served in that same role under Tucker in Colorado and Cox is entering his fourth year in administrations for Michigan State football. He was the Director of Executive Football Operations in 2019 and the Assistant Director of Football Operations and Camp Coordinator from 2017-18.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Mel Tucker mailbag, Darien Harris joins the show

Fielding your questions and talking to a former MSU captain

Wil and Matt field some questions about Mel Tucker’s potential staff and expectations for 2020. Then former MSU linebacker Darien Harris joins the show to talk about Tucker and why he wants to get in on this MSU staff. The show finishes with some MSU vs. Maryland talk.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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