Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker has added his fourth official assistant coach to his staff in wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins.
We have another update in the great ‘Mel Tucker coaching staff watch’ of 2020. As MSU Football’s new head coach rounds out his staff, he has recruited a Spartan great into the fold in Courtney Hawkins. Hawkins will join the team as the Wide Receivers Coach. He was most recently acting as the head football coach and athletic director at Flint Beecher, his alma mater.
Hawkins played under George Perles from 1988 to 1991 before spending nine years in the NFL playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
One of the best Spartan wide receivers to ever wear the Green & White is back in East Lansing to join @Coach_mtucker's staff! Welcome back Courtney Hawkins! pic.twitter.com/VMYTsSQfYF
“Courtney Hawkins was a phenomenal player here at Michigan State who went on to have a very successful career in the NFL,” Tucker said. “He’s shown tremendous leadership serving as both the athletic director and head football coach at Flint Beecher High School. I’m really excited to get him here on campus.”
Hawkins was named to the All-Big Ten team twice while with Michigan State and is currently sixth in program history in receiving yards. Hawkins is the fourth official coach joining the program, following Chris Kapilovic (Offensive Line), Ron Burton (Defensive Line), and Mike Tressel (unannounced position).
Michigan State’s new head coach Mel Tucker has extended scholarship offers to two 3-star prospects in the 2021 class.
A big reason why Michigan State poached new head coach Mel Tucker from Colorado was for his reputation as one of the top recruiters in college football, and the new leader of MSU Football has already started working on his 2021 recruiting class. Two 2021 3-star recruits announced on Twitter on Tuesday that they had received scholarship offers from the Spartans.
The first player to announce his offer was Cameron James, a huge, 6’8″ offensive tackle from Simeon High School in Chicago, Illinois. Tucker has a reputation of loving big offensive linemen so this certainly fits the bill. 247sports has James listed as the No. 46 ranked offensive tackle in the 2021 class.
Shortly after James announced his offer, Ari Patu announced his own. Patu is a dual-threat quarterback out of Folsom High School in California and 247sports has him listed as the No. 12 ranked dual-threat QB in his class.
The former Michigan State assistant was spotted at the MSU vs. Maryland game Saturday
So far Mel Tucker’s staff at Michigan State looks a lot like Mark Dantonio’s 2019 staff, but that could be changing.
Well, sort of.
Tucker has hired two assistant coaches–that we know of–and both were a part of Mark Dantonio’s 2019 group of assistants, defensive line coach Ron Burton and former defensive coordinator Mike Tressel. Tressel’s role has yet to be announced, but there is speculation he could return to coaching linebackers, a position he coached in addition to his defensive coordinator duties. As Tucker continues to fill out his staff, speculation around a former Michigan State defensive assistant is ramping up thanks to a photo from the Michigan State basketball team’s game against Maryland.
Yes, that’s former Michigan State co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Harlon Barnett sitting with Burton at the Michigan State vs. Maryland game Saturday. If you look closely, Barnett is wearing a Michigan State shirt under his jacket. Could a return to East Lansing be imminent for Barnett?
A potential Barnett return would be welcome by many Spartans. A number of his former players publicly campaigned for him to get the head coaching job last week. Michigan State had two corners get drafted in the first round under Barnett and Darqueze Dennard won the Thorpe Award as the top defensive back in the country in 2013. Barnett was rated the 32nd-best recruiter in the country in 2019 by 24/7.
Barnett left Michigan State after the 2017 season to be the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Florida State. Barnett was not retained after former FSU coach Willie Taggart was fired and is currently without a coaching job.
Michigan State Football coach Mel Tucker attended the basketball game against Maryland at the Breslin Center and spoke to the crowd.
New Michigan State Football coach Mel Tucker was at the basketball game against Maryland. He even took time to address the excited crowd at the Breslin Center. Tucker hyped up the crowd and spoke on the upcoming football season.
Are you ready for fall? Boy, I’m ready for fall. I really like this hire and I could not be more amped for the upcoming MSU football season. Especially since Mel Tucker is keeping both Ron Burton and Mike Tressel on board. Stay locked on SpartanSwire for more coverage of the football program.
Michigan State Football coach Mel Tucker will retain two assistants from the Dantonio era in Mike Tressel & Ron Burton. Read more here.
Michigan State Football coach Mel Tucker is putting together his new staff of coaches. Tucker plans on retaining two assistants from the Dantonio era in Mike Tressel and Ron Burton. Burton joins the new staff as the defensive line coach whereas Tressel’s new role has yet to be determined.
