Michigan State’s football team is headed in a new direction, as Coach Jonathan Smith was hired to return the Spartans to national prominence. While Coach Smith likely has a difficult season ahead of him, he has started to improve Michigan State’s roster through the transfer portal and recruiting trail. His ability to successfully recruit gives Michigan State a fighting chance of making it to a bowl game this season. 

Coach Smith hopes to move Michigan State back up the college football ranks over the next few years. Michigan State fans hope Coach Smith can efficiently improve the team.

However, Stephen Brooks of 247Sports believes Michigan State’s fanbase has concerns as Coach Smith enters his first season at the helm in East Lansing. 

“Probably the idea that, in this new landscape, MSU has a ceiling of simply reaching the playoff but never winning it,” Brooks said. “One could argue that was true in the four-team model, though MSU’s 2013-15 run serves as evidence the Spartans were on the doorstep. The highs of the [Mark] Dantonio era showed what was possible in East Lansing, and I do detect an underlying concern that the Spartans will never reach those heights again.”

Brooks noted that the most significant questions surrounding Michigan State’s football program revolve around whether the football program and athletic department are ready to transition to a new age of collegiate athletics. College sports, especially college football, are now a player’s market. 

“Will they spend enough? Will they recruit well enough? Is Smith the guy to do it? For a young coach, Smith’s resume is impressive, but he’s also not a proven winner at the highest level,” Brooks said. “MSU fans, after a taste of greatness and especially after the mostly lukewarm decade since, are afraid the best they’ll ever be is a good program, not a great one.”

Generally, the best players in college football go to the highest bidder. College football programs that refuse to adjust to the direction college football has taken have begun to fall off the national stage. Conversely, the ability to pay players has undoubtedly given schools that have not been as successful as they’d like the opportunity to improve quickly.

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It seems hard to imagine there could have been three people better suited to deliver Michigan football’s message.

The pain in tight end Marlin Klein’s voice as he described a “tough” two years for him personally in college that saw him play less than 50 offensive snaps as he had to accept the notion he was not ready to crack the playing rotation.

The grace of Gio El-Hadi, the senior offensive guard who detailed his sleeplses offseason and just how many nights he spent praying to try and make sure that he remained on the best path for himself.

The hunger in TJ Guy’s voice after also waiting years, literally, for his turn to be a ‘guy’ on the Michigan defense.

In a lot of ways, these three guys represent the 2024 Wolverines. A collection of players who are defending national champions in their own right, but are still looking to make their own mark on the field.

On Friday, however, the group had a clear message: Just because they weren’t on the gridiron frequently last year doesn’t mean they’re not ready to uphold the standard that has recently been set.

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“It’s time to go, there ain’t nothing to talk about,” Guy said Friday morning before practice. “Sharpening the tools every day in practice, time to go. Get better every day for your teammates, you know? Everything that I’ve been here … it’s good to see everything is paying off. I’m just ready to seize the opportunity.”

For Guy, that opportunity has taken four years to materialize. The 6-foot-4, 250 pound edge from Mansfield, Mass., has played in 24 games through three years (17 on defense) with last season as his most productive, when he racked up 10 tackles, 1½ for loss and one sack.

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The numbers aren’t terribly impressive, but there’s a good reason for it. He was battling older players like Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo, Mike Morris, Jaylen Harrell and Braiden McGregor every step of the way, each of whom is currently on an NFL roster.

“The past few years, I would describe it as growing pains,” Guy explained. “I came here as a boy, I’m gonna leave here as a man, learning principles of life that translate to football. Just growing, handling situations better, getting better every day.”

For as many delays as Guy has had, El-Hadi can seemingly match him point-by-point. He too has had some chances here and there for the Maize and Blue − he started a few games his sophomore season in 2022 when Trevor Keegan battled through minor injuries − but after three years he’s appeared in 20 games along the line, but only three of them were starts.

He had to sit behind two of the most talented guards in U-M history, Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter, each of his first three years in Ann Arbor, while simultaneously watching three other linemen (Olusegun Oluwatimi, Ryan Hayes and Andrew Steuber) get drafted into the NFL.

El-Hadi admitted there were “opportunities” elsewhere, but said that he’d fought through so much adversity to get to this point, it didn’t feel right to jump ship.

“Didn’t want to leave nowhere else. Didn’t want to go nowhere else. Had opportunities, but decided to stay over here, be patient, and it’s my turn now,” he said. “I want to be a leader for the O-line. I’m giving it my all every day … I want to be one of those dawgs.”

El-Hadi certainly looks the part of a Michigan offensive lineman, standing at 6 feet 5 and a lean 310 pounds, with legs that look like tree trunks and the beard of a man twice his age. The unit has been a finalist for the Joe Moore award as the nation’s top offensive line group three years in a row and won it twice (2021, 2022), but lost every single starter from last year’s squad.

