EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The past week has been an exciting one for Michigan State University football with the Big Ten Media Days, a leadership gift for the new football building, and the unveiling of new Nike uniforms. Tucker is entering his fourth season at MSU and is excited about this year’s team.

At the Big Ten Media Days, he said, “We have a hungry, determined, and very, very focused football team heading into preseason camp. Our players have worked extremely hard in this off season and are very, very well prepared to start camp next week. I believe we have more team chemistry going into this season, which is very important. We’ve done more team-building activities and events than we’ver ever done. It’s really brought our team close together, not just the players, but the coaches and support staff as well.”

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MSU is coming off a disappointing 5-7 season in 2022 and missing a bowl game. Tucker says, “Last season was a tremendous learning experience for us, not just for the players, but for the coaches and the support staff. Again, we’re really, really hungry and excited to get going.”

Two days after the Big Ten Media Days (July 28), MSU received a Leadership Gift commitment from Trea and Kyra Waynes for the Tom Izzo Football Building. This state-of-the-art new addition to the Skandalaris Football Center and Duffy Daugherty Football Building will be a 65,000 square-foot space to focus on player development through performance. This addition will have an expanded weight room, a sports science area, and multiple nutrition stations, rest and recovery with renovated athletic training areas and recovery modalities along with a new player locker room and lounge.

Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller said, “MSU athletics is grateful for the significant philanthropic support from Trae and Kyra Waynes from the Tom Izzo Football Building. Their gift mirrors their approach to life and their values of being family oriented, forward thinking, and giving selflessly for the benefit of others. We thank them for enhancing the experience for all Spartan student-athletes while continuing the strong tradition of former athletes giving back to Michigan State and paying it forward for those following in their footprints.”

On that same day, the football team received a treat of the unveiling of their new uniforms designed by Nike just for the 2023 season. At the “Thy Shadows” event on Friday night at the Pasant Theatre inside the Wharton Center, the team saw a first glimpse of the new helmets and uniforms. The uniforms are part of the Field Utility Special Edition by Nike F.U.S.E. This part of the Nike company combines leading edge fabric technology with a precision fit and is the first football uniform to meet Nike Dri-FIT standards.

All of this comes as part of celebrating the 100 years of Spartan Stadium this season. MSU starts the new season hosting Central Michigan on Friday, September 1, at 7:00 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.