Initially, Ron Burton was heading to Indiana for a defensive line job. Obviously, this is no longer true. The retention of both Burton and Tressel helps Mel Tucker get up to speed on MSU’s personnel. Plus, Michigan State’s defense was certainly not a key issue last year.
Vince Marrow of Kentucky has reportedly rejected an offer to become the lead recruiter at Michigan State.
The Mel Tucker era is underway at Michigan State and he is currently looking to fill his coaching staff with prime talent from around the country. According to a report from Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio, Tucker reached out to Kentucky’s Vince Marrow to become the lead recruiter for Tucker’s administration. Today, Jones provided an update, declaring that Marrow turned down Tucker’s offer.
This comes after reports indicated that Tucker and MSU had made a large counteroffer to the associate head coach and tight ends coach from Kentucky, which he has reportedly rejected.
Here is Matt Jones initial reaction and announcement of Marrow’s decision:
It was reported earlier in the week that Tucker will not be retaining any of Dantonio’s staff, but he will need to start moving quickly to fill his staff openings to get everything in order for the season.
We will keep updating this story as more details emerge.
Check out Draft Wire’s exclusive interview with Michigan State edge defender Kenny Willekes
During the predraft process, NFL teams are always looking for tough prospects who never take a play off, and play with a nonstop motor from snap to whistle.
If your favorite team is looking for a pass rusher who brings that kind of mentality to the table, their search should focus on Michigan State’s Kenny Willekes.
A physical edge defender with an incredible work ethic, Willekes recently spoke exclusively with Draft Wire about his experience at the Senior Bowl, which offensive tackles impressed him the most in college, and what he’s looking forward to about the NFL Scouting Combine.
JM: What was your experience like at the Senior Bowl?
KW: That was a great experience. I had the opportunity to work with the Detroit Lions coaching staff. I got to be around a bunch of excellent players. There were so many great players out there. My position group was especially fun to work with and be around. I played against a lot of those guys in college and it was great to learn from one other. It was such a great experience. I got to meet so many cool people.
JM: Do you feel like you achieved what you set out to accomplish out there?
KW: I’m a perfectionist, so there’s always going to be things I can improve on. For the most part, I felt like I did a pretty good job out there. I feel like I did exactly what I went out there to do. I wanted to show that I could play out of a two-point stance which I did throughout the week of practice. I also wanted to show that I could win with a variety of pass rushing moves and I believe that I proved that as well.
Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
JM: Speaking of, how would you describe your pass rush arsenal?
KW: I would say that I have a lot of tools on my tool belt. I have a lot of moves that I can consider my go-to at any given moment. I like to keep things simple. I love setting everything up with my speed-to-power move. I implement the bull rush into my plan quite a bit as well. Once I start bull rushing, I’m able to counter back inside or peel around the edge with a double sweep. Those are probably my main moves. I can swim inside or win with a double sweep around the edge. I love that speed-to-power move. If I need to counter, my swim inside usually pays off. I could use a spin move to counter as well.
JM: Playing at Michigan State afforded you the opportunity to play against some of the best competition college football has to offer. Who are some offensive tackles that stood out to you?
KW: Rashawn Slater from Northwestern immediately comes to mind. He wears No. 70 for them. He’s somebody that always gave me a good battle year in year out. He’s an excellent player. Penei Sewell from Oregon was a great match-up in our bowl game. He was just a freshmen then but he had all the athletic tools. I knew he was going to be a great player. I also thought that No. 75 on Ohio State, Thayler Munford, improved a lot from last year to this year. I noticed a significant difference with him.
JM: How much of being a successful pass rusher is accomplished pre-snap?
KW: I’d say a lot of it is accomplished post-snap to be honest. I think the get-off is the most important thing when it comes to rushing the passer. Knowing or recognizing a pre-snap indicator that it’s gonna be a pass and being able to jump that snap count plays a large role but how you react after the snap is the biggest thing. At times, pass rushing is simply reacting to how they set on you. You gotta get off the ball with a plan but you also have to react to how they set on you.
Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
JM: Is there a scheme that fits you best at the next level?
KW: I think playing in a 4-3 makes the most sense for me. As I said earlier, I went down there to the Senior Bowl to prove that I could play out of a two-point stance, but I prefer to play in a 4-3 with my hand in the dirt.
JM: You’ve played for so many great coaches throughout your time at Michigan State. What’s the biggest lesson any coach ever taught you?
