Michigan State football's 1st scrimmage will tell coaches a lot: 'Who can we trust?'

EAST LANSING – Everything about preseason college football is a progression.

Reporting to camp. The first workouts, followed by the first practice in pads.

Add another benchmark for Michigan State in its march to Jonathan Smith’s debut: the first scrimmage.

The Spartans will take the field Saturday, with the offense and defense going live against each other in a closed-to-the-public game simulation. It comes less than three weeks ahead of the Aug. 30 opener against Florida Atlantic at Spartan Stadium (7 p.m./BTN) and is an important building block toward Smith and his staff figuring out their depth charts heading into the season.

“It's starting to stack the roster of, 'OK, who can we trust?'” defensive ends and co-special teams coordinator Chad Wilt said Thursday. “In a moment where there's a little bit of heat and competition, who's gonna rise, who's gonna go down, who's gonna respond to the moment? And who's the moment maybe going to be a little too big for, even on a scrimmage? So yeah, I think it's really an evaluation time right now.”

Along with the coaching changes – only wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins remaining from the previous staff – the Spartans have 59 new faces on the roster who were not part of the program going into last season. That includes freshmen and transfers, some of whom arrived in January and went through spring practice and others who arrived over the summer.

“If anything, I feel that the scrimmage will just build on some of the identities that we've hit on,” sophomore linebacker Jordan Hall said Tuesday. “We have a list we went through. We broke up into teams and kind of brought up some things about what we want our identity to be, and player-led, grit and toughness came up a lot. And I feel like having a live scrimmage will kind of emphasize on all those things – being able to have contact with one another to show your toughness. Things might not go your way, and you got to show grit. And when things don't go your way, who's gonna to step up and lead your team?”

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Smith on Tuesday said the goal for this week heading into the first scrimmage was to have most of the Spartans’ base and situational packages already installed, to allow for an analysis of where the team is after two weeks of practicing.

“So normal down-and-distance, getting the third downs, some red zone, we're going to touch on some 2-minute (drills) toward the end of the week. And then on the special teams side, get all four phases some reps,” Smith said. “So (it will be) kind of a complete picture of those situations on Saturday.”

When MSU reconvenes afterward, the build up continues toward a second scrimmage. That typically comes a week after the first, though Smith did not rule out the possibility of having a third scrimmage even with the clock ticking toward the opener.

That makes the time between Saturday’s first scrimmage and the second one perhaps the most important period of preseason work. It’s a chance for players to learn about what went right and wrong and potentially fix any issues to make their case for playing time and starting jobs. Because coaches want to have roles and responsibilities figured out before kicking off the three-month repeat cycle of game-week preparation that comes the last week of August.

Running backs coach Keith Bhonapha on Thursday called what follows Saturday’s scrimmage “the big separator week over the course of camp.”

“We've been practicing, and you're spoon-feeding them, you're spoon-feeding them. And now you take this step back,” Bhonapha said. “And from a position coach standpoint, you're looking to see who can go out there and swim, if that makes sense. That's where I will start with my room. I want to see how these guys are able to handle the ups and downs of a scrimmage.”

Bhonapha said coaches will amplify the intensity to increase that mental strain and stress. There will be altered tempos throughout, both from the quick-paced offensive play-calling standpoint and in forcing players to make sudden adjustment to adverse situations to simulate momentum swings. There will be rapid shifting from focusing on offense vs. defense to interspersing special teams work.

All of which, Wilt said, players will know means a lot toward determining their playing time early in the season. Something he added they will understand from conversations with the staff ahead of time.

“Let's be honest with young men,” he said. “Let's tell them what this is about, what we're looking for, and see who's gonna go respond and rise to the occasion. Or maybe not respond the right way.”

Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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For openers: Owls

Matchup: Michigan State (4-8 in 2023) vs. Florida Atlantic (4-8 in 2023).

Kickoff: 7 p.m. Aug. 30; Spartan Stadium, East Lansing.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WJR-AM (760).