The following is a presentation of Playfly Sports Properties in Michigan State Sports Properties.
Well. A pleasant, good evening, everybody. It is Tuesday, March
twenty eighth. I'm your host, Jason Strayhorn, along with my co hosts
Otis Wiley and Jayu Choot. You come Grec and this is Sparta. Thank
you for watching the show. If you are watching it live, don't forget
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the same. Have an idea for a future episode, let us know in
the comment section below. And now back to the show. Gentlemen, we
got a jam packed show today. First of all, I want to ask
you, guys, how how was your weekend? I'm still getting over you
know that tough lost stuff. I'm still getting over it. I considered it
last Thursday weekend. But other than that, you know, it was good
to get home and relax and and hang hang a little bit. You give
give my bearings, get breath, gets rest. I was out for the
count this past weekend, so you know, the sickness caught up to me.
But yeah, yeah, you've been on the road a lot. I
mean you were from Chicago, Columbus, New York. I mean that's a
lot of traveling. So I'm glad to get you a little rest. And
you know, it looks like you have the good spartan attire, spartan strong
on. Oh yeah, little you know. And Jay, you this man
this guy board walking In case you didn't know, Hey, that's actually look
I think you're living. You live in vicerosity, thinking like that would have
been one of your nil dealers for show. Absolutely, yes, Rex and
the land Shark and Dublin's those three rotation. You know that's that's competitors.
So you can't really, yeah, you can't. You wouldn't have an exclusive
compete, right, lives, different vibes. Yeah, that land Sharks you
get, you get Thursday exclusivity. With Jayu. It was sometimes story Steve
Smith, what's up with you guys? The boys are back? I like
that, Well, we're gonna talk about the game. Gotta cover the game
that Michigan State loss. Unfortunately, Michigan State loses the game to Kansas State
in the Sweet sixteen ninety eight to ninety three, and overtime fellas what's your
thoughts. I'm still getting over this man, and it's hard. It's hard
to talk about. We gotta do it. I mean, you know,
it was that that night, the night of the game, Like I'm it
was just a somber walk in New York. It was just like a that
was so glad to be New York. You know how when Eddie Murphy came
from comes and come to New York. It's out happy, like I'm ready
to go, ready to attack the city, have some fun. And then
we lose and it was a summer man walking to like what we're gonna do
next? Man, Like just we were that close, and you know,
I think I sat down and finally said, listen, I'd rather go out
like that. They'll go out where I'm we're getting blown out or as like
truly like a Cinderella story. Somebody beat us bad like we fought tooth and
nail boys went at it, played their best ball during the tournament play.
So I have nothing but respect for how we did play. But it's tough
when that the team to beat us, they lose us to the next team,
which I think we had a good run if we would have took care
of Kansas State. But it's the final four. This is one of those
unprecedented matchup, man, which is really the glorious to march madness. Man.
Anybody can take it. And this is the proven fact this year twenty
twenty three that uh, this is gonna be a good one. I mean
think about it. And you got FAU in the final four and Miami.
You know those are two South Florida team, San Diego State and Yukon.
Hats off to them. And you can't believe the Kansas State lost after that
great performance by Noel Man, I mean that was crazy. The kid that
nineteen assists. Check out him in action here. Man. Now let's let's
talk about the other guy who just randomly wants to go hit five threes on
us that ain't even touched the arc sometimes, but this is a guy who
you have to make sure he's accounted for. But like just the back door
passes, man was like almost he was on he was on All Pro and
we was all rookie for some of those some of those plays where you're like,
you got to find him and he's making these magical That's when I knew
we were in trouble. When the kids on one ankle and then he has
his he has this Mateen Cleeve's moment there. You can't tell me that's not
gonna be in that one shining moment, you know montage at the end there
he has this Mateen Cleeves moment there. But when when this play happened right
here and he on one legs does a spinner ruining banks it in, you
know, and I just I'm like, oh boy, you know it's gonna
be a it's gonna be a dog fight here. But you know, also
to give the Spartans credit, they played their best ball at the end.
They played team football, team basketball, they played you know, good defense,
and they just broke down a little. That pick and roll really killed
us, you know against Kansas State. But you know, I'm excited for
what the future holds for Michigan State basketball. I'm excited for you know,
I hope, you know, some of those guys you know, choose to
come back because they they got a taste of going that far in the tournament
and they're like, man, we were this close, and with the pieces
we have coming in, we have the opportunity to even you know, go
to that next level. So I hope that's the thought process behind, you
know, talk Tyson, Walker, Malie Call and those guys you know,
decided to come back for another year. Yeah, you know, you know,
just just just before we move on from this game, what do you
guys think about this particular play where it seemed to be that Noel was talking
with the coach, arguing with the coach, and and he calls the play
and then then look at this alley you uh, is that a called play
or was that him just noticing the back door cut that seemed to be open
all night? I couldn't see obviously, no one has a view of him
where like he could have been looking at both Johnson and coach. But like,
this is that football play you will to the sidewhere acting like you're about
to go out and snapped the ball like even I mean aj is on him
defending, like you know, the perimeter of defending that passion lane, and
I feel like he took his eyes off of that interaction. Like I don't
even know how, but you got to know, you guys back here that
can high fly and the number two, number one score, you got to
know at all times, like you need to be up hip the pocket to
be honest with you like this is like a man o man, check me
man, Like, don't let no back door happen. And it was when
he did it, I was like, that was just saucy, That's all
I said. St Right, Because of being there, it's a lot different
than getting the views if you get at home. You know, I was
saying a lot of exploitorves after television at the time and everything else, you
know, sitting in my living room. But you're at the venue seeing this,
and you know, Doug hagen On just said, you know it was
one hundred percent set up. You listen to Jay Wright during the game,
the former Villanova coach who's won national titles. He said it wasn't a play
called. It was something that he just noticed. He thought he was really
arguing with the coach at the time. What do you guys really think about
that? You know what, I think there's something you know, it's a
tough one. I think it was actually a play call. I think that's
something that they worked on in practice, you know, goofing around and you
know, saying, hey, you know, if this happens, you know,
we're going to do this, you know, if if we catch them
off guard. It's those things that you work feeling like you know in football,
you work something miraculously happened, and then you get to thinking like,
wait a second, this could work, you know. So I think it
was a play call and uh, you know, something that they worked on.
They obviously had. If that didn't work, you know, just continue
to you know, call you know, call your set and go from there.
But uh, you know, it was just too with the two and
everything like that. I just think there was some coding in there, and
I think it was a design play. It was like a hidding ball right
right. I mean the fact that he caught it and it was a reverse
alley you dunk man. That man, that man was sorry, he still
had he still had time to elevate even higher. Look, just oh,
saucy, it has to be us though, man, Like why us man
cool? Cool? Basic defense and three balls people are We got a couple
of times that the old truck bounce the ball off the back of the player
early. You know, listen when when when ty Walker hit that three ball
out and like sized it up and his legendary little side step boom. I
was like, all right, we ain't leaving here without no dub right,
Like you felt that, like it was crazy and they ain't just something.
They responded quickly. It was like one going back and forth, but one
I got to get a shout out to Art. My guy bought me a
bourbon on third Wednesday night. I actually forgot because it was one of those
you can tell us what you buy. You know. How was the energy
inside of the garden? I mean you were there, tell it was electric?
