EAST LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan State Spartans have started preparations for the 2022 season as the team opened up fall camp on Thursday.
"There's always a buzz for Day 1," Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker said.
There's a buzz because the Spartans are finally back on the field following a summer of anticipation.
"Nothing is like that first day," Michigan State wide receiver Tre Mosley said. "Your first day of school, your first day of work, you are going to be a little excited for it. Sometimes guys struggle sleeping the night before because they are excited to get going."
However, Tucker has more on his mind than just being back on the field again.
"The first practice is not always what I want it to be," Tucker said. "It's never what I want it to be. That first practice. There's things we need to fix."
Tucker wants to fix the Spartans' thoughts of complacency, and completely remove that word from the team's vocabulary.
"It's our job as coaches to press these guys hard every day to make sure they bring the intensity to make sure we won't have guys getting comfortable or looking for relief thinking about last year," Tucker said. "We didn't even do anything last year."
Tucker is certainly not satisfied with an 11-2 finish with the Peach Bowl victory over Pitt, and his message has resonated with the players.
"11-2 for many people on the outside, they think it's a good year," Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne said. "But for us, and the standard we want to hold ourselves too, and where we want to get as a program, that's not good enough. Our goal is to win every game on our schedule, and then get to Indianapolis, win that, and play for a national championship."
In order to win all of those games, play in the Big 10 championship and for the national title, the Spartans want to just focus on the day to day.
"It's not about talking about what we are going to do," Tucker said. "We just need to do it and focus on the process."
Michigan State opens up the season at home on Friday September 2 against Western Michigan.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.