Just over an hour before the Big Ten made it official, Mel Tucker delivered the news to his team.
The first-year Michigan State football coach told his players they would not play football in the fall. That was the result of the Big Ten on Tuesday canceling fall sports, with the possibility of playing in the spring, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The official Michigan State Football Twitter account on Wednesday night released video of the moment Tucker told the players, as well as some comments from team members.
The video lists a time of 1:57 a.m. on Tuesday and shows Tucker tackling the team on the practice field in the Duffy Daugherty Building.
“OK, so the season is postponed,” Tucker says. “There will be no football this fall.”
The video then shows new attacking line coach and run-game coordinator Chris Kapilovic talking to players.
“No more worries about this, this and this,” Kapilovic said. ‘We know what’s going on now. We must be alone now. Training with (head strength and fitness) Coach (Jason) Novak, every little football job we do, we do it well and it’s all we’m ready to go this spring. And when it happens this spring, we’re ready. Now we have our offseason, now we get our spring, now we will play ball. ”
Mel Tucker’s transition to Michigan State stuts neutral due to pandemic
The video includes running back Elijah Collins, receiver Jayden Reed, linebacker Noah Harvey, center Matt Allen, defensive back Dominique Long and quarterback Rocky Lombardi combined for a statement.
“This is only temporary,” the players say. ‘We’ll be back. We will continue working, training and learning. We may not know what it looks like, but when the time comes and we will play, we will be ready. “
The video then shows Tucker telling the team “I am very, very proud of this group and we will do everything we can to play in the spring. Good, good job, go green.”
Mark Dantonio retired in February after 13 seasons leading the Spartans and was replaced by Tucker. The Michigan State spring practice was canceled due to the pandemic and the team began Friday practice camp on Friday. Four days later, the Big Ten pulled the plug on the season.
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