The best quote from Michigan State football fall camp day 1
Tuesday marked the first day of Michigan State football fall camp and the start of a new era in East Lansing. Jonathan Smith has taken control of the program and has all of Spartan Nation eagerly anticipating the season's first game in about a month.
Thanks to our local media, we got to see a lot of highlights online from the team’s first practice and got to hear Smith talk with the media after practice as well. A handful of players also got the chance to speak with the media, and they all said many great quotes.
But one quote stood out to me in particular and it was the best thing I heard all day.
"It’s a lot of fun… So many new faces, such a different defense going against such a different offense. It’s almost like I’m at a new program but I still get to wear my green and white and be a Spartan."
- Maverick Hansen
Maverick Hansen is a sixth-year senior on the defensive line for Michigan State this season. And all six of those seasons have been spent at MSU, something you don’t see too often nowadays.
Hansen undoubtedly will be one of the leaders of this team this fall. On the field I project he’ll be a starter, but also off the field as one of the veterans of this team and someone who’s been in East Lansing forever. I never expected to hear this quote from him, but it’s the best thing I heard all day by far.
“It’s almost like I’m at a new program but I still get to wear my green and white and be a Spartan.”
How can you not get goosebumps reading that? In a day and age when everyone seems to jump ship and flock to the transfer portal the second adversity hits (and we saw plenty of that this offseason) Hansen did the exact opposite. He stuck it out at Michigan State.
His love for the school, program, fanbase, and university was too great to want to go somewhere new. And as a huge Michigan State fan that makes me proud.
I don’t think Hansen has ever been a fan favorite during his time at Michigan State, but this quote from him should change that. He’s primed to have a big year this season on the field, but he’s also the definition of what it means to be a Spartan. And we need guys like him now more than ever before.