All signs are pointing to Courtney Hawkins being retained by Pat Fitzgerald

When Mel Tucker was hired back in 2020, he made a staff hire that really caught the attention of Michigan State fans: he brought in Spartan legend Courtney Hawkins to coach the receivers.

It was a strong move considering Hawkins didn't have any college coaching experience, but it made sense because he was an NFL receiver and had almost 15 years of experience as a high school head coach at Beecher (Mich.) High School. He knew a thing or two about coaching as well as being an elite wide receiver.

That hire turned out to be a great one as he stuck around with Jonathan Smith after Tucker was fired, and he was one of the best recruiters on the staff. He also has a track record of getting receivers to the league -- Jayden Reed, Jalen Nailor, and Keon Coleman all give him credit.

Considering Michigan State has had just one winning season since 2020, the fact that he's gotten multiple receivers to the league is impressive. Nick Marsh would've been the next if he didn't transfer.

However, after Smith was fired a few weeks ago, the assumption was that Pat Fitzgerald would have an entirely new staff, save maybe 1-2 assistants.

Fans were hoping Hawkins would be retained.

Now, about three weeks later, there's been no news on any of the offensive staff hires, but there have been subtle hints dropped, such as re-offers to recruits.

On Monday, three-star wideout Charles Britton was re-offered by Michigan State, and he tagged Hawkins in the tweet along with Fitzgerald. That seems to be a fairly good sign that the sixth-year receivers coach will be back on his third staff in East Lansing.

This is just one of a few signs that have pointed to Hawkins' return.

Other signs pointing to Hawkins being back at Michigan State

Allen Trieu wrote a good VIP article on 247Sports about Fitzgerald developing a relationship with one of the state of Michigan's top 2027 recruits. That recruit? Top-50 junior Dakota Guerrant, one of the top receivers in the entire 2027 class. I'm not going to read too much into it, but the fact that Fitzgerald is focusing heavily on receivers without a receivers coach probably means that he does have one -- my guess would be Hawkins has been told privately that he's back.

One last sign was Hawkins welcoming receiver signees "home" during the early signing period. You would never see a former receivers coach tweet at recruits like that.

Hawkins would be a heck of a retainment on this staff, and it would be a nice start to the offensive coaching staff that still needs to take shape.