WEBVTT

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Forty five after the hour. Welcome
back on a Thursday. Glad you're with

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us on x'es and bros. Across
the great state of Michigan. Trent Bally

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is our producer. I'm Matt Sheppard, and we're proud and honored to welcome

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in Jim Camperoni of Spartan mag He's
the publisher of that fine publication since nineteen

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ninety seven. He's covered MSU football
and basketball and recruiting since nineteen eighty eight.

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He's a lead analyst and sports editor
for Spartan Magazine and he's covered NCAA

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tournaments, He's covered final fours,
he's covered bowl games. He's got great

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stuff. You can follo him on
Twitter or on x at Jim Camperoni and

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check out a lot of the different
things that he does, like on three

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dot com where he's really good in
breaking down a lot of the things that

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Michigan State football has done and their
depth chart and things so that everything that

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is go green, go white,
you can find with Jim Camperoni, and

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we welcome him in on this Thursday
morning. Jim, appreciate the time very

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much. Jonathan Smith has hit the
ground running. What's impressed you most in

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his first few months at the Helm
there in East Lansing. Hey, great,

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it's great to be on man.
I really appreciate it. Things for

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that introduction, helloed everybody, Detroit. This is a lot of fun for

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me. I appreciate it. You
know Smith, you know, a lot

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of things are impressive. His temperament, the things you hear about him from

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other people that have played for him
as a player or coached with him.

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Solid human being which we need more
of in college football. You hear a

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lot of those things from a lot
of people. You know. Demetrius Martin

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is his cornerbacks coach. He's coming
from the University of Oregon. Demetri is

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also coached at UCLA Arizona State.
They're both you know, grew up around

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the Pasadena area. They've known each
other a long time. They're finally coaching

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together now. Demetris Martin played at
Michigan State in the mid nineteen nineties,

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first for Perlis and Entry Statement.
So Demetris Martin has coached against Jonathan Smith

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a number of times. Jonathan Smith
couple from Arizo State and Martin coached out

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of the PAC twelfth and Martin says
he's a defensive coach getting prepared for those

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Oregon State teams, especially his last
two teams at Oregon State. He said

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it was a headache. Oregon State
made you defend every blade of grass vertically,

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horizontally, and physically, and then
they would hit you with with deep

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shots. An interesting style of offense. They'll go under center more than any

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at Oregon State. They were under
center for the quarterback position more than any

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team in the Power five, but
they would also go deep off of that

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and just keep you guessing. That
established the physicality and then go to the

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air, you know. Offensive style
wise, Oregon State last year reminded me

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a lot of the way Jim Harbaugh's
offenses were at Michigan the last few years.

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So Jonathan Smith, former college quarterback, has I would say like a

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Jim Harbaugh outlook on how to attack
defenses. And I think that style of

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play can play well in the Big
Ten and they will recruit to it,

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primarily with the Midwest and branching out
from there. So the things I hear

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about him from people that have played
for him and coached against him, coach

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with him, good person and competitive, which doesn't always come across when you

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talk to him, they always talking
about how competitive he is. So all

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those things, step by step give
Michigan State a chance to rebuild a program

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from foundational standpoint. It's going to
take a while, but I think they've

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had a pretty good person to try
to get those things done. Yeah,

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I agree, And I think it
says an awful lot about Michigan State when

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you can take a guy from his
alma mater to come to East Lansing in

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this type of quote unquote build.
Whether we like it or not, Jim,

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we're all compared to somebody, Okay, and with Jonathan Smith, he's

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going to be compared and every football
coach at MSU probably should be compared to

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Mark D'Antonio. And you mentioned a
good person, So I think that's similar

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to D'Antonio because D'Antonio was a good
man. Right. There are other aspects

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of him as a coach that he
will have to adjust to and that he

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will have to be in order to
try and create his own shadow rather than

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Mark D'Antonio. What will be his
biggest challenge in his first year? In

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his first year, you know,
taking over a program that's had a lot

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of players leaving and a lot of
players coming in I think forty eight or

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more new new faces and new scholarship
players when he come the incoming freshmen,

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So getting a team atmosphere, finding
leaders, gaining the trust of the players,

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which I think he had as you
know, that's that's that's one thing.

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You know, the Big ten is
strong. Everybody knows that Michigan State

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schedule is difficult. Everybody's scheduled that
is difficult, but it's also somewhat manageable

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in some ways. But in terms
of what you said about the biggest challenges,

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you know, in the middle of
the schedule, dealing with Ohio State,

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Michigan, Oregon in Iowa. Those
four games come right in the middle

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of the schedule. But I think
the thing that's going to determine the direction

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of the season will be two early
season games at Maryland at Boston College.

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So those you know challenges is getting
off to a good start winning those two

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manageable road games difficult Maryland, you
know, that's an established program. You

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know, it's it's been in Bowl
games last couple of years. Going on

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the road, that'll be that's gonna
be a test to see if to see

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where Michigan State is there early in
the year doing that with Aid and Child.

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New quarterback Giles has all kinds of
talent. He needs to show that

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he can make reads and lead the
team. Offensive line has had a lot

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of change over it with somewhat disappointing
the last couple of years. Now there's

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new people, a lot of unproven
parts of that offensive line, So a

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lot of question marks in terms of
unproven players offensive line and quarterback, and

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going on the road for those two
early games in September. I think those

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are the immediate challenges. Yeah,
that's a really good point, especially with

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Maryland. I would argue that,
you know, what Mike Loxley has done

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there has been pretty impressive. If
you get a road win there at Maryland

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early on in the schedule, I
think that's something on which you can build.

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You bring up the quarterback Giles,
and you said learning to read defenses.

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As a former quarterback himself, Jonathan
Smith, how much will it help

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building a quarterback room in East Lansing
And what's the depth chart look like?

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You know, Child has all kinds
of talent. He was a four star

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guy out from California. He's a
big time recruit that went to Oregon State

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last year backed up DJ huey Ungalalay
at Oregon State. When Jonathan Smith and

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the staff came to Michigan State,
Child came with him. And he's a

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dynamic talent, dynamic personality. He
does have some natural leadership skills, all

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kinds of arm, six foot four, really good quickness, really good speed.

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They used him as a backup last
year. You know, they'd usually

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give him one series per game in
the second quarter. I mean he's out

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there Utah when Utah was four and
oh, and he's got a series early

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in the second quarter, so he
had some real experience. It was not

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just mop up duty. He needs
to show he can make reads. That's

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something I ate Matt. I went
over every pass completion that he made last

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year on TATE and I watched the
entire Utah gave the entire stand for game,

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and you don't really see him make
reads and go to a second and

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third option. He didn't do that
yet and he didn't do it in the

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spring game. So in terms of
reading a defense and those progressions, that's

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something that needs to come around as
he gets gets set for his sophomore year

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and then it I'll run some you
know. No, they began that Utah

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game empty, you know, with
the receiver and a tight end out five

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wide and the defense of scrambling and
point decide what they're gonna do because they've

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prepared for a team that would go, you know, tight end one back

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and ram it down your throat.
So they'll do all those things, and

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he can run a lot of those
things. And they've got the tight end

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Jack Velling coming with him from Oregon
State. You know, one publication ranked

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Velling the Pac twelve tight End of
the Year last year, so the tight

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end position is in good hands.
The center position is also coming from Oregon

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State tannem Miller second team of All
Pac twelve. So those things helped Smith

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as he gets his offense established and
it's going to be a physical style of

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offense. But that doesn't guarantee immediate
success of course. You know at Oregon

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State he began too and ten in
his first year, then five and seven,

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then the COVID year. Then they
started getting a lot of momentum seven

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and six and twenty twenty one,
and then had a big year in twenty

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twenty two, going ten and three, beating Florida in a Bowl game Fision

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number seventeen in the country and last
year eight and four and also the top

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twenty five. So it's going to
take a while, but I'm impressed with

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the offensive line coach and the style
of play, Brian Linkred coming with him

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from Oregan State to be offensive coordinator. A lot of interesting things to watch

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and a lot of new names at
Michigan State for Michigan State fans to try

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to memorize and become familiar with.
Yeah, so much good stuff at Spartan

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Mag. We're talking with Jim Camperoni, who is the editor and the main

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guy right there right the publisher of
Spartan Mag. And he's been doing it

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since nineteen ninety seven. It's a
amazing how much content you provide. You

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had brought up a couple of names
and folks. If it's not just Michigan

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State players now even the radar like
so it's a really good recruiting piece on

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Spartan Meg on the Radar for twenty
six a four star quarterback Nathan Bernhard providing

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an eye full at Michigan State camp. It's worth a read. If you

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follow the Green and the White.
Now you mentioned the offensive line, which

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is it's the backbone. Man,
It's the reason you win. I believe

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in football. Dan Campbell has proved
with the Lions last year. Jim Harbaugh

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was a big believer in it.
I would assume Jonathan Smith has a similar

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philosophy. And you brought up the
center Tanner Miller, but also you wrote

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about Luke Newman, who's poised to
make an impact at right guard. Give

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me the overall philosophy you think that
Jonathan Smith brings to Michigan State and how

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quickly he can implement that in this
program. Yes, in a moment ago

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he asked me on the death start
at quarterback, I wanted to mention all

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so that the second stringer is Tommy
Schuster from Chippewah Valley High School Macomb Township

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Mission. Yeah, transferring in from
North Dakota and he went out to North

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Dakota through for nine thousand yards you
know, school record holder in yards and

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touchdowns and you know, sixty seven
completions. He's only six feet tall,

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you know. I I've not spoken
with him yet. I'm pretty sure that

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the mac schools did not recruit him
coming out of Chippewaba. I think I

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think you're right about that. I
think he played in the state championship and

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I called his game, so I
think you're right about that. I was

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surprised that No Max school jumped on
him. Good point. Yeah. And

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by the way, the great job
of those high school games. Just last

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night, I was I was watching
Trey McKenny from Older Lake Saint Mary's McCormick,

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and the other guy called that one, but I went over. I

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was clearing my DVR, and you
know, I didn't really get a chance

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to watch. I was covering the
NCAA tournament and I watched some of your

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calls just last night. It's a
great job of their state championship. Cul

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Okay, yeah, you call it
game with Tommy Schuster, and you know

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Shuster. You may remember they won
the state title at Schippewa Valley and he

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was something like fourteen of fourteen in
the state title game. The only person

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that's ever done that really good.
You talk about making Reeds. I went

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back and watch some of the North
Dakota games. Makes reds very accurate.

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He's only six feet tall and he's
not that fast, so that's that's why

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he ended up at North Dakota he
went there, started for four and a

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half years, set school records,
you know, graduated there, went into

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the portal, and you know,
always wanted to play in the Big ten.

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I always wanted to see if he
could make it at a school like

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Mischian State. And Mischigan State did
a good job going into the portal and

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getting him, presumably as backup.
But I tell you what, the coaches

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when you ask him about Shoester,
they smile and they just kind of nod

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and say, man, that guy
can play quarterback. So when Smith took

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over, miscon State's quarterbacks went into
the portal, you know, Noah Kim

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and kateon Hauser, and you know
when they showed up, they had no

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scholarship of quarterbacks on campus. That's
the first time that's been the case at

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Michigan State since the World War Two. So they had to completely stock the

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quarterback position. Chiles was coming in, they went and got Schuster and a

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couple of high school guys. So
that's that's what the depth chart looks there.

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You know, you mentioned Luke Newman. You know, what we're doing

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is a series right now in Michigan
State. We are going over every single

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position on the depth chart. I'm
doing this. I'm doing a series of

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stories in which I project what I
think the depth chart is because Michigan State

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has not released an official depth chart
since Mark D'Antonio was at Michigan State.

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So I'm just going by what I
saw in the spring game, what I've

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heard from coaches here and there,
what I've seen with my own eyes.

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A lot of these players coming in
as transfers, so you have to imagine

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some of these things. Now,
Luke Newman. I did ask Michigan State's

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off with the Wine coach, Jim
Hahltrick, when I saw him at one

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of the camps out at Wayne State
a few weeks ago. I asked him

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about Newman because Newman didn't play for
Mischigan State during spring practice. He's transferring

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in from holy Cross. He's from
Birmingham Brother Rice. Really good offensive lineman,

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but we was recruited at kind of
that you know FCS level went to

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holy Cross three times all Patriot League. I went and watched his film against

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Boston College. They're one game against
you know, a Power five team,

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and he was left tackle for holy
Cross, and I think he looked better

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at left tackle against Boston College,
the Michigan State's left tackles half the last

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two years. I think Luke Newman
from Brother Rice comes in as a graduate

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as a senior. Now, Mahaltick
told me he's going to be beginning at

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right guard, So that's where I'm
writing about him in this depth chart preview.