KW: That’s a tough question. I learned a lot throughout my time at Michigan State. Defensive ends coach [Chuck] Bullough is always preaching hard work. I really appreciate him for that. It never mattered to him how far you’ve come or what you have or haven’t done. Whether you had a good day or bad day, maybe you’re feeling sore or whatever, he preached that we continue to come in every day and really apply ourselves. We worked harder because of him. It was all about doing the little things to make sure you’re as well prepared as can be on a weekly basis.
JM: Is there one NFL quarterback that you’d love to sack?
KW: I would probably say Lamar Jackson. He’s always breaking people’s ankles out there. You see how elusive he is and how difficult he is to bring down. Being able to bring him down would be pretty cool. He was the MVP for a reason.
JM: The NFL Scouting Combine will be here before we know it. Are you looking forward to any drills in particular? Any goals you care to share with us?
KW: A lot of my goals are still personal and they’re constantly changing as I continue to train and improve. I just wanna show that I’m athletic enough to play in the NFL. I know that there are some big question marks surrounding my athleticism. I’ve proven that I can produce at a high level so now I wanna go out there and show that I am an athletic player. Hopefully I’ll put those questions to bed throughout some of the drills.
Michigan State is projected to be a fringe bowl team in Mel Tucker’s first season as head coach according to Bill Connelly’s SP+ system.
[jwplayer nOXymNLq]
ESPN’s SP+ Ranking system, created by Bill Connelly, is a good barometer to project how a team will be performing, and each offseason Connelly, after recruiting season has concluded and the transfer portal has already gone through a major phase, publishes his preseason rankings as a way to predict team performance the next season. In his first rankings of the season, Connelly’s SP+ system has MSU Football ranked No. 45 overall.
Michigan State’s defense is still ranked highly at No. 21, but their offense is projected by the system to be fairly dismal. The Spartans’ offense is No. 106 in this first SP+ ranking. While fans will and should hope for more, it is the first season under a new, defensive-minded coach and the offense wasn’t exactly thriving under Dantonio these last two years either.
“It’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. I created the system at Football Outsiders in 2008, and as my experience with both college football and its stats has grown, I have made quite a few tweaks to the system. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing. That is important to remember. It is not a résumé ranking that gives credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system is. It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.”
Long-time Michigan State Football Strength and Conditioning Coach Ken Mannie retired Thursday morning after 25 years.
[jwplayer nOXymNLq]
For the past 25 years, MSU Football’s weight room was led by one man: Ken Mannie. Early Thursday morning on Twitter, Mannie announced that he would be retiring from the position.
“Spent the past several months informing family and close friends. Wanted to wait till things settled a bit on the current situation to make this public. So much gratitude to express over the ensuing months…but here’s a start. And players…let’s finish this week off strong!”
Spent the past several months informing family and close friends. Wanted to wait till things settled a bit on the current situation to make this public. So much gratitude to express over the ensuing months…but here’s a start. And players…let’s finish this week off strong! pic.twitter.com/tgppZfRuCT
In the post, Mannie went into more detail on his decision:
“After 45 years in coaching, the last 25 spent here at Michigan State, I have decided to retire,” Mannie wrote. “It is a decision that my wife, Marianne, and I came to a little over a year ago. For the past several years, it has been ‘let’s go one more,’ as coaching, teaching, and mentoring have been my life’s passions. All of the mentors I truly respect and admire are coaches and teachers, and they inspired me to pursue this path – one that has blessed us with so many cherished moments and memories.”
Michigan State football held Mel Tuckers press conference today. MSU Basketball coach Tom Izzo spoke at this presser. Read more here.
Michigan State held an introductory press conference for new football coach Mel Tucker. This press conference featured comments from the one and only Tom Izzo. Izzo spoke to Mel Tucker’s background and welcomed him to the Spartan family.
Here are some of Izzo’s comments below:
Izzo speaking at the Mel Tucker presser: “What makes me happier is that you have Big Ten background. You’ve worked for some of the greats. … I’m going to be here for you, your wife, your family and whatever you need.”
As you may or may not know, Izzo said he would lend a helping hand to this coaching search. Now, Michigan State football has their guy. Tucker has been embraced by fans and players alike all over social media. Even Antjuan Simmons spoke at the press conference.
Mel Tucker has me super hyped for this upcoming football season. Stay with us on SpartansWire for more coverage of Mel Tucker and his new coaching staff.