You know. It's a It was a different feel than what we had
in Madison Square Garden. We played Rutgers because we only had a small it
was a home game for Rutgers, so it technically every everything was filled with
Scarlett night. And so when you have these matchups, you have four teams.
Obviously you have your section that's already designated. So like it was tough
for us to uh to be across from the bench as a fan base versus
being behind. And but the advantage, which I think is truly an advantage
is Kansas State fans and section was right behind their bench, and so you
have to like that was a mechanism if we had to keep like responding,
responding with you know, the little Green God Whites. And you know,
there was times where I really wanted to be one of them sexual leaders,
but I was like running up and down the aisle, you know, like
come on, because there was times where you felt that momentum and you was
like we got to take advantage of it, get up like Spartan, like
go crazy, right, And there was a little bit of those times and
moments where I feel like we should have been able to take that that momentum
from a fan fan fandom fan base standpoint. But it was electric, man,
Like it was one It felt like we were just in Columbus or it
was in Brezl and it was rocking. It was back and forth, and
you know, once everybody I felt bad for the next teams playing because it
was such a great game. As soon as it happened, like obviously we
all kind of left upset, like people dispersing like it was not that that
much. Uh, you know there's a lot of people there, but not
a lot of people, if that makes sense, right. Yeah, did
I hear something about that Madison Square Garden curse. I just saw a comment
about that that I don't know. I didn't know there was one. Msg
kurse lives on. I didn't know that. And we lost in the Who
do we lose to a tournament there last time? Ah? It was somebody.
But what we gotta do is give a special shout out, a birthday
shout out to Doug hagad Oh, Happy birthday, Happy birthday, Happy birthday,
Dougie, Doug. All of us here, this is spared a happy
birthday. I have a special one. Yeah. Cheers, Cheers Duggie,
cheers man, love your brother. I remember when I was sixteen, finally
gonna get that driver's all right, you know? Moving on with a j.
Holgard being named to the All Regional Team. Fellas this man was in
his bag, like I felt like he finally said, I got a big
square body frame as a guard. I'm going to go toe to toe.
I'm going let it lose. Shoot. He played like this was his last
game, and you could tell like he was there man, like just the
look. This is aggression where it's like I'm going I decided what I'm going
to do and I'm going to go get it. But there was a period
of time in the game where he was sitting and I know he had he
had more files and they wanted to manage that. But there was a moment
where he was out where it was like everybody kind of looked like, why
isn't Aj back in because he was a consistent score but this man had that
look of the dog get him the whole game and I'm excited to see what
he's going to do in the off season leading to the next season. But
congratulations. It seemed like the scouting report was like they didn't believe he could
go with his left and they were wrong about that lefty, lefty lefty.
If we ain't had him back to back and was he put up, like
it would have been a different story like we losing, we were lost by
double figures because he got he kept us in the game. Yeah, and
you know, when you look at next year, as you brought up,
we got a couple of McDonald's, all Americans, that will be Spartan's in
the Green and White playing the night at nine o'clock on the ESPN Savior Booker
and Jammy Fears. Yeah, what does Lebron say? Jay, he was
like Cheezburger Club, they call it club club, being cheesy. Exavier was
there in Columbus while we were playing, and you can tell that man is
he gives you that Kevin Durant, I'm Ya's tall and you know he can
go one and five, play the one guard all the way to the five
position, and I'm excited to see him join what we already have on the
court now. Jemy Fears, Jerry Fears, I've told you guys, this
guy is your typical is old gritty guard can get after. It reminds you
a lot like Walker reminds me of Nate Robinson back when you know growing up.
Is that he can dunk, he can he can go through and transition,
he can dish it, but also shoot the rock. And that's what
we need to make sure that if Ty does decide not to come back,
we got somebody to come in and make sure that Trey Holloman and a j
consistently grow in the front court. But he's gonna be a great addition to
the front court. Yeah, I'm excited for them. You don't have the
opportunity today. All I can say is for them, you know, enjoy
it now, enjoy those he like, what's the step on? And coach
get his hooks in you. You know he's gonna coach you hard. He's
gonna get you, He's gonna get after you. So have that mental toughness
you know when you come to East Lanton. But enjoy it, you know,
well earned and well deserved accolades tonight. Did we see the dunk contest
at all the highlights? Do we see that? Did you see Brownie?
You didn't see it? No? Yeah, man, he was he was.
Hey, it looked like bro. Look it looked like Lebron. I'll
tell you that really like he's hello, man, I'm proud of he's taking
that step. But it was a good, good one and the number one
pick was in the in the dunk contest too. He had a nice one.
Hey, I wish we had what We're going to get your footage on
that next week. Are in a couple of days because we don't have it
right now. Didn't know about that. Otis got to tell us before the
show, just you know, thank god we got the crack. The production
team in the background here, Tony Tony g Tony Castella. The Madison Square
Garden Curse lost to Rutgers and then MSG this year, Kansas last year,
Kentucky in nineteen and sixteen, and Duke and eleven in the champions Class.
So that's that's what that's about. Okay. So now we're all on the
same page about the Madison Square Garden Curse. So we're gonna turn that page
talk about women's basketball. Man, guys, Hey, the coaching search,
what is going on? What are we gonna who's going to take over for
retiring Susan Merchant who stepped down recently. Yeah, I think, you know,
going into this uh Michigan State, I believe you know, with all
the coaching, you know, the changes and everything that's happened. Every every
new hire has been kind of a splash. You know. Hockey coach Nightingale
comes in there, he's making a splash. Coach Tucker came in making a
splash. Coach is a he's a staple there, so he's not going anywhere.
But I think, uh, for the women's team, they have to
make a splash and a coach and hire. They have to go after one
of these big time assistants. They have to go after one of these schools
with with a you know, a great head coach that's been established there and
he's and he's uh a staple he or she's a staple there and one of
their systems. You know, pull that aside, pull that knowledge, pull
that you know, what it takes to manage a team, a run team.
And what that's going to do is it's going to create a buzz to
East Lanston. It's going to attract the talent to East Slants and we have
to be able to recruit all over the country. And I think going outside
and making a big splash is what's gonna what it's gonna take to be able
to recruit throughout the country and get back to the to the days where we
were, you know, in the tournament year and a year out, you
know, going to h final Force and everything like that. Yeah, you
know, I think that you're right. You look at women's basketball now and
it's it's a very main stream sport. It's not what we consider the Olympic
sports or in the olden days, we called it non revenue the Olympic Sports
Mission. You know, when you look at Missis State basketball obviously with alegend
like tom Izzo for men's basketball, it only is natural for the women's program
to take some of that shine along with them. And you want, you
have the ability to get that splash higher. So we hope. I mean,
I'm thinking, why not go after a power five dominant, you know,
assistant that can come in here and turn some hiss. I don't know
w NBA, it doesn't matter to me. We don't need to shoot low,
shoot high exactly. That's where we are. We're blue, and I
truly believe like the women's game is at an all time high, and you
know, I've seen it where I've seen the programs and personally coming from my
last job at the NCAA and working with the w b c A at the
women's final four year and year after five years, like you see the programs
are consistently getting there, and you see you see the product of what they're
putting out there and what we absolutely have to aim to be. And it's
truly like I see those programs as winning. Like let's look at don Stately,
she is absolutely the goat. Like she is an absolutely goat. When
you're making on the A Flat commercials with Nick Samon and you kind of replaced
Prime a little bit for basketball, you to go right. And she she's
not only like winning right, she's winning in the team culture because those those
women stay like when you see them behind the scenes, it is truly like
locked and loaded. Nothing's breaking that bond, and when they get on the
court, they're deadly. And I feel like we got to we gotta get
a coach that's gonna be strong in the recruiting game but also reinvigorate that spartan
tradition on the women's basketball side that has it hasn't It hasn't been there,
and it's really probably a testament to like COVID and and post COVID and all
the things that we have to deal with. But you know, I think
these girls, truly we have some talent. We have talent on our squad
now. So I'm just looking forward to seeing who we do bring an announcing
here. But we've got to make sure we give them the support that they
need because it can be a game changer. Yeah, Otis is right on
that. The support piece is really huge. We have to give them the
support because the game is growing. It's growing mentally. Just a couple of
days ago, Tom Brady bought uh Steak into the Las Vegas Aces team.