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But I like he's got quickness,
he's a mature, mature athlete,

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and he's sitting nicely in there at
right guard. I don't discount the possibility

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that he could end up at tackle. And I think he's a good,

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solid, bona fide Big Ten player
transferring in a Brother Rice product coming in

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from Holy Cross. Yeah, and
you wrote about Christian Phillips at left guard.

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How does this team you mentioned first
year there's going to be some growing

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pains. We get it. We
understand that he's changing the culture to a

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certain extent by bringing some guys in. How does this team, lack of

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a better phrase, tread water in
year one? Do you think what do

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they rely on? Got to get
that run game going and from their counter

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boot play action, rollout passing quarterbacks, got to make reads. Offensive line's

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got to keep them clean to an
extent, you know, they got a

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couple of good running backs show Nathan
Carter's coming back, had a pretty good

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year last year. Kay Ron Adams
is the guy transferring in from you mass.

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Those two running backs solid players.
You know, Jalen Berger transferred out.

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He was repping behind those guys.
And you know, the wide receivers

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need to come around. You know, Monty Foster is a senior. More

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than forty catches last year, But
I'm not sure they've they've got, like,

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you know, real game breaking,
proven and type wide receivers. And

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as you know, over the years
of Mission State, whether they've had good

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teams or bad teams, they've always
had really good wide receivers, proven wide

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receivers. This year, going into
the year, this might be the most

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unproven batch of wide receivers I've seen
a Mission State in decades. That doesn't

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mean that they won't get it done. But you know, Nick marsh coming

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in as a true freshman from River
Rouge, the most talented guy in the

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room. I would say, I
think he's going to have an impact.

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So there's a lot of question marks, but you know, there's a smattering

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of talent and a lot of these
guys want to be coached up. They

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want some discipline. I think that
discipline and attentiveness was lacking the last two

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years with mil Tucker defense, a
lot of transfers coming in. The defense

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ranked outside the top one hundred the
last two years. Scotty Hazelton never really

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got his defense, you know,
untracked and and you know, tightened up

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it. It didn't work out.
Joe Rossi coming in as the new defensive

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coordinator was good at Minnesota. You
know last year they were young at Minnesota

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on defense. Prior to that,
I thought Minnesota was one of the more

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underrated defenses in the Big Ten.
And I wrote and told my writers when

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they played Minnesota two years ago,
everybody, this is after Michigan State had

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won the Peach Bowl. Misisters State
was the top twenty and they had just

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lost out at Washington. Coming back
home, I said, I predicted,

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Minnesota is going to beat Michigan,
mister State. It's gonna be a tough

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game. And a lot of my
readers gave me a lot of flak for

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that. Matt they didn't believe it
at all. But that defense that Joe

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Rossi had at Minnesota, I was
impressed with, reminded me of Iowa defenses

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a little bit. I think Jonathan
Smith did a really great job going to

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get a Big ten defensive coordinator with
Midwestern ties to come in and take over

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a defense that had been the leaguer
for two years. Yeah, that's good

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stuff. Man. There's a reason
you're the king of East Lansing and Michigan

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00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:51.079
State. Jim Camperoni, thanks for
all the insight. We could talk to

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00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:53.960
you all day because your knowledge is
vast and it's incredible. Folks. You

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00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:59.039
got to follow him on Twitter,
on x at Jim Camperoni and subscribed to

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00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:03.240
Spartan mag or a Spartan fan.
It is the bible of what Michigan State

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00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:06.039
football and basketball are all about.
Have a great weekend, my friend.

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All the best to you and your
family. Thanks for the time today.

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We'll talk again, I hope.
Hey. I really appreciate it. You

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00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:14.319
know, people can at our website. You do have to pay for them,

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00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:15.880
but it's only one dollar for a
month. To give it a try,

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00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:18.119
go to sparmag dot com. I
appreciate it. Matt