In the weeks leading up to Friday's season opener, Michigan State football fans received some bad news regarding star tight end Jack Velling as he was reported as injured by Bud Elliott on his Cover 3 Podcast.
It was reported by Elliott that Velling had a foot injury and he should be back soon, but nothing was reported by any local media members.
Jonathan Smith spoke to the media late last week and said that Velling was back at practice and then hinted that he would be good to go again earlier this week. Smith told the media that Velling looked just fine at practice and that eased a lot of concerns, so when there was a tight end ruled "out" on the Spartans' availability report, it was almost assumed that it was the senior.
Fortunately, he's healthy and good to go for Friday's game against Western Michigan while sophomore Brennan Parachek has been ruled out, hurting the depth at the position a bit.
With Velling good to go and avoiding the availability report altogether, the Spartans can focus on building a bond between him and Aidan Chiles. The two need to get on the same page early this season so the offense can take off. If they're not on the same page, we could see a situation like last season where it took Velling until the season finale to score his first touchdown.
The Spartans will almost be at full strength on Friday night, and Velling is good to go.
Unfortunately, Parachek is out, but maybe we'll see a lot of rising freshman Jayden Savoury.