EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State football team held its fourth spring practice on Tuesday morning in the Greg and Dawn Williams Indoor Practice Facility to enter the second week of spring ball.
Following practice, assistant head coach/special teams coordinator LeVar Woods, junior punter Rhys Dakin, redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Rakeem Johnson, and redshirt senior safety Nikai Martinez talked to the media to give an update on the Spartans.
"Special teams right now, we're building, we're to figure out exactly what we want to do schematically, the personnel, trying to push all that forward," said Woods, who is in his first year at Michigan State after spending 18 seasons at Iowa. "Everything's brand new for everybody, but guys are working and pushing forward, and doing a really good job."
Woods consistently fielded one of the top special teams units in the country at Iowa, and is looking to build that same success in East Lansing.
"There's a lot of rich tradition and history here with specialists, and I think here at Michigan State we're just trying to live up to that, and where can we make our mark and put ourselves in that position," said Woods. "I think what makes a good specialist, first off, you have to be able to play in the elements. If you want to win a championship, at any level of college football right now, you have to be able to do it in the elements. There's no better training ground for that than one, the Big Ten Conference, and two, Michigan State University, because you have to deal with the elements.
"So that's one part. The rest comes in all of the technical stuff, your hands, your feet, the leg strength, your mindset, those are all things that we're working on and training right now." After two outstanding seasons at Iowa to start his collegiate career, junior punter Rhys Dakin is in his first season at Michigan State.
Woods has coached multiple All-Americans, national award winners, NFL Draft picks, Pro Bowlers and all-conference players, including incoming transfer Rhys Dakin from Iowa.
"I met Coach Woods in 2023 – he came out to Australia to recruit me," said Dakin, who was a Freshman All-American for the Hawkeyes in 2024 and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten plaudits as a sophomore after averaging 43.6 yards per punt, including 18 inside the 20. "I met him in the city of Melbourne. He came to training the next day, had dinner with my family at my house, so that was the Coach Woods introduction that I had. He flew out to meet my family, and meet me, get to know me as a person, rather than just recruit me. So that says a lot about Coach Woods as a person."
Martinez will be entering his fifth year as a collegiate player in 2026 and his third as a Spartan after transferring from UCF in 2024. After starting all 12 games at safety during his first season at MSU, he redshirted last season while playing in just four games due to an injury. This year, Martinez is invigorated heading into his last season in college.
"Just the energy that Coach Fitz brought," said Martinez on one of his main reasons on returning to Michigan State. "I've seen it from day one, what we see in practice, to sitting down in a 1-on-1 meeting, he still has the same energy, the same 'it' to it – he just loves football, and loves being around people. And then of course having Coach (Joe) Rossi and Coach (James) Adams coming back, so my position is not really changing…so that played a big role in coming back."
Johnson started the last four games at right guard to close out the 2025 season after redshirting as a true freshman in 2024. The Boise, Idaho, product is now looking to use that experience to bolster the Spartan offensive line in 2026.
"If you don't have confidence in this game, it's hard to play at all," said Johnson. "I think I gained that later in the year, that 'next play mentality,' just having that. I'd say technique too. Really just keying in on my technique…just making sure I'm in the right spot every single time."
Hall of Fame Coach Mark Dantonio, the winningest head coach in Michigan State history, attended Tuesday's practice and spoke to the team afterwards.
MSU will return to the practice field later this week on Thursday and Saturday.
Michigan State's 15 spring practices will conclude with the Spring Showcase, presented by Michigan Achievement Scholarship, in Spartan Stadium on Saturday, April 18 at noon.
