Michigan State football: Mel Tucker has officially found his next DL coach

Mel Tucker finally found his guy. Michigan State football had a void to fill at the defensive coach position after Marco Coleman decided to head back to his alma mater this offseason after just one year in East Lansing and Tucker went out and found his replacement this week.

On Wednesday, the school officially announced the hiring of Diron Reynolds a former Wake Forest player and a coach with over two decades of experience at the Power Five and NFL levels.

Reynolds fills a major void on that line and he brings with him plenty of experience and he’s coached some of the best defensive linemen in Stanford history from 2016-2022. He left Stanford because David Shaw decided to step away from the program. Before that, he spent a year at Oklahoma where he helped lead the Sooners to a Big 12 title and the College Football Playoff.

Prior to his Stanford and Oklahoma coaching stints, he spent time in the NFL as a defensive line quality control and assistant with the Vikings, Dolphins, and Colts.

Safe to say Reynolds has plenty of experience to help him excel in East Lansing.

This hire comes at the perfect time for Michigan State football

Tucker felt the pressure to hire a coach soon to lead the defensive line because recruiting is an important part of the job as well.

While Reynolds coached at one of the most restrictive recruiting schools (Stanford) in the nation, he still landed some top prospects over the years. And he’ll have an opportunity to help Tucker land one of the nation’s best prospects in the 2024 class in the form of David Stone who’s visiting over the weekend.

Getting this hire done was big for Tucker because now Reynolds and Stone can start developing a relationship and get the ball rolling there.

Perfect timing for the Spartans.