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Mel Tucker discusses Early Signing Period, looks ahead to offseason following Maryland cancellation
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Michigan State was hoping to get one more game in this season, but Thursday’s cancellation put an end to that.
Maryland canceled Saturday’s Champions Week game against the Spartans, effectively ending the season for Mel Tucker and company. That gives Tucker a 2-5 record with upsets of Michigan and Northwestern proving to be his two victories in his first season in East Lansing.
Thursday evening, Tucker made his final radio appearance of the season to discuss his outlook for recruiting. Tucker claimed the Spartans were not done for 2021 and received a bit of good news on the recruiting trail earlier in the day.
That comment was a bit unclear considering the Spartans landed a transfer commitment from Auburn running back Harold Joiner and four-star running back and current MSU commit Audric Estime announced he will be signing his letter of intent Friday morning.
Hopefully Tucker is able to add both players to an offense looking to improve on an inconsistent season.
Here is what Tucker had to say Thursday night regarding the canceled game, the recruiting trail, and offseason plans for the Spartans:
Mel Tucker on his final weekly radio show says he met with MSU players this afternoon to tell them about the Maryland game being cancelled. "The news … was very unfortunate."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) December 18, 2020
Tucker on recruiting and signing 16 players Wednesday and one today: "We'll see how the rest of the recruiting period shakes out." Those are the high school players, with two transfers as well (QB Anthony Russo and now RB Harold Joiner III).
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) December 18, 2020
Tucker on radio show: “We feel like we got some good news a little bit ago” about recruiting “but we’ll see in the morning.”
Not sure if he’s meaning Joiner or Estime or both.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) December 18, 2020
Tucker said MSU plans to start its offseason conditioning program Jan. 19. How that will work during the pandemic and whether daily testing will continue is unclear.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) December 18, 2020
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.