Mel Tucker conducts ‘pretty clean’ first camp practice as Michigan State coach

Michigan State opened preseason camp Friday, holding a two-hour practice with first-year coach Mel Tucker as the Spartans prepare for the scheduled opener on Sept. 5 against Minnesota.

“First day was great, it felt good to be out here with the players and all the coaches,” Tucker said. “Really good enthusiasm, guys were really into it. I thought we got a lot of work done and we had really good tempo. I’m excited to see the film.”

The Spartans are playing catchup. After having spring practice wiped out because of COVID-19, the team returned to campus in mid-June for voluntary workouts. That was paused in mid-July because of positive COVID tests for a pair of staffers, which led to a two-week quarantine, one that ended Wednesday.

The rust was clear, Tucker said, but there were positive signs.

“I thought we had a pretty clean practice,” Tucker said. “We got too many guys on the ground, we’ll get those cleaned up. A couple of the periods, we’re going to need to slow down some of the periods, but the periods where we were going fast, our guys looked quick and they knew what to do, and they were running to the ball. So today was a solid day, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

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Tucker was already making up for lost time, taking over the program in mid-February after the abrupt retirement Mark Dantonio, the winningest coach in program history. After putting together his staff, the team went through one spring workout before activities were ended.

Now, the Spartans work toward the opener as the first few practices will be in helmets and shorts. By Sunday, they’ll be in shells with the first full practice set for Wednesday.

“It feels great,” Tucker said. “I feel blessed and fortunate to be the head coach here at Michigan State. It’s truly an honor and a privilege to be a leader of these young men and the staff. I’m certainly proud to be a Spartan.

“That’s why we’re all in this game, to be able to work with our young men, hands on, coach, teach, motivate, that’s why we’re in the profession. We had a chance to do that today, and I’m just really excited about it.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau