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Michigan State football in 2024 "is going to be a whole different story" than 2023

By Connor Muldowney

Michigan State Spartans interim head coach Harlon Barnett takes the field with his team before action against the Michigan Wolverines at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023.
Michigan State Spartans interim head coach Harlon Barnett takes the field with his team before action against the Michigan Wolverines at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. / Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Confidence is something you can't teach. It's something that is felt whether it's because of the people around your or just the positive change in a certain situation. The 2023 Michigan State football team lacked confidence -- and for good reason.

The Spartans had to deal with their head coach losing his job over an embarrassing off-field incident and they were fighting an uphill battle all season against some elite teams like Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State.

And on top of that, they kept losing close games such as Rutgers, Iowa, and Minnesota, which really crushed their bowl hopes.

Things seem to be changing under this new staff, however. Jonathan Smith has assembled a really strong coaching staff around him and he has the current players buying in. One of those players is veteran PWO lineman Jake Merritt who actually saw himself getting reps with the starters during the Spring Showcase. He believes in this new staff and had some high praise for them.

In an interview with Emmett Matasovsky of Spartan Shadows, he vowed that this season was going to be much different than the one a year ago. It feels like the team has confidence again.

"When I first got here as a freshman, our freshman class got pretty tight. But there wasn’t that amongst the whole team. This team is a little different. It’s been a blast. It’s a ton of fun. I’m lucky and we’re all lucky to have the guys around us that we do. I’m telling you, this next year is going to be a whole different story than last year."

- Jake Merritt, Michigan State OL

It's easy to buy back into the program when the players are invested and believe in each other as well as the new coaching staff. Hearing Merritt say that "this team is a little different" is refreshing because it felt like the culture under Mel Tucker got stale at the end and when he was fired, it was all lost.

So buy stock now as the players believe that this team is different and 2024 is going to be a "whole different story".

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