Tag: jonathan smith

WATCH: MSU Football HC Jonathan Smith talks QB Aidan Chiles’ progression during spring ball

It sounds like new MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles is having a strong spring so far

It sounds like new Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles is progressing quite nicely this spring.

New Spartans’ head coach Jonathan Smith met with the local media on Tuesday and provided an update on the team’s young new promising quarterback. Smith said Chiles is “so much more comfortable” and physically “he’s bigger.”

Chiles came over to Michigan State this offseason following Smith from Oregon State. Chiles is a former four-star prospect in the 2023 class and was ranked as one of the top transfer portal quarterbacks this past cycle.

Check out the full clip from Smith talking about Chiles below — courtesy of Owen Oszust of WILX in Lansing:

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

LOOK: On3 gives MSU Football stellar grade for hire of Jonathan Smith

MSU made arguably the best hire of this year’s college football coaching carousel, according to Jesse Simonton of On3

Michigan State made arguably the best hire of this year’s college football coaching carousel, according to Jesse Simonton of On3.

Simonton put out his coaching carousel report cards earlier this week, and the Spartans’ hiring of Jonathan Smith ranked near the top of the list. Simonton gave Michigan State an “A” grade for the hiring of Smith.

The only other schools to get an “A” grade from Simonton was Alabama’s hiring of Kalen DeBoer and Houston’s hiring of Willie Fritz.

Click on the tweet below to read Simonton’s full write-up on the Spartans’ hiring of Smith and to see how it compares to the rest of the college football head coaching hires this past carousel season:

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

Michigan State football 2024 commitment tracker

UPDATED: Tracking all of Michigan State’s 2024 commits

Mel Tucker is out. Jonathan Smith is in. This all happened during a critical time of the 2024 recruiting cycle and now Michigan State football needs to solidify that class.

Some players will fall out, new names will join, and it will continue to be a mad dash and scramble as MSU tries to fight to bring a strong recruiting class into the first year of the Jonathan Smith era.

Buckle up as we track every recruit confirmed in the 2024 class below.

Michigan State football: Projecting the depth chart before spring ball

Projecting MSU’s depth chart before spring ball:

There is a lot of excitement surrounding the Michigan State football program after the hiring of Jonathan Smith to take over for Mel Tucker. In helping that excitement, Smith has added a plethora of new talent to the program, while retaining a lot of talent that was already on the roster.

With all the changes incoming, now is a great time to take a look at what the depth chart could look like for the Spartans when they open the season against Florida Atlantic.

There definitely will be some more changes, come the spring transfer window, but as of now, we have a pretty good idea of what’s to come:

Michigan State football Transfer Tracker: Every incoming and outgoing player following Jonathan Smith hire

Michigan State football Transfer Tracker: Every incoming and outgoing player following Jonathan Smith hire

The Jonathan Smith era at Michigan State football has arrived, and with it, we are going to see a TON of player movement as Smith tries to keep much of this talented roster intact while presumably bringing in guys from Oregon State and other schools around the country to put his stamp on the roster.

Below, we will keep track of every player who either enters the portal to leave, or joins MSU via the portal following the Smith hire at Michigan State.

Michigan State football: Assistant coach salaries for Jonathan Smith’s new staff

Michigan State football: Assistant coach salaries for Jonathan Smith’s new staff

One of the big advantages Michigan State football has over some schools is their large donor pool. While perhaps not as lauded as some like Texas or Michigan, for example, the Spartans are able to pay quite a bit for coaching and that has definitely been an advantage for them of late.

New head coach Jonathan Smith has definitely used it to his advantage, luring names like Joe Rossi, Demetrice Martin, and Chad Wilt away from other nice jobs to come join his staff.

Below, we put together all the assistant coach salaries that have been made public so far under Smith’s administration.

Quotes: Jonathan Smith addresses the media after Michigan State football transfers, early enrollees arrive for the spring semester

Quotes: Jonathan Smith addresses the media after Michigan State transfers, early enrollees arrive for the spring semester

The Jonathan Smith era at Michigan State football continues to feel more real by the day, as the transfers and incoming freshmen class early enrollees arrived on campus for the spring semester.

With the new arrivals, Michigan State football’s new head coach addressed the media to update how the transition has been going, what his program has been up to and much more as the team starts work outs and the new semester.

You can see the notable quotes from that press conference below:

Oregon cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin to take job at Michigan State

Oregon Ducks’ cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin is expected to leave Eugene and join the coaching staff at Michigan State.

One of the most prominent coaches on the Oregon Ducks defensive staff is making a big move, reportedly leaving Eugene to join Jonathan Smith’s coaching staff in East Lansing with the Michigan State Spartans.

Ducks Wire has confirmed a report of the move, which initially came from Fifth Quarter’s Mike Black.

Coach Martin was one of the first hires that Dan Lanning made back at the end of 2021 when he came to Eugene, and he has been one of the best recruiters and coaches on the team, routinely landing top-rated players out of both the transfer portal and from the high school ranks.

Before coming to Oregon, Martin spent time with the Colorado Buffaloes, Arizona Wildcats, UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, and USC Trojans. He will now join Smith, who took the head job at Michigan State after leaving the Oregon State Beavers at the end of last season.

The move for Martin allows a couple of dots to be connected in Eugene, where stand-out freshman CB Cole Martin — the son of Demetrice Martin — announced earlier this offseason that he would be entering the transfer portal. He ended up transferring closer to home, joining former Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State.

Going forward, it will be interesting to see who the Ducks look at as the next cornerbacks coach, but fans can feel confident that head coach Dan Lanning will not have been caught off guard by this news, and should have a plan in place.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Michigan State football: 5 recruits in the 2024 class to monitor before the late signing period

5 recruits in the 2024 class to monitor before the late signing period:

In today’s college football, recruiting is a 24/7, all year proposition for programs and its coaches. While many know about the early signing period, that occurs in December, the late signing period in February is still an important date to monitor.

New MSU head coach Jonathan Smith has made it known that he is always looking to improve his roster, and I expect him to take advantage of this late signing period to add more talent into the 2024 recruiting class.

Check out five players that fans should monitor before the late signing period:

Would Pete Carroll or Jonathan Smith seriously consider the Washington job?

With Kalen DeBoer going to Alabama, Washington faces a challenge. Would a star coach make a bold move and go to Montlake?

The coaching carousel’s twists and turns create all sorts of amazing scenarios. These scenarios usually revolve around a big job coming open at an unexpected time. A coach who might have privately dreamed of coaching at a certain school, but who just took a job elsewhere or who just got fired, suddenly faces a unique opportunity.

Consider Dan Lanning and the Alabama job. Lanning loves being at Oregon, and he did choose to stay in Eugene, but it had to be awfully tempting for Lanning — who coached in the SEC and coached for former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart at Georgia — to take over for Nick Saban. It’s the one job Lanning might have thought about taking. Coaches don’t leave great jobs unless special jobs open up. They wouldn’t take any of several jobs, but there’s often one job — only one — which calls out to coaches even if they are well-compensated elsewhere.

We might now have that kind of situation at Washington with Kalen DeBoer leaving for Alabama.

Jonathan Smith was a Chris Petersen assistant in 2016, when Washington made the College Football Playoff. Smith departed for Michigan State because Oregon State got left behind in the death of the Pac-12. Smith could view Washington as his dream job, the one place he might go, even if it means never coaching at Michigan State.

Remember: We have seen coaches agree to take a new job, then watch other jobs come open. Then they take that job. Manny Diaz agreed to coach Temple, but when the Miami job unexpectedly came open several years ago, Diaz bolted without coaching Temple for one game. Kliff Kingsbury agreed to be USC offensive coordinator in 2018, but then the Arizona Cardinals job came open and Kingsbury never did coach a game on Clay Helton’s staff.

Will Jonathan Smith think about going to Washington? If he doesn’t, could a longtime Seattle-based coach named Pete Carroll be Washington’s other choice?

Let’s see what people are saying: