Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Open Spring Football Practice
3/17/2026 3:11:00 PM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. – First-year Spartan head football coach Pat Fitzgerald conducted his first practice at Michigan State as MSU opened spring ball on Tuesday morning inside the Greg and Dawn Williams Indoor Practice Facility.
Following practice, Fitzgerald spoke to the media, along with senior linebacker Jordan Hall and redshirt sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic.
"Just great to be on the field with the guys," said Fitzgerald, who was hired as Michigan State's 27th head coach in program history on Dec. 1, 2025. "Been working diligently since day one when I got here to get to this point, and today was a great first step. I got pages of notes, ways that we have to get a lot better, but that's to be expected after going just through our first workout together on the field, collectively as a squad. Guys came ready to work, and it's crazy to think we only have 14 left."
The Spartans hit the practice field early, just after 6:15 a.m., to get spring ball started.
"I think if you're not having fun with football, then you shouldn't be a part of it," said Fitzgerald, who noted the early practice time this spring on Tuesdays and Thursdays is due to multiple class conflicts in the late morning. "You've got to love it, you've got to love everything about it.
"I'm just honored to be in the role, and I'm honored to be here coaching these guys and developing them as men and as students. We're hoping to build our program back to where it belongs, like I talked about initially. Did I have fun today? Absolutely. But we've just got a long way to go to build a team – it's not about me, it's about the guys and the squad."
"It was a lot faster tempo, earlier in the morning, but the intensity was there – I thought it was a good baseline first practice today," said Hall, who led the team in tackles last year with a career-high 88 stops.
"It's great," said Milivojevic on day one of spring practice. "I mean, it's playing football again, it's everything we want to do, getting back on the field, new teammates, new coaches, it's been awesome."
Milivojevic started the final four games of the season last fall for the Spartans, and over the course of nine games overall, he completed 64.2 percent of his passes (111-of-173) for 1,267 yards and 10 touchdowns.
"I think it just gave me something to build off, starting those last four games gave me some confidence," said Milivojevic. "Going into the offseason, it's all about building. Building with new teammates, new coaches, just building on something that you've already started."
Michigan State has 98 players on its spring roster, including 53 returning players and 45 newcomers. Among the 45 newcomers, 30 transfers joined the program in January along with 15 midyear enrollees. The Spartans added 14 transfers on defense that have started a combined 176 games, and the 12 transfers on offense have started a combined 160 games.
"It's going to be a work in progress because we'll add a number of young men (incoming freshmen not early enrolled) to the squad in June," said Fitzgerald, "but relationship building – the way we've worked our culture meetings on Wednesdays, which we'll have our sixth tomorrow, to the way we're trying to get the guys walking in the building, to communicating with each other, to building relationships, that's them together, that's us with them, it's them with us, that's obviously something we don't have enough time to do, so we have to have great urgency. I think that's number one the biggest area that we've improved collectively is just our relationships."
MSU's 15 spring practices will conclude with the Spring Showcase, presented by Michigan Achievement Scholarship, in Spartan Stadium on Saturday, April 18 at noon.
Michigan State opens the 2026 season on Saturday, Sept. 5 against Toledo in Spartan Stadium.
Following practice, Fitzgerald spoke to the media, along with senior linebacker Jordan Hall and redshirt sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic.
"Just great to be on the field with the guys," said Fitzgerald, who was hired as Michigan State's 27th head coach in program history on Dec. 1, 2025. "Been working diligently since day one when I got here to get to this point, and today was a great first step. I got pages of notes, ways that we have to get a lot better, but that's to be expected after going just through our first workout together on the field, collectively as a squad. Guys came ready to work, and it's crazy to think we only have 14 left."
The Spartans hit the practice field early, just after 6:15 a.m., to get spring ball started.
"I think if you're not having fun with football, then you shouldn't be a part of it," said Fitzgerald, who noted the early practice time this spring on Tuesdays and Thursdays is due to multiple class conflicts in the late morning. "You've got to love it, you've got to love everything about it.
"I'm just honored to be in the role, and I'm honored to be here coaching these guys and developing them as men and as students. We're hoping to build our program back to where it belongs, like I talked about initially. Did I have fun today? Absolutely. But we've just got a long way to go to build a team – it's not about me, it's about the guys and the squad."
"It was a lot faster tempo, earlier in the morning, but the intensity was there – I thought it was a good baseline first practice today," said Hall, who led the team in tackles last year with a career-high 88 stops.
"It's great," said Milivojevic on day one of spring practice. "I mean, it's playing football again, it's everything we want to do, getting back on the field, new teammates, new coaches, it's been awesome."
Milivojevic started the final four games of the season last fall for the Spartans, and over the course of nine games overall, he completed 64.2 percent of his passes (111-of-173) for 1,267 yards and 10 touchdowns.
"I think it just gave me something to build off, starting those last four games gave me some confidence," said Milivojevic. "Going into the offseason, it's all about building. Building with new teammates, new coaches, just building on something that you've already started."
Michigan State has 98 players on its spring roster, including 53 returning players and 45 newcomers. Among the 45 newcomers, 30 transfers joined the program in January along with 15 midyear enrollees. The Spartans added 14 transfers on defense that have started a combined 176 games, and the 12 transfers on offense have started a combined 160 games.
"It's going to be a work in progress because we'll add a number of young men (incoming freshmen not early enrolled) to the squad in June," said Fitzgerald, "but relationship building – the way we've worked our culture meetings on Wednesdays, which we'll have our sixth tomorrow, to the way we're trying to get the guys walking in the building, to communicating with each other, to building relationships, that's them together, that's us with them, it's them with us, that's obviously something we don't have enough time to do, so we have to have great urgency. I think that's number one the biggest area that we've improved collectively is just our relationships."
MSU's 15 spring practices will conclude with the Spring Showcase, presented by Michigan Achievement Scholarship, in Spartan Stadium on Saturday, April 18 at noon.
Michigan State opens the 2026 season on Saturday, Sept. 5 against Toledo in Spartan Stadium.
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
QB
/ FootballPat Fitzgerald | Football Press Conference | Mar. 17, 2026
Tuesday, March 17
Pat Fitzgerald | Signing Day Press Conference | Feb. 4 2026
Wednesday, February 04
A New Era | Pat Fitzgerald's First Day in East Lansing
Wednesday, December 03
Pat Fitzgerald | Football Press Conference | Dec. 2nd, 2025
Tuesday, December 02