What Michigan State football's Mel Tucker saw during Spartans' closed scrimmage

EAST LANSING — For years, Tom Izzo has approached March Madness as a time for his players to eliminate their “my bads.”

For Mel Tucker, the second full week of preseason Michigan State football camp is about making sure no “poor me” attitude creeps in as his team gets ready for its opener.

“It's a special time of year. It's not necessarily like it used to be, where you maybe go off to camp, you're practicing twice a day. Guys were blowing mattresses in the indoor and the locker room between practices and things like that. But it still is camp,” Tucker said Monday. “And at this point, we're not focused on our opponent; we're focused on ourselves. And that's the difference. That's what makes it even sometimes more challenging because you can't get bored with the fundamentals, it can't become ordinary or mundane because we're not necessarily in a game plan and it's not game week.

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“It's Week 2 of camp, and we're hammering every single day, the same things over and over again.”

The Spartans held their first scrimmage Saturday, with the second scrimmage Friday as MSU prepares for the Sept. 2 opener at home against Western Michigan (7 p.m./ESPN).

“That's gonna be a huge scrimmage for us,” Tucker said of Friday. “That's something we're gonna have to decide who we're gonna give reps to in preparation for the game, because everyone can't get reps during game weeks — there's not enough reps to go around.

“This is a huge week for us. Week 2 in camp, we have to raise our level of intensity and our level of consistency.”

Though the program did not have any stats from Saturday’s closed first scrimmage, (a few video clips of action were released) Tucker broke down what he saw in general terms.

“I liked what I saw,” he said. “We have some guys really competing hard. I feel like we're getting better as a football team, and coaches are coaching hard. We got a lot of buy-in out there. Guys are running around playing fast, playing hard. There's really a lot of bright spots out there.”

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Colorado transfer Jarek Broussard, who is among the deep competition at running back, said the scrimmages are opportunities for players to show “something to get better at” to impress their coaches.

“By the end of camp, the best ability is your availability,” he said. “So as long as I put it on tape, as far as depth chart goes, all that will happen itself.”

Tucker has yet to release a depth chart in his first two seasons, instead saying his team uses a “rep chart” to divvy up snaps during practice. That, he said, is to “have organization” in practice when sending the first group in and out.

“But sometimes it changes within the practice. It may change by series, or it changes by the day,” Tucker said.

Players’ production during scrimmages, he added, plays a factor into who will end up on the field come the opener and beyond.

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“We grade every practice: You either get a plus or you get a minus, you get win or you get a loss. You get a technique grade, a production grade. We're taking the whole body of work,” Tucker said. “And then at some point, yeah, we will have a two-deep. You would like to have as many guys as we can be able to go out there and play winning football.”

The Big Ten Network will make its annual stop at practice Thursday, then the helmets and pads go back on for another opportunity for players to solidify roles a day later. Here are a few positions Tucker mentioned where competition remains heated:

Running back

Broussard is in a five-way battle with Jalen Berger, Elijah Collins, Harold Joiner III and Jordon Simmons for the starting job vacated by the NFL departure of Kenneth Walker III. Tucker said the Spartans' running game during the first scrimmage proved to be a bright spot.

One of the players Tucker pointed to as shining in the first scrimmage was Berger, the Wisconsin transfer who arrived in January.

“I was pretty pleased with the way we ran the ball at times with some guys,” Tucker said. “Berger was about 5 yards a pop, and he was running behind his pads. He was falling forward on contact, which is good. He had really good traffic burst through the hole and showed really good vision and ran hard. ...

“There's a lot of competition there. Broussard is doing well and is showing out, and I'm glad we got him big-time. Elijah has been playing fast. Harold has been hitting the hole hard, and he's got really good ball skills out of the backfield. And Jordon Simmons, he's really hitting his tracks and he's running hard and being physical doing it.”

Offensive tackle

Jarrett Horst returns after starting the first games last season at left tackle and missing the rest of the season, and Spencer Brown earned his first start and performed well at right tackle in the Peach Bowl. However, two players whose participation during the scrimmage with the first-team offense stood out: Brandon Baldwin at left tackle and Ethan Boyd at right tackle.

“We're rolling those guys through now to get good work in there,” Tucker said.

Tight end

While Tyler Hunt returns with starting experience and Maliq Carr showed some tough-catch ability during one video clip earlier in the week, it was Illinois transfer Daniel “DJ” Barker whom Tucker said “was very productive in the opportunities that he did have” during the first scrimmage. MSU wants the tight ends to be more involved this season, and the Big Ten veteran adds a proven presence.

Kicker

Jack Stone arrived this summer as the only kicker on scholarship, but Tucker said last week the freshman was being pushed by sophomore walk-on Stephan Rusnak. With the departure of one of the program’s record-holders in Matt Coghlin, kicker and kickoff duty battles could be important in Saturday’s second scrimmage.

“We're not clear right now who's going to be the guy, but we still have plenty of opportunities to find out,” Tucker said. “We'll put them in those situations. But I'm encouraged at what I've seen out there. I feel like we'll be very productive in that position.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football's Mel Tucker breaks down closed scrimmage