But for guys like El-Hadi, the doubt is only adding fuel to the fire that’s been burning for years.

“First off, we don’t listen to outside noise; we’ve been underestimated before,” he began. “We showed them last year, so every day, we’re bringing our all. … We have one of the best defenses in the country, but we’re going to show the world we have one of the best offenses in the country, too.

“Every day, working together, all 11. Not just an offensive line, all 11 have to work together for the play to work.”

One of those 11 this year figures to be Klein, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end from Cologne, Germany, who recently cracked The Athletic’s ‘freak list’ at No. 90, which cites the 100 most athletic players across the sport.

It’s been a winding road for Klein, who grew up playing soccer then one day told his dad he wanted to try American Football. Sure enough, his father had a friend at a local academy and after one day, that’s all he needed to know he was hooked.

A few years later, Klein moved to Georgia for three years of high school ball as he developed into a top-30 tight end nationally, per 247Sports consensus rankings. He figured when he arrived in Ann Arbor, he’d do what he’d always done: dominate and get playing time.

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But that wasn’t really the case for a tight end who had “never put my hand in the ground.” Instead, much like Guy and El-Hadi, he was stuck behind older, more experienced future pros.

Since he stepped on campus, U-M has had Luke Schoonmaker (second round) and AJ Barner (fifth round) taken in the NFL draft while current junior Colston Loveland is on the pre-season Mackey list as the best tight end in the country.

“Coming to a school like Michigan, that’s really why I came here, you know play with the best, play against the best,” he said. “Michigan is really the top tight end school in the country, so coming out of high school, putting my hand in the dirt, being more physical … that was the biggest challenge for me.”

Klein has put on nearly 50 pounds since he arrived in Ann Arbor prior to the 2022 season and hasn’t lost a game in the regular season. The Wolverines are currently 28-1 since his arrival with the lone loss in the 2022 College Football Playoff semifinal to TCU.

It will certainly be a tall task to keep that streak alive, as Michigan has to break in two new coordinators in Kirk Campbell (offense) and Wink Martindale (defense), plus Sherrone Moore as a first-time head coach all while playing a schedule that includes Texas, Washington, Oregon, USC and Ohio State.

It won’t be easy, but nothing has been for this group of Wolverines − which is exactly why they feel ready.

“I learned that the games are easier than practice,” Guy said of his initial years in Ann Arbor. “It’s been real good to get those opportunities and now that I’m going to be on the field all the time, I’m going to be ready.”

The NCAA handed down a four-year show-cause order for former Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh after determining the coach had impermissible contact with recruits and players during the COVID-19 restricted period. 

The organization determined Harbaugh “engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations.”  The governing body also ruled that Harbaugh was not truthful with investigators about meeting with recruits during the moratorium.

Despite the sanctions that were placed on Harbaugh, Michigan revealed plans to welcome back its national championship winning coach as an honorary captain for the football team’s home opener later this month. The Wolverines host Fresno State on Aug. 31.

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Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel expressed excitement about hosting Harbaugh in Ann Arbor to help kick off the 2024 season.

“I look forward to seeing him,” Manuel said during an appearance on the 1 Star Recruits podcast this week. “He’ll be an honorary captain for our first game. I look forward to having him back in Ann Arbor for that game.”

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Although Harbaugh will be effectively barred from coaching at the college football level for the next few years, he is currently focused on preparing the Los Angeles Chargers for the upcoming regular season. 

Harbaugh coached the Wolverines to the College Football Playoff national championship in January. Just over two weeks later, he was named the next head coach of the Chargers. 

Michigan was previously placed on probation for three years and fined. The football program also faces recruiting limits, all of which were included in a negotiated resolution in the case.

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh instructs on the field during the first day of training camp at The Bolt. (Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports)

Harbaugh also missed Michigan’s 2023 season opener due to a three-game suspension the university self-imposed as part of the recruiting investigation. 

The recruiting case is separate from the NCAA’s investigation into impermissible in-person scouting and sign-stealing allegations that cast a shadow over Michigan’s undefeated 2023 campaign. The Big Ten Conference ultimately suspended Harbaugh for the final three games of the 2023 regular season amid the fallout from the alleged advanced scouting scheme.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines walks the field before the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on October 9, 2021 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)

Connor Stalions is at the center of a probe into an off-campus scouting operation. Stalions, who has not cooperated with the NCAA in its investigation, will break his silence Aug. 27 on Netflix when the documentary “Untold: Sign Stealer” makes its debut on the streaming service.

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Sherrone Moore was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach after Harbaugh bolted for the NFL. He handled the head coaching duties on multiple occasions while Harbaugh served his suspensions last season.

But, Moore is also facing his own allegations as he is suspected of violating NCAA rules related to the investigation into the sign-stealing scandal, sources told The Associated Press.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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