Jonathan Smith gives cryptic update on Justin Denson's status with the team

Jonathan Smith just lost the most important game of his career in a seemingly lifeless offensive effort on Saturday night, and the second-year coach had to answer for it after the game as well as during his weekly presser on Monday.

And if you're Smith, you have to be thrilled you still have a job on Monday after what transpired over the weekend in an 11-point home loss to Michigan.

Riding a four-game losing streak, Smith already found himself on the hot seat, but after losing to Michigan, that seat was engulfed in flames. Losing to Michigan for a second straight year while extending that season-long losing streak to five games and falling to 8-12 as the head coach of the Spartans probably should have been the nail in the coffin, but Smith is still here.

J Batt must either be getting the buyout money ready or he's still evaluating his coach.

Still, Smith showed up to his weekly presser with answers to some key questions, including one about a younger defensive back that we haven't seen a ton of for the past few weeks: Justin Denson.

The sophomore defensive back was supposed to take that next step this season and become a key figure in the secondary, but he just never saw the field extensively, hinting at the notion that he just isn't good enough to start yet.

On Monday, Smith provided a cryptic update on the young defensive back.

To me, this sounds like Denson is looking at the transfer portal. You don't often hear coaches say that players are still on the roster but are working through things outside of football unless that means they're looking to move in the offseason -- or even sooner.

I don't want to speculate too much because "things outside of football" could mean a number of situations, and I don't want to say he's transferring when it could be something else.

But it doesn't look great.

So if you were hoping to see more Denson throughout the final four games of the season, you're probably going to be let down.