If Spartans’ Jonathan Smith succeeds, it will be because of other ex-Beavers
EAST LANSING — In the final days of November, Jack Velling and Tanner Miller learned Jonathan Smith would be leaving Oregon State to become Michigan State football’s new head coach.
Within a month, each decided to follow him. And three weeks into the Spartans’ spring practices, they and the former Beavers who joined them — coaches, players and support staff — are working to bring the success they achieved in the Pac-12 to their new Big Ten school.
“It just feels like home again,” Velling said Tuesday. “And it’s been a great first couple practices. We’re about halfway through now, and we’ve been building each day.”
For Velling, who will be a junior tight end this fall, and senior offensive lineman Miller, their roles are just as important as the coaches; sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles along with them. All three decided to transfer to MSU after seeing significant playing time last year at Oregon State.
Because in many ways, the players already accustomed to Smith’s and new coordinator Brian Lindgren’s offense are becoming liaisons to their new teammates.
Partly an extension of the coaches they know. Partly teachers themselves. Partly confidantes to their peers as they try to resurrect MSU after a sudden coaching change two games into last fall that quickly spiraled.
“I put a lot on myself. Because doing it for six years, I know all of the tips and the tricks of the trade and all that,” said Miller, who played guard last year for the Beavers but has moved to center at MSU. “Having what I know rub off on the guys and kind of giving them little tips here and there and helping them out. If they got questions, they come to me.”
Lindgren is one of six assistant coaches who decided to uproot their families from Corvallis, Oregon, and follow Smith to East Lansing. Oregon State went 25-13 in the final three of Smith’s six seasons there. Last season, the Beavers went 8-5 overall, including a Sun Bowl loss to Notre Dame after Smith took over for the fired Mel Tucker on Nov. 25.
“Jonathan, he does a great job. He’s a great coach to work for,” said new offensive line coach Jim Michalczik, whose now-deceased mother, Maxine, was an MSU alum. “He lets us coach, but then he’s also there to help us. He’ll come and say something, and he’s usually right on. I think the man he is, the program he runs for me, was a no-brainer.”
Oregon State, last season, ranked 45th nationally in total offense, leading the Football Bowl Subdivision in red-zone offense, and 39th in total defense. The Beavers’ 31.8 points a game was 34th. Through its turmoil with the in-season firing of Tucker for off-field issues, MSU ranked among the worst at 125th in total offense and 76th in total defense. The Spartans scored just 15.9 points a game, 128th nationally.
Velling said he and his former OSU teammates are “trying to help put guys in the right spot” and pass along what their coaches demand on a daily basis.
Only a handful of the coaches Smith hired have Big Ten experience. That includes new defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, whom he lured from Minnesota despite never having worked together.
“I got some big-picture philosophical thoughts on teaching that the staff hears, and then that filters down to the to the players,” Smith said of his new and old coaches. “But we got a big-time staff. These guys know what they’re doing in regards to teaching experience. They’ve been in big leagues, won big games before. So I haven’t had to do too much with this staff.”
While Michalczik said that trio of transfers will be spending some time translating things in the new offense to the returning Spartans, more of it will fall on the coaches to share that knowledge base during the remaining practices this spring.
Add to that the Big Ten additions of Pac-12 expats USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, and the shared knowledge of the coaches — Smith and his bosses, hope — will set MSU up for success in the new-look league. MSU plays Oct. 5 at Oregon in their first conference showdown after losing twice to the Huskies in nonconference games the past two seasons.
“We’re definitely teaching each other a lot,” said returning safety Jaden Mangham, who will be a junior in the fall. “The Pac-12 teams coming in, they play in the Pac-12 a whole different style of offense. So with our Pac-12 coaches coming over, they’ve been teaching us the different types of concepts, all the stuff that they’re going to run against us. And then with us, we’ve just been teaching them the run game, because the Big Ten, it’s a whole different than the Pac-12 when it comes to running.”
Mangham added that the players who remained Spartans – along with two assistant coaches who played collegiately at MSU, holdover wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins and newly hired defensive backs Demetrice Martin – are giving their new colleagues another indoctrination. About the rivalry with Michigan, who enters this fall as three-time defending Big Ten champion and the reigning national champs.
“That school down a road,” Mangham said, “we’ve definitely been teaching them that it’s gonna get crazy.”
That Oct. 26 showdown in Ann Arbor, however is a long way away. The next two weeks are about learning terminology, building chemistry and starting the basic installations of what Smith wants from Lindgren and Rossi on both sides of the ball. The new coach is not yet certain of what will happen during the April 20 spring “showcase” event at Spartan Stadium — whether it will be a true scrimmage or an extended public practice remains to be determined.
Some of that will depend on the team’s health heading into the open event. But Smith promised MSU fans seeking a glimpse of what to expect from the revitalized program later this month.
“We’re gonna look to have some fun, make it competitive and put on a good show,” he said.