Coach Jonathan Smith has spent most of his first offseason in East Lansing simply trying to make it through an eventful offseason while giving himself and Michigan State the best chance to field a competitive football team this upcoming season. Michigan State is in the beginning stages of a rebuild, which has led to many talks about the future and what to expect, as rebuilds usually take at least a few seasons. 

Make no mistake, the Spartans new leader inherited a mess, a mess he didn’t create, but is now tasked to repair.

Rebuilding a college football program is no easy task, but Coach Smith is familiar with it. When he took over at Oregon State, he faced a rebuild, which he successfully led. After Oregon State won only two games in its first season under Coach Smith, the Beavers would win five games the following season. Oregon State would win at least seven games in three of the following four seasons, including a ten-win season in 2022. 

While Michigan State faced a different type of off-the-field battle with its previous coaching staff than Oregon State did before Coach Smith took over, the respective situations on the field are relatively similar. Oregon State won one game the season before Coach Smith took over and a combined six games the two seasons before. The season before Coach Smith arrived, Michigan State won four games, and five games the season before that. In three of the four seasons before Coach Smith came to East Lansing, Michigan State failed to win more than five games. 

As Michigan State inches closer to the first season under Coach Smith, his experience at Oregon State will undoubtedly help him. However, Coach Smith and his coaching staff must recognize that they face a much more brutal battle in East Lansing. They are in a better conference and have a more challenging schedule than Coach Smith ever faced at Oregon State.

As Coach Smith and his coaching staff prepare for their first season at Michigan State, much of the offseason focus has been on the transfer portal and future recruiting classes. However, Coach Smith and Michigan State have one of the most challenging schedules in the Big Ten and the country.

As Coach Smith and his coaching staff prepare for the upcoming season, they must consider all aspects of what they will face. It is a long season, and Coach Smith and his coaching staff must prepare their team for the physical and mental aspects of playing three teams ranked in the preseason top five within five weeks. It is the type of four-game stretch that can derail a season. Coach Smith and his coaching staff must find a way to use the first few weeks of the season to build the team’s confidence and secure a couple of wins before heading into a four-game stretch no team in the country would want to play.

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LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – The All-American Junior Sheep Show returned to Michigan on Sunday at the Michigan State Livestock Pavilion in Lansing.

The All-American Junior Sheep Show is the largest in the U.S. This was the fifth time the state of Michigan has hosted the event.

The show consists of kids of all ages showing off their sheep and skills.

“You get hooked and this was what we’re finding when we move it to various parts of the country,” said Judy Moore an executive committee member for the All-American Junior Show. “We find that once a family comes they want to come every year no matter where it’s at. So it’s a lot of fun for the kids. The kids have fun. It’s a lot of hard work. A lot of time and effort goes into their animals, but yet when they get here they want to come again another year.”

Next year’s event for the show will be hosted in Springfield Illinois.

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The fatal shooting took place Sunday morning at a block party on Detroit’s east side, according to a release from the Detroit Police Department.

DETROIT — Two people are dead and more than a dozen others were injured after a shooting Sunday in Detroit, according to Michigan State Police, the latest deadly incident involving the use of firearms in the nation.

The shooting took place Sunday morning at a block party on Detroit’s east side, according to a release from the Detroit Police Department. An earlier release from Michigan State Police on social media said there were 19 injured victims and two fatalities.

A 20-year-old woman, who was shot in the head, and a 21-year-old man who was shot in the back were killed, according to WDIV-TV, which also reported the woman was pronounced dead at the scene and the man pronounced dead at the hospital.

Among the injured is a 17-year-old girl in critical condition, 13 people in temporary serious condition, and three in stable condition, according to WDIV.

No one is in custody, according to the Michigan State Police.

“The violence at several block parties over the last three days has been heartbreaking for this city,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. “Young people and innocent neighbors are being put at risk every weekend. Chief (James) White and I will hold a full briefing tomorrow to discuss this spike in violence at these events and our plans to address it.”

John Roach, Duggan spokesman, said they understood there were other instances of violence at other block parties over the weekend. Specific details were not immediately available.

The topic will be addressed at a press conference slated for Monday, Donakowski told the Free Press.

‘We can’t continue to have this level of violence’

City Councilman Scott Benson lives just a couple blocks away from where the shooting took place and said he was “shaken” on Sunday. He was asleep when it happened but he’s heard of a block party spilling over, yelling, and screams for help in reports from his community leaders.

He was told multiple guns were recovered from the scene — nine, according to his information. Benson questioned why anyone would feel the need to bring a gun to a block party.

“Phone, keys, gun? Why is the gun on the list?” he said, urging: “We can’t continue to have this level of violence.”

George Preston, President of the Mohican Regent Homeowners Association, which organizes monthly meetings to encourage residents to come up with solutions that affect their communities, lamented the deadly shooting.

“It’s heartbreaking to see that someone has lost their life here,” said Preston, who plans on talking and listening to community members about the violence in the neighborhood.

Michigan State Police is assisting the Detroit Police Department in investigating the shooting and asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 800-773-2587.

Fourth of July weekend shootings across the US

Violence and mass shootings surge during the summer months as temperatures rise and people gather in large crowds for activities. Each year, the Fourth of July ranks as the most violent day of the year, according to Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox.

The Gun Violence Archive — which records gun violence incidents — defines mass shootings as a minimum of four victims, excluding the suspect, injured or killed by gunfire. Since the Fourth of July, at least 16 people were killed and 167 injured in several shootings across the country, according to the most recent data from the Gun Violence Archive.

These incidents include a shooting in Florence, Kentucky, that left four people dead and three people injured at a 21st birthday party on Saturday.

A series of unrelated shootings also occurred around Chicago following Fourth of July celebrations. The largest shooting happened at around 12:15 a.m. Friday, when eight people were wounded after two people exchanged gunfire.

Contributing: Ahjané Forbes, USA TODAY

Jalen Williams is an intern at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jawilliams1@freepress.com. Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. She has covered various topics, from local businesses and government in her hometown, Miami, to tech and pop culture. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz