Michigan State had some representation on FOX on Saturday afternoon as the Lions took on the Texans. He appeared on the broadcast to talk about his new home and the expectations for the 2025 Michigan State football team.
Batt was very complimentary of the Spartans heading into his first season as the athletic director, stating that this year's team is going to be a surprise.
He told FOX that there's a lot of confidence in the building and that "the team is a lot better" than last year's 5-7 squad.
J Batt on Fox: “Lot of confidence in the building, lots of development. The team is a lot better than last year.”
— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) August 23, 2025
The first-year athletic director seems to have a ton of confidence in his football program and second-year head coach Jonathan Smith. This is a good sign for Smith, who will have to impress his new athletic director. That's always the pressure of a new AD hire is the relatively new head coaches of the basketball or football programs have to try and impress him to keep their jobs.
Batt isn't the only one who has echoed this same sentiment as the coaching staff has been high on the team throughout fall camp and the players have all bought in and they're hyping each other up.
Michigan State will open the 2025 season on Friday against Western Michigan, which will be a nice test to see just how improved the Spartans really are. We won't learn a ton about the Spartans from a Western Michigan game, but it'll still get everyone on the same page.
The Spartans have a lot of doubters to prove wrong this season and Batt believes that's likely.