He owns a w NBA team. Now Tom Brady does the game has grown.
You're watching team. I'm you know, flipping through now watching the women's
tournament. Here. One of the reasons I'm pulling for LSU is I love
their coach. You know, I think she's a brash figure. You know,
there's an Instagram page dedicated to her, her outfits and everything that has
drawn attention to the game of women's basketball, and that should continue to do
that. And she's going to continue to get you know, girls to go
there and play because they want to be part of that splash Michigan State.
We cannot just sit back and take the safe route. We can't just take
the route to just survive and hope in you know, five years, we
build something. We got to start building now. Make us splash. Now,
get girls on campus, get that recruiting vib going inject some energy in
the bres and for the women's sports, for the girls basketball team, and
let's get after it. Make a splash. Listen, look at all those
four teams and going on to the final four, on the least one of
those assistants on that staff they got a call from me. Trust you,
I mean like hey, you look at hey, you know, especially all
of South Carolina staff make the call. Yeah, yeah, the whole the
whole South. You gotta do it. Pick up that phone. Man.
That's uh, our athletic director Alan Howard's job. He can do what he
wants to do and hopefully, you know, collectively, I think Miss State
will make the right decision, but I like the energy behind getting that splash.
Hire guys, and we talked about the what is a Twitter page designated
for the outfits at the coach from LSU wears and we have that too from
our coaching in our football program. But before we get into that, because
we've got a special guest to talk about that program, we're gonna listen to
this message from our friends over at I House introducing new sweet and savory crates.
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earn free food with every order Eggs and Baking. It is time to bring
on the man of the hour, none other than two four seven Sports Home
Corey Robinson, who joins the show. Welcome to the show. This is
part of Corey Robinson. How you doing, Brud? Have you guys been
inside my man? We should have played we should have played that music.
Welcome back. I know you're I know you're a football guy. But who
should have that women's basketball team? Head coach? You gonna put them on
the spot, Hey, come to the chase. I don't think I got
any names there, but I agree with you guys. I think it's got
to be a big splash hire. I think Michigan State is nice enough,
but they have great facilities, and they let the women's team, you know,
have nice locker rooms and all that. That probably stack up better than
a lot of the women's teams across the country. So I think there's a
lot for them to sell, and I think they should go big for it
too, like you guys mentioned. But yeah, I definitely won't have a
name necessarily, but but I think they could go big and it'd make a
lot of sense, a lot of a lot of change. You're you're absolutely
right. I mean, you spent a lot of time covering the state football
program, which is a pretty much a full time gig here when you look
at all the moving parts that's been going on in the program, and you
recently wrote an article about the departure, so called departure of Saide Khalif,
who was general manager of Michigan State. You know, talk a little bit
about, you know, what you see in the program, what you're hearing
as far as like the high level recruits that have been here, and you
kind of wrote that in the article, But we just want to talk to
you and see get your feel where the program is right now. Yeah,
I think in the article, I it's probably a little critical, but you
know, it's pretty honest with it. I think there is a lot of
highs while he was here. The twenty twenty three class finished twenty second in
the country, which is the best recruiting class they've had in a while.
But there's kind of those lows too, where you see maybe they could have
done things, handled things a little bit differently, and maybe they could have
been in the top fifteen I think, had they maybe prioritized a few different
people differently than they did. But then I just thought too, I mean,
I mentioned the turnover in my article with the off field. I'm not
talking about the assistance or any of that. That's always going to happen.
Guys get promotions, but in the recruiting department to creative, like all of
the off field coaches, I thought, there's maybe too much turnover there.
That was more not necessarily a coincidence, because a lot of those guys,
you know, I talked to while they were here, talk to them that
and talk to former players, so it's not like a one or two guy
thing. It was there. There is an issue that a lot of people
brought up with it. But I mean, at the end of the day,
I think he did a fine job and maybe elevated some of the expectations
recruiting wise, But I did kind of feel like maybe they were spinning their
wheels a little bit at this point of the process, and maybe getting a
fresh voice in there and kind of changing up what the plan is I think
can be positive for the program. Because I mean you mentioned, uh,
it was probably months ago, Jason when you said what's the identity of the
program, And I think maybe that's the best way to sum up what we
saw the last few months. It's almost like you didn't know what you were
covering. You know, sometimes they were this, sometimes they were meating potatoes,
and I know on our board we talked about it today about how they
haven't been as a social media driven lately, which that's by design for them,
but even that, I think they maybe they pulled back too far and
there's a happy medium that they got to find. So when they go in
that new direction, maybe maybe that that new person and that new voice will
kind of find that happy medium that understands what Michigan State is and where they
need to be with things. M Man. That's what we talked about,
Like the pipeline. I think it was also where when we lost out on
it was like what was the strategy for the next person, or how do
we how are we not attacking all of them equally showing them equally loved so
that when that number one guy does flip or he does commit elsewhere or sign
elsewhere, like we still are showing equal love where. In my opinion,
if I'm the recruit and you know, I'm waiting to kind of get that
offer, I feel like there's been some guys we've missed on them that have
waited, like talent wise, that went somewhere else and have played and tremendous,
have been a competitor, been a contributor on their teams and Power five
like good teams have went elsewhere when they had us as number one. Like
that's what some of that kind of gray area question happened where, like what
is the DNA strategy for us? Where? You know last ju Lie,
we were popping. Everyone was loving us, right, We're everywhere, but
like point like, I think we just fizzled out a little bit and it
caught up to us. Man. That's just my personal opinion, but I
feel like that's kind of maybe the impetus of like what what Yeah, that's
that's pretty much where it started showing with me too, is because in June,
Like June was that that month that they had all the officials and everybody
was buzzing, but like, uh, we kind of knew where a lot
of the recruitments were with some of them where they were probably running second or
third with guys that they were thinking they might have been first with which obviously
they were not. Uh, which is fine, you know. He's like,
it's not that you don't swing for the fences, But I think you
could have brought in a lot of really talented football players during June those June
visual official visits and had them be a part of some of that craziness,
and you probably would have walked away with a lot more commitments in June.
Because I think I read used that and we'll go with it as correct.
They've got yeah, yeah, they got six commits out of thirty six visitors
in June's not that's not the percentages you want to hit on, but I
mean I think there's And that's the thing like Justin and I and Steven Brooks
al and True and like to the our message board or we p message board
at Schalayne like in August, like people are like, all right, so
we missed out on these guys. Who's next? And there's like nobody because
they didn't set the board up to do it. Which give them credit though,
because they really rebounded in that November December period, getting a quarterback like
Sam Leavett, who's really good and a lot of good players. So so
you got to give them credit where it's due. But I feel like there's
a few spots that, especially defensive back, that they maybe could have hit
bigger in the summer months and sure or shored that up quicker. So my
question for this is, and I'm you know, I may be. You
know, with the chain of college football and everything like that, does every
team have a general manager? Because I know when we played there was a
recruiting coordinator. There was no general manager. You know, doesn't when you
had when you went the Bills, they had one NFL. Yes, But
when I was at Michigan State, you know there was a recruiting coordinator.
There was not a general manager and a roster management team and all that stuff.
Does every other team have one of those? And is there a need
for that? Does that pull the coaches out of it? The coaches now
used to recruit guys like the coach Mitchell's. They used to go to your
house Otis and you know you would you wouldn't say, coach go to my
house, but he was your coach. His big size and his five five
body frame. But you know, like those coaches do you feel like having
a general manager or a roster management take away that relationship from that recruiting that
coach that's recruiting the player. No, if they do it right, then
it's just an extension to help you out. You know, if they can
say, all right, this is our board, this is who I want,
so then you know they can kind of keep them warm, keep them,
you know, keeping up with them. What do you need? Are
we showing you enough love or are we talking to you enough? All of
that stuff. But I mean, at the end of the day, you
guys all played, Like the recruiting guys are all great, but at the
end of the day, you're going to go play because you had that relationship
with your position coach or you know, you had that relationship with the head
coach. You know that stuff's still always going to matter. But having a
guy that you know is running that whole thing and kind of running the point
guard, making sure everybody's on line. You got your vacation or not your
vacations, but your recruiting trips planned out right. You make sure the you
know, the airfares taking care of you know, it's basically just having an
assistant make sure every things running smoothly, and then you know, they can
set up what's going to happen in the the official or unofficial visits the recruiting
guys, and then they can have a meeting about it before like hey,
this is this is what we're going to do this weekend and go through it.
So yeah, I think it's definitely important. I think different programs,
it's more of an SEC model where it's how Michigan State has it as big
as they do. Uh, you know, they'll put different names on it,
chief of staff, general manager and stuff like that, so all of
it's the same. It's an SEC model, and I definitely think it holds
a lot of value to have that. You just got to have the right
people in place. Man, you know, you look at that. I
mean, that's a good question. Jay. You the new way that college
football is progressing with you know, general manager's roster management. You know,
I'm seeing this stuff. You know, guys, you as you know through
the recruiting trail with my sons, there is a lot of this. This
is not unique to Michigan State at all, which mel Tucker, He's bringing
that SEC mindset to Michigan State because you have to do it to be able
to keep up. You know, Corey talk about you you you guys at
two four seven. I mean, you do a phenomenal job. There's a
lot of recruiting services You've got rivals on through all these other places two four
seven, and you specifically, you guys do a lot of communication with like
recruits, parents, all kinds of people in order to get the information that
you get, right, Yeah, Yeah, definitely, it's all about kind
of getting the connections all over the place because I mean a lot of the
you know, like your son's going through it at IMG, he's busy,
he's doing school work, he's got football, he's got I don't know,
you know, So then we hit up the parent or the coach. You
know, it's easier to easier to get to them. And I mean to
your talking about a lot of these kids, you know, like there their
parents are more mature, they're they're not hiding things from you. Like a
lot of them are just going to be like, hey, this is how
it is. And if you know, they don't want it to be public,
then they say, hey, don't make this public, you know,
but they'll still give you the truth. And that's all you really want like
that. So then when I come on your show or something else, I
actually sound like I know what I'm talking about a little bit. But it's
definitely about relationships all over. And I mean former players are huge too,
because you know, you guys know what it looks like. So I could
be I could go send someone's tape and be like, hey, what do
you guys think about this guy in? Or hey do you want to get
this to the staff and stuff like that. So it's just all over the
place. I just got to a network and connect with as many people as
possible to do it. Corey, I think there's a there's a I have
a major question because, like if I go back to when we're recruits,
we're looking at our schools, and then like we have all of the shuffling
going on right now, what is what are the coaches? What's the message
when you're in the living room talking to a recruit and trying to get them
to decide to select us. You know, I'm looking at our twenty twenty
four class and guys are making their decisions. You know, we lose,
we lose out of baby to go to he's going to Virginia Tech. But
like, what are coaches now doing to discuss with parents and recruits to decide
to come Michigan State with all the stuff that's been happening. Yeah, I
mean I think now you just kind of, you know, in the business,
it's always moving forward, positive type of deal with it. So I
mean you're still selling, you know, the education. I think that's more
important and easier to sell. Every visit, whether it's unofficial or official.
Michigan State will bring in academic advices to talk to the the prospects and their
parents to kind of, you know, show them, hey, this is
how we do it here. Uh. And then the strength and conditioning that's
a huge thing. So you bring in a Novak and have him kind of
be like, hey, this is what we do. This is how we
individualize it. Uh yeah, Amber Einstein with the nutrition. So I mean
it's very detail oriented how they do it. I mean, obviously it helps,
like if you're Alabama and you can point to ten first round picks,
the the hardware, hardware, so like some of it, some of it's
still pretty easy for some of them. But I mean, like that's the
thing, honestly, it's building relationships and trust with them because like if you
go to Michigan State and then you have an injury, you know, you're
you're really low during that. Are you going to have coaches that are going
to be there to kind of check on you, make sure you're doing all
right? Uh? Off the field? You know, stuff like that matter.
So it's just building trust in a relationship and actually caring for the kids,
you know, and not faking it, which I think all of us
can kind of figure out. You know, college coaches there are really crafty
at saying what they want to with a thing, but you can't really fake
like how you make someone feel. So just making the kids feel like they're
important is the big the biggest seller, right, So Corey, So when
I was I originally committed to Michigan State under Bobby Williams. Bobby got fired.
Then I opened my recruiting process again, committed under John l My first
year, I had Reggie Mitchell for a running backs coach. He left went
to Illinois. Then I had Ben Sermon, he left went to the LA
well the Saint Louis Rams at the time, went to the NFL. Then
I had Dan enos So with that, like it happens, these coaching changes
happened all the time. And then on top of that, John l gets
fired and then coach D'Antonio comes in. So now look at all those coaching
changes that happens all the time, but now it's you know, more magnified.
It's there's some brighter light shined on it. So like this year Michigan
State lost BT to the to the NFL, they lost the other back to
Georgia Tech. And now Saheed's you know, leaveing and stuff like that,
and from the outside, you know, people are there's some type of panic.
Like what do you say to spartan nation who's panicking right now? Like
I think all of it's just like it's in your own bubble, so when
it happens to someone where else, you don't notice, you know as much.
But I mean, if you look at it, Alabama lest their defensive
coordinator, that ole miss right, But but they're not going to freak out.
They lost their offensive coordinator, but they're not gonna freak out because they
know that they're just that's just part of the deal. You lose people,
you bring new people in, you know, just like players, uh here,
players graduate, players transfer, new ones come in. It's always constantly
evolving. So uh and the same the commits, like Michigan State has a
de commitment and and you know people panic, but Georgia lost the highly ranked
running back a couple of days after Nick marsh had decommitted from Michigan State,
and you know they just handle it better because it is what it is.
You lose some, you win some that at the end of the day,
you just got to come out on top and win. That's with whoever you're
lining up or whoever's coaching you. Yeah, it seems like every year Alabama
has a new o C look look a well oil machine exactly. Yeah,
you go there, you go there to get mentorship, you go back out
right. You know, I see Steve Smith say relax and like what coach
to mind is when you know this is coming from coach Barnett, but like
when you're when you're always on the defense mode playing defense, you got to
cover the deepest of the ball and post route streak routes and you're in phase
with that player and the ball's thrown deep. Coach Barnett will say, you
got to go to cool school. You can't panic. You got to be
a cool car and collect and see the ball through past breakup or intercept the
ball, and I feel like we are going to be okay because really,
at the end of the days, players play coaches coach, and we just
got to put dubs on the end result. That's really what it is.
But we got to make sure these kids are coming in here. One.
I feel like choosing the school because of the education and the experience, but
on top of it, you're gonna have a great experience on the field too,
and then posts career you're gonna either go pro in NFL or anywhere else
in the industry. And that's what it's supposed to be. Stick to the
basics, right, So I'm not panicking because I feel like you got to
pull the weeds where they may. You got to push forward. What coach
do you always said to us? Do you? Everybody? Everybody? So
my thing is this for all the people that are that are panicking, all
right, I think a panic elevates after you have a five and seven season.
If all this changes would have happened after the year we went to the
Peach Bowl, I think there will be a lot less panic than there is
right now. I think the sky people feel the sky falling because we didn't
have the season that we anticipated on happened last year. So I think that's
why there's a lot of that, you know, sky's falling mentality going on
right now. But I think you know, we were right the ship and
at the end of the day, don't get it. We'll be the first
one on this platform saying, you know, if if we have another season
like we had this year, hey, you know, are we making the
right moves? You know? But for now, stay the course. Yeah.
I think it's always about you know, just like if you're winning,
people are happy. If you're not, you're not. So I think right
now Missigon State's right where they need to be. They're in spring practice.
You know, this is the chance, like to to get rid of that
bad taste that last year left in a lot of people's mouths. Like every
question they've had this off season, every question they'll continue to have until the
season gets rolling, can be answered or fixed with winning, period. So
I mean, like, like that's what it is. Win. So we're
laughing because there's a there was a there was a comment that just was up
there. He said, well, I'm in panic mode back up there.
This sky is not falling in big time the sky, mister bone Man,
you are better than that the sky. We need people that's in the alley
ready to fight and not ready like sweating and scared running away. We'll be
good, stand, stand firm by. What's up? What's the buzzy hearing
about springball? Yeah? I think you know, it's all positive, like
it always is. But I think there's a lot of a lot of optimism
because of the twenty two class. Uh, you know, kids kind of
come before they sign or they sign, you know, everyone's all excited about
them. And then that true freshman year. You know a lot of freshmen
don't play major, major roles, but they get their feet wet all of
that stuff. But fans will have a tendency of forgetting about the kids a
little bit. And I think you're going to see a lot of kids from
the twenty twenty two class make some huge jumps and huge impacts this fall coming
up. So defensive backs, I think the twenty two class there, people
probably forget how big and how town and that class was. I think they're
probably going to make up the majority of the secondary and the too deep and
starting lineup. So that's one spot you got Kate and Howser at quarterback.
You know, he redshirted last year, got into one game. Just a
physically talented kid that can elevate the ceiling. It's just a matter of is
he ready mentally and to kind of do the job. You know what we've
heard out of it, which is not a ton because they they don't try
to talk to us as much as they can. But he's had a really
strong spring camp so far and he's probably exceeded where he needed to be.
But it's one weekend and he's got to keep stacking the practices in weeks.
But then I think too getting the running back Nathan Carter, yes did say
that his games then got you, but but yeah, get the running game
back. I think Malik Carr and key On Coleman, they mentioned today them
not doing basketball this year allowed them to really get winter conditioning and focus in
on football. So I think those are two guys that you know are athletic,
uh mismatch problems. Getting them to be completely in the entire year on
football is going to pay off for both of those guys, I think,
which pays off for Michigan State. And then defensively, I mean like last
year. I don't know that I've seen a team that had so many like
key injuries from the first string, second string, third string, and the
defensive line. Uh, you know, the beginning first couple of games,
you lost your leaders, ave your Henderson and Darius Snow you know. So
it's just so much where now you're getting a lot of good football players back
that were out with injuries or suspensions, and then you're bringing in, uh,
some really good transfer pieces on the defensive line that will come in right
away. Jacobi WindMan and Breule coming back for another year is going to help
the linebacker corps a ton, I think. So. I mean, it's
just that and that and everybody coming into this year pissed off because they they
didn't do what they needed to do last year. You drew, you you
hit a really good point there. And to arch point, there is a
very good point that Art just put put down here in the comments section there
last year being a thirty way year with all the injuries and suspensions and everything
like that. I totally agree with that one hundred percent. But Corey,
you drew, You drew a good point there with Malik and Kean not playing
basketball and that's something. At the IHOP signing in Brighton, you know,
talk had an opportunity to talk to Kean about and you know, he's he
was excited about the fact that he gets an entire off season with his team.
He was very excited. He was very vocal about it. You know,
he's like, don't get him wrong, he loves basketball, but he
loves football. He bleeds football. And the fact that he gets the opportunity
to work out with his with his brother, with his brothers, his dogs,
that he's going to be out there in September on the field with in
Spartan Stadium and build and grow that chemistry with them those off season workouts.
The opportunity to get bigger, stronger, faster. Football strength is different than
basketball strength, and he gets to do that all off season, go in
and have an entire great spring ball. Could think about it now, if
he would have played basketball, he would just be getting to springball now,
and then there will be that time of acclamation. He's gonna have to put
that weight back on, that football weight back on. He's gonna have to,
you know, get that football agility because it's different than basketball agility.
The route run, the chemistry with the quarterback and everything like that. He
has this entire offseason to do that, and I'm telling you watch out next
year for number zero on that field. Yes, the same thing I did
with Malite Car. I ran into him at a camp because Malie Carr is
really great at supporting the next generation of like high school kids coming up and
all of that. You know, you go to a camp in Detroit area,
Malite Cars just there but like I mean, he's just there supporting,
whether it's his brother there, someone else. You know, he's just into
giving back to the younger generation. But I had bumped into him on Ford
field and I told him the same thing. I said, I know you
like playing basketball and it's fun to play both of them, but this gives
you an opportunity to really focus in on this and because this is what your
career, what you want your career to be ultimately, so so I mean,
just go there, grind it out and all that. So I think
you heard today Jay Johnson, I believe, at the press conference saying that
both of those guys have really stepped up and it's benefited them to be around.
So yeah, it's definitely excited to see both of those guys. My
breakout guy is going to be ty Tyrrell Henry. I'm calling it now.
We just talked. We just we just did, like swear to God,
we did because we we were looking at like that. The guy has quietly
been working his tail off to Roseville Rooseville Mission, but he also has been
really active in supporting other student athletes. Every sport there's that crew like the
Diletatums of the world and in Tyrol. But I believe like we need a
solid guy like Tyrol to break through breakout. So what do you what is
considered him bringing breakout? What are you hearing? What are you seeing?
Yeah, he's gotten He's added a lot of muscle for him. You know
when everybody that saw him the last few years, like he's always been kind
of a skinnier kid, where now he's putting the weight on. But he's
always been an explosive athlete. And I know Alan true. He does the
Midwest recruiting and kind of helps with the ratings with those guys. He's been
saying like he knew he should have put him up higher, and he's like,
I know it's gonna bite me. I know it's gonna bite me,
and he saw him last year he was the leading kick returner, showed a
lot of explosion and speed out of him, kind of quick twitch change of
direction. So now I think now you can slot him into that slot role
with Jayden Reid leaving, have Keyan outside, Trey Moseley outside, some of
the bigger guys, and just let him work underneath. So yeah, Like,
I've always been a huge Tyrrel Henry fan, and now I think you're
starting to see all of that work and all of the just doing the right
things for other people. You know, eventually that stuff pays off and to
yourself. So I think I think he's my breakout player on offense of the
people that maybe you know obviously were a nose Kean Malik and Trey and some
of those other guys. But he's the guy that's that maybe under the radar
that we can start putting on the radar and put some pressure on them.
Yeah, so can you tell us a little bit more about uh Nate Carter?
Please do tell Let me just say this, like, and don't get
me wrong, I know I went ahead of myself and you guys will never
let me live this down. I coined the Killer Bees and you know all
that stuff. But I'm telling you, Nate Carter to a lower degree reminds
me of the ball Ringer. That's all I'm gonna say. Why do you
guys say lower lower? Get a man as flowers? Man? You know
you don't time in Michigan State running back, he's a top two of all
time. So like, if if I putting a Carter on that same level,
it means it's Lorenzo then, you know, and Javan he can't do
that. So I think he's he's he's uh, he's gonna be kind of
like a Javan Ringer. I feel. Yeah, he's just a strong guy
too. Like I don't know if you guys have bumped into him at the
facilities or anything yet, but yeah, he looks at the part like so
like Javan did to where he's got muscles popping out of muscles and yeah,
yeah, strong dude. I mean he had coming out of shower in the
mirror, looks just like not getting him to kind of get those He's gonna
get the tough yards, but then he's going to be able to make break
the tackle. Yeah, same thing. Like uh, the for the Lions
fan since I can finally be on their bandwagon. Like everybody loves Jamal Williams
and he's good good and he's a nice guy. But David Montgomery is going
to take them to another level because he breaks tackles and he's gonna get more
than what the top offensive line is blocking. Yeah, now here's what does
does Nate have that home run speed that we all have been very like,
I guess we've been spoiled, like we we absolutely have to like listen,
our guy K nine was the truth. That is something that is like Domino
ruff. He is a rare breed and we cannot keep putting that tag on
our guys like and trying to find that versus like can he do what he
does best is put that speed to test and like hit a home run?
Does he have that capability? Yes? Yeah, yeah, he twitched answers.
The question for you don't worry about this is jay U show, You're
just here for the ride. I think he's quicker than fast. I guess
if that makes sense, like like on one step he's got the balls hands
that first step or two like he's he's lightning fast, Like he might not
have the top end speed of like a K nine, But he's fast enough
to get out to the edge and do all of that and get it.
And I think too part of like K nine, which is great and obviously
he runs twenty two miles per hour, but that year, like, if
you look bad at at all those highlights, them wide receivers were set in
blocks at the second and third levels to make it the forty plus yards to
the house. So so if Courtney Hawkins keeps his wide receivers on there,
you know, and lets him not have to slow down or lose speed,
then there's no reason he can't take a big, big runs, you know,
and take him to the house. So but yeah, definitely, I'd
say is quicker than overall fast though, but he's definitely fast enough. I
think he's faster than all the backs on the roster right now. This is
this is why we like Corey. We love That's why we love having Corey
Robinson. He can You're the only he's the only like writers recruiting got that
like actually knows the game in my opinion, because you study it, you
see things through the lens of a player, which is unique most guys.
You know, a lot of these guys I see a lot of these recruiting
writers and they're not they're not there. But you're young, you know,
well, we're hey, God bless you, Corey asking you, asking you
about Corey going back to virus stars, give me five stars me you everybody.
Corey doesn't do that. Yeah, I know he does. I know
he does. Mother said, but Ellen, Ellen knows that I don't give
stars. I tried to have take away stars from guys that he's giving them
rightfully. So in most cases, you know, I mean, so it's
good for a healthy debate. Defensive backs you talked about, like those being
the guys that are going to for the class of twenty two that will turn
some heads who give us some names. There. Malik Spencer, he's going
to be a stud. He's out of Georgia. Yeah, like he's going
to be a really good safety. I think you'll probably see him. I
mean, he could play in the Nickel spot, but I think with Xavier
Henderson and Kean not Kean Brooks leaving, with him leaving, I think there's
a big need for him to drop there. I've seen him. He looks
like he's slimmed down a little bit, So I think we might see him
at one of the deep safety positions alot along with Jaden Mangham, who started
as a true freshman last year. I think those might be two guys that
you would look for at the deep safety spots. The nickel I think Malcolm
Jones, he played three or four games last year somewhere in there where he
kept his red shirt. He got caught up in the tunnel thing. I
think he's a really good player. I think he was the guy in the
twenty two class that was a lot better and he came in late, kind
of no fanfare, so I don't think he's really gotten the attention that he's
going to deserve as a player. I think you could put him at a
corner, you could put him at deep safety. I think Nichols probably the
best spot for him. Again, you know Lee County, Georgia. They
play really good football down there. He was kind of the leader for that
team, which has a lot of success down there. I think he's a
guy that's going to challenge to start in the nickel spot. I think in
her back Caleb Coley, another kid from Georgia. He played three games last
year keeping his red shirt on. He had some injuries otherwise I think he
wouldn't have red shirted last year. He look at him now, he's put
on a lot of good muscle mass, and I think he's gonna take one
of the starting corner jobs if I was the guest. I mean, it's
all projections at this point, but I mean that's four guys in the twenty
two class alone that I can see starting out of the five positions, along
with you know, Chuck Brantley, the twenty twenty one corner out of Florida,
so I mean, and then even Aide Willie out of IMG. He
played ten or eleven games last year, mostly special teams, but I mean
that's a pretty good hit rate to get five defensive backs and on the field
multiple games. And Dylan Tatum, Sorry, I can't believe I forgot him.
You know, he can play corner, he can play safety. I
would guess. Like Penn State game, he moved a corner. That was
his first time there, and he played really well, I thought against the
good Penn State team on the road. So I think he's also going to
factor in, Like you know, maybe he battles with Caleb Coley and Chuck
Brantley for starting, but he's still going to be in that rotation and play
where I think he played double digit games last year too, So the six
guys that played in the twenty two class at dB. So there's like an
unbelievable hit rate early and I think they're really going to take the next steps.
Yeah, And I love that with that corner there. I love the
tandem coaches there. The new coach coming in from Buffalo, not at my
Homer or anything, but I thought he did a very good job with the
Bills corners there. You know, with the corners he was a safetiest coach.
No, no, no, I'm saying, but he's gonna be coach
Hb's gonna be coaching the safeties and he's gonna be coaching the corners here.
Yeah, but he did a great job there with Micah Hyde and Jordon Couryer
in Buffalo there, the two one of the two best tandums in the NFL
coming in there and pairing him and coach Barnett together. I think the surprise
this year that you know, in the past two years we've been pulling our
hair out about our secondary I think this year they're gonna surprise a lot of
people with those two coaching those guys back there. Yeah, the way the
Bill's the bills guys turnovers, Like yeah, that's that's what we We have
to get turnovers, and we need to convert those turnovers more so let's score
on defense and not leave it up to the offense. But I think to
the point of to Corey's point, like to have a steep like two depth
chart in secondary that can go out with like when guys run out, you
know, the back of the day, guys right like, oh man,
this guy like pick on him. Oh my god, They're going right to
him like that where the guys run off. Now it's like, no,
this guys held his own. We know he's he's proven that he belongs there
on the field, Like we're good. But I think that's where you've got
to make sure strong teams know that when somebody goes down, they're not losing
a step. And I think that's what we're building, which I'm excited about.
We got some young guys's hungary that, like you said Corey before,
they are very upset and how last year turned out. And you never want
to be the position group that is the weakest on the team. And also
gives up those those those first downs in those long thirty longs and getting scored
on, and like, we gotta will turn it around. I'm looking forward
to it, no doubt about it. I mean, you know, look,
you know we talk about a lot of players here. I mean you,
I mean you must live and breathe those things for real. I mean,
we're just throwing things at you. You just spit out all these names.
Me brought. Caleb Cooley is the guy, you know. Yeah,
I got a call from somebody wanted to interview because of my son official in
Miami, and he just went on and on about Caleb Cooley and how they
should have had him and they should have you know, like, I'm so
happy you guys got him, but you could tell that it wasn't real that
he wasn't happy that we got him. But I was like, you know,
I don't really know a lot about Caleb Cooley, and you know,
you said he was probably gonna vy for a starting position, but you know,
thinking about mel Tucker and like what he's doing with this program, Like
and you talk about the general manager position and the recruiting as it is,
what does Michigan State need to do overall in your opinion, because you are
seeing this thing from a three hundred and sixty degree view as a recruiting guy,
right, and technically a recruiting guy, what does mississ State need to
do to really improve theirselves as a as a program in general? Just overall,
I think. I mean, if I was making the call, if
it is mel Tucker, you know, this is just my opinion. He's
probably got a bigger rollodets than me. But whether you call it the GM
or the chief of staff, I would promote Darien Harris to that. He's
probably one of the smartest people I've ever ran into in football. He's a
great communicator, which I think is key for that role, and he does
things the right way because he cares about people like he you know, if
it doesn't work at Michigan State or it doesn't work here, like, he's
one of those people that just genuinely wants to see people succeed. So like
that's who I would put to run the department. And then you could go
get your your player personnel guy, you know, to handle more of the
day to day recruiting and the boards and stuff. But if I was going
to find someone to kind of be like that top guy to oversee that department,
to make sure that everybody and underneath him as being taken care properly.
They got everything they need, you know, and that stuff is being done
the right way. Like he would be who I would I would tap for
the job to kind of oversee it all. I say, I agree with
you one hundred percent, Corey, I think And I said this to the
guys before we jumped down the air here, you know, for some reason
just hit me. I was like, Wow, I think I'm seeing you
know, what's happening here. I think Darien, you know, is and
should be that next guy in that in that line there. And I think
replacing Darien should be Javon Ringer, you know, in that role, killing
that role, coming back there because two different things. It shows that Darien
is there, He's played at Michigan State, he stayed at Michigan State after
he was done, and he's you know, their recruiting Javon Ringer, one
of the best running backs to ever come out of Michigan State. He's back
in town, want to be there as a recruit. What does that tell
you if these guys who played there in the program and did all that stuff,
are coming back and staying with the program. I need to be a
part of that program because it's something special. So I think that's why Darren
should be in that GM role and Javon Rangers slide into his role there because
I think it's gonna build that culture, is gonna build that Spartan dog is
gonna build that when guys come in, they're gonna be able to have guys
who walked that campus as students, guys who walked that campus as student athletes,
Guys who went in those locker rooms, who ran out of that tunnel
played knew the criticism that the fans were gonna give, knew the cheers and
appraises that the fans were gonna give, and they will be able to relay
a great message down to those kids. Well, let's let's not forget.
I mean Javon's body of work post career, like NFL drafted running back had
some success, also has put from working where he came back. It was
in the recruiting department for Michigan State for the year and have two he goes
out Collins. Yeah yeah, but then you got like you hats he was
the he was the same position, you know, player development personnel with Toledo
and has success and consistency. So one obviously that's my that's my boy.
One of them came in as you know two thousand and five class. But
for sure, I think this is that one right move where you got to
make it, because if you don't make it and you have continuity in those
those positions, it trickles down to where to your point, you know,
the kids aren't coming in the flocking to the culture because it's really the culture
of the culture that brings it. You know, I'm looking forward to this
decision. What's going to happen, and it's got to happen soon, hopefully
before we get out of a spring spring ball. Yeah, and that's what
we talked about too. With the previous staff. They did a lot of
good things, but we never it's almost like they didn't fully understand the identity
of the university in the program. And that's no fault to them. You
know, they didn't run through the tunnels Lake Jay, who said so,
I mean, I think having somebody that understands to a t what this is,
what it's supposed to look like, and how it needs to be would
be a really smart higher and would probably pay huge dividends, not just recruiting,
but you know, just the overall culture as a whole, just because
they understand it. Corey, I'm going to ask you this before we let
you go, because I mean, you're given us a son of insight as
you always do. You have connections that you know, we can you know,
the average person can only dream of having. What are are we?
What is the word on the street about with with recruits about our n I
L let's just just put it out there. What does the recruits say?
What are the parents saying about Michigan State? And how do we measure up
from a nil standpoint? Yeah, I mean I don't think Michigan State's killing
it at the nil by any stretch. I mean, I think there's probably
a happy medium that they got to find where you don't have to necessarily go
Miami, Texas A and M. But I mean that's just how where the
game's at right now, where I think you you need to be able to
drum up that support to you know, have the guys at least get like
a market value, you know, whether it's you know, you don't want
to overpay guys and get the crazy numbers that some schools will do. But
I mean it's i'd say it's still probably falling short of where it needs to
be, just to to you know, just where it needs to be,
like without doing crazy contracts. There are crazy deals you know for the kids,
you know, because they bring in a ton of money here, football,
bysketball, all of that just down the down the line. So yeah,
I think I think if Michigan State next step, besides obviously winning and
getting the right people in, is getting all of the the financial support to
kind of row row the boat together and realize that, hey, if we
want this to go here, you know, we got to hit this number
whatever, you know, whatever number they're comfortable with, whether it's say it's
twelve million or ten million, eight million, you know somewhere. I think
in that eight to twelve million range allows Michigan State to recruit with anybody honestly
like, so, what what's your number that you can make it work?
And you know, you just got to trust trust the process that you know,
it's new. And I think that makes a lot of people scared of
like, oh, where's my money going, because you know, they just
got to trust it. And we're down south. Those guys have had their
own nil go in for for a long time, so they're just used to
it already. So it's just just about you know, working together and understanding
that this is how it's got to be and it's going to be done right.
We just need the support. Interesting, I mean, that's that's something
man. You know, so you said that there's some work to be done.
You said eight to what did you what was that number? Eight to
ten million or eight ten, eight twelve whatever whatever everybody's comfortable throwing in.
I mean, like, is that over? Is that over the course of
five four years? Are you talking per year? If you could, if
you could get that out a year, like you would be competing with basically
anybody in the country outside of the crazy ones. You know, Like you
got some people giving high school kids eight million, ten billion dollars supposedly to
play quarterback, and that's too much. Like that's just stupid to me,
Like because you look at the NFL draft coming up, and there's a miss
right there, and that's a whole lot easier to project an NFL guy than
a college kid because there's just so many variables coming out of high school.
So you gotta be smart with it. But you also got to, you
know, keep up with what's happening. And maybe maybe you let the eight
million dollar quarterback go. But if you can go get the the five hundred,
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars quarterback, then you're probably walking away with
a pretty good player. It's long gone of the days of winning without winning
the right way. But obviously now that's wait wait wait, wait, wait,
the right way, recruiting the right way. You know, it's long
gone. It's long gone. Yea, yeah, Like I mean, I
think it's easier when you have championships, but I mean at the same point,
you know that you don't win a championship and get a Dodge charger at
Alabama. You just get the Dodge charger. You got that, You got
that before you ever played a game in Alabama. That's not true. You
can ride the streets and this country they care free, care free. I
have to look over your shoulder for compliance, Corey. I mean, this
is this is great. You know, like you know, I'm not going
to get into because because the word street does Alabama doesn't lead with money.
That's the word on the Street. You think so is money to me?
Right, they have money, it's more so I think you more so than
Michigan State. Is that what you is? That? Is that what you're
saying before we let you go? You know, is that what you're saying?
Yeah, easily. I mean obviously they you get the kids that you
know, they just want to win blah blah blah. But you know what
you can win if you go to that super team that they're paying, that's
paying on the road to something like they they've always had to do it to
keep up. Like I think that's We've had private talks about Saban in the
past, and not just money wise, just you know, he's always evolved
and that's why he's so good. Like he realized that the game turned into
a passing game or a speed game on defense, so you weren't getting the
same quarterbacks or wide receivers, or you weren't getting the same linebackers. So
it's just always about evolving and and I l is the next step of the
evolution right now where we're at so unbelievable, Hey, Corey, and this
has been great, This is awesome, you know, I mean, I
don't know what else to ask. I mean, there's a lot of things
I can ask you, but I think we're struggling for time. I've got
son in my eyes. I don't know. This is ridiculous, and I
know it was eight pm on the East coast. See sunlight. Is that
we're blessed. We're trying to be bless because we're talking about football. Thank
you, Corey, everything you've done. Man, this is awesome. He
where's the cat at the cat? No cat? No cat? Not this
time? She learned in front of that computer. The cat's name. That
one's Lulu. She's the one that likes the camera. She learned. Apparently
this time, give at a treat from us, from us. This is
fine. Thank you Corey for joining the show man. It has been awesome,
and look forward to have you back on Real Zoom because you've got a
lot to talk about. I'm sure all right for having me on. Guys,
it's anytime. Just put me up and we do it, Yes,
sir, Corey Robinson two four seven sports. I mean, I mean,
come on, guys, like this is awesome. Who hey, you sweating
with that son? Listen, there's a there's a lot to unpack there.
We're not going to unpack at all. We want, you know, Spartan
fans to see, you know, this is what's going on in the program,
and I like it. What do you guys think? Look that was
Look I learned more in that session today than I have the months leading up
to it. I think I think the point of just the people, the
players that aren't being talked about. That gives me obviously more confidence that our
young guys have been in that they've been in the lab working, and they're
working not to get to glorify you know, social standpoint right now, they're
working because they got to put a part of product out there. And I
think we had that same vengeance when coach d came and took over a John
L. Smith's style team is that we got to get to work, man,
We gotta we gotta go bowl gaming Like that was the next goal.
Is like we got to go to bowl game. And we can't. We
can't. We can't be sitting at home and Mama, mam and them crib
like mam and like I'm not trying to open these presents with my family,
Like right, you know, I got to be out there and you know,
seeing our coaches, coaches kids open and their presence at dinner time,
but very confident, like we are better than what we kind of portraying ourselves,
like we're in a better spot than what we thought we were. But
like those guys, sounds like the guys are grinding, they're working, which
is great news. Yeah, I mean go ahead, yeah before we you
know, go to the next thing there, you know, was brought here.
We've had a ton of people commenting in the chat today. It has
been a spicy chat today. I really appreciate everyone for taking the time,
you know, jumping on. I love the fact that this is a this
is Sparta community. Everyone comes on Tuesday and Thursday nights, come together check
in on each other. I love it. I love all the you know,
from people who panicking the sky's falling on them. Other people are saying,
relax and I love it. That's what about. That's why we do
this, and so we can all come together and we can cry about our
team, we can laugh about our team. We can you know, put
our team up to the pedestal. It's family here. We're the only ones
that can make fun of family with someone else from the outside make fun of
our family. We all fighting, but in here we can do that.
Appreciate everybody. Thank you for that, Juan. That is the next segment.
That was it. I mean, we re appreciate you. We appreciate
the viewers. You know. We want to talk about what's coming up from
Michigan State. We're gonna give you a little teaser Michigan State Spring game announcement.
It's going to be a field House event. Talk about it. Otis
Oh, put me on a spot. I get it, talking about it.
The sun is on my face. Yeah, I'm burning up over Yes,
field House event, host game Spring Game tailgate. This is Spartan ms
U play fly Sports will be hosting an event for obviously the family and the
friends of This is Sparta and we're going to have you know, three players
that are going to make an appearance and have a kind of a live conversation
with us on on live and discuss what went through ring game and talk about
the game. And it's gonna be a great event. So you'll stay tuned
looking at look out for the details as we'll go on social. But also
we'll be plugging some more promotions on this show on Thursday leading into next week
and then obviously Spring Game week, so stay tuned. We're looking forward to
it. Fieldhouse, East Lansing, Downtown, East Lansing, Thursday, April
thirteenth and April fifteenth Market calendars, but we will be sitting out some information
so you can subscribe, but you also can sign up and get a spot
because they're gonna be out there. The block is gonna be hot, be
ready hot hot, super hot. You're doing you know, I'm trying to
duck this up, you know. He Hey, yeah, hot out here.
We're all jealous over here. Straight. We wish we could get No,
no, no, don't be jealous because it ain't that hot. It
feels like Michigan right here. I feel I'm still connected to you guys,
even though i may be a little bit far away. But I'll be there
on the thirteenth and the fifteenth. Don't worry about that. I'm coming home
and we're gonna have a good time. And you know, God, listen,
you's got some fire pizza by the way. That's some fire pizza.
That's low key. That's good, cool, good food too. They do.
Look, Harry says, come hang out at the bus. Otis just
otis now us just otis. Harry can we get some Look I don't think
she said. Look, Rix, he has a personal deal. He has
a personal deal, Rix, Rix is jus that's his Airbnb for the weekend.
Yeah, he's gonna be at Rix and I have and wherever the bourbon's
being poured. But it's okay because we love Ju and we also love Otis.
For both of you guys and myself, this is spared to have a
good night, God bless and go great go can't do that still. This
is Sparta MSU as a combine presentation of Playfly Sports properties in Michigan State Sports
Properties. The show is produced by Pete Manez with additional support from Tony Costella
Operations and Social media support is provided by Alicia Straehorn with support from Cecily Max
Brown on location. Technical support is provided by a good Fruit Video. Be
sure to follow our hosts Jason Strayhorn, jay U Culchrik and Otis Wiley on
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do the same. Thank you for your support and as always, go green.