A year ago, folks around the Michigan State football building were probably still wearing name tags.
Mel Tucker was roughly a month on the job, he’d just put together his coaching staff and the Spartans were about to begin spring practice.
Of course, that all went out the window when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shutting down Michigan State’s spring workouts and forcing a bizarre offseason of isolation and Zoom meetings with a staff and roster that hardly knew each other.
Fast forward a year and Tucker and his crew are in a far different position. The Spartans have been through a season — albeit, a short one that lasted only seven games but included two wins over ranked opponents — have seen plenty of turnover on the roster and gone through a full winter conditioning program.