A couple of familiar faces were back on campus this past weekend, paying Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo a visit for football game day.
It was the opening weekend of the season for the football team, and some basketball guys decided to head back to campus to take in the atmosphere. The season opener is one of the best weekends of the year, so it's no surprise some hoops guys wanted to check it out during their time off.
Two familiar faces made it back to campus last weekend, and one was a former Spartan star who we haven't seen in a minute: Nick Ward.
Always great to have our guys back for gameday 💚 💚 pic.twitter.com/7sGKSib4Il
— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) September 2, 2025
It was good to see Ward back and doing well, and it's been a minute since we've seen him with a smile on his face next to Izzo. The two are fierce competitors, so when Ward was still suited up for the Spartans, he didn't have a ton of opportunities to smile. Now that he's moved on and he knows what Izzo did for him as a player, he's more appreciative of his former coach -- that's how it always works.
The other visitor was Davis Smith who was just on the team in 2023-24, so it's not like he's been gone for that long. Still, it's great to see the "family" feel in the program come to fruition.
Izzo loves all of his former players, so you know he was ecstatic to see Smith and Ward back in East Lansing to hang out with him and the team and watch some football (Izzo's self-proclaimed favorite sport).
This is what family looks like, folks.