Michigan State opens their college football campaign tonight against Florida Atlantic at Spartan Stadium. It's a night game. It should be thrilling, it should be exciting. I hope people are fired up. I know Jay who Colcrik is. He's the MSU sidelines talent, former Big Ten All freshman team member, played for the Jets and the Bucks and the Niners and the Bills as well, and he joins us here on exues and Bros. Jay with thanks for your time. How are you today? I hope you and your family are well.
Yeah, everyone's good. Thanks for having me on. Real excited it's game to hear at East Lanson.
Yeah, I'm excited too. I think everybody should be excited. The Jonathan Smith era will break in. I know he doesn't want it to be about himself, but what have you noticed in talking with him and talking members of his coaching staff. What's the vibe as a former player you get from him and his staff?
You know, I was in the in the football building yesterday for about two and a half hours, and the vibe, guy, it was kind of like it was relaxed. You know, it was like Antonio was when I used to go back to the building there. So that's something that I'm really excited about. Had the opportunity to, you know, talk to Coach Smith, talk to a bunch of the guys on his staff, and uh, you know, they're they're they're ready, They're in the right place. East Asad is a destination for them.
Do you think it can be a dangerous thing that he will be? It's a it's a great honor what Mark D'Antonio did in his lansing with the Spartan football program, just like it is with what Tom Izzo did in basketball, Ron Mason did in hockey, for example. But is it dangerous to constantly use D'Antonio as the bar for a guy who's just getting here and trying to get his feet wet?
You know, I yes, and no, you know it's that that's because that's those a big shoes to fill D'Antonio and uh, you know, I don't you know Spartan fans, there's I want Spartan fans to trust the process, trust that this coach has to plan in place, and uh, just a similar to D'Antonio, what's an instant a instant success right off the bat, there was you know, the first couple of years of you know, taking those steps to become you know, a playoff team, to become a
rose ball team. So that's what I want spart in Fancy, you know, trust the process that coach Smift and his staff has has a plan in place to win and to win here in East Lanson.
Jay Colcrik joins us here on Exues and Bros. You can follow him on Twitter on x at Jahu. Colcrik does a great job on the sideline sixty one new faces, though for this team, including quarterback Aid and Chiles, you've got a couple of returning key guys like Cal Holliday for example, Nick Carter as well. How challenging is it to get adjusted to sixty one new faces for a program in general while at the same time understanding a
new playbook, understanding a new philosophy offensively and defensively. Of the challenges there for student athletes, Well, you.
Know, I think that's a new that's going to be the new normal. Now every year you're going to see turnover like that. It might not be as high as sixty sixty something guys, but you know you're going to see pointies. You're gonna see thirties because college football has for real transactional. But those guys are they're football players. It's coming in, it's understanding a different scheme. Everyone's in football ever reads out the same book. You know. Sometimes
it's just a little different language that you speak. It's just that adjustment of getting to know, hey, you know this is called you know this uh here as opposed to what I'm used to. But these guys are football players. They'll come in, they'll learn this game, they'll walk through and they'll practice it. They'll have lots of time to get adjusted to it. But so far, this is the
new norm for college football. College football has become very transactional, and you're going to see that going forward.
I'm a big believer that teams like Michigan State, teams in the Big Ten should start their season by getting their feet wet with a team that isn't necessarily going to challenge.
For a national championship. Let's put it that way.
What's your philosophy on if you're the athletic director and you're the head coach and you're trying to schedule a football season, how do you believe it should shake out for a team like Michigan State in the Big Ten.
Yeah, I'm similar. I have similar beliefs like you. It's uh because in college football ended, but you don't have preseason games. So having a team that comes in that you know on paper that you have better talent than and you should with So I like that and it's coming together, you know, putting everything in place, getting ready to gear up forward the Big Ten season, because the Big Ten season is a regular season because it's your
body's going to be beat up throughout the season. So that's why it's important to have those games like a SAU game that can really you know, get your he said right, get you tuned, and get all players on the same page.
When he left Michigan State University, he was top ten in career attempts, top ten in yards gained in two thousand and seven. At the time, his twenty one touchdowns were a single season record in MSU football history. He is jau Colcrik. He joins us here on x'es and broth. What's the biggest challenge you think Jonathan Smith faces.
Well, the biggest thing it's a new conference. You know, it's the recruited in the Midwest it's different than recruited out west. You know. That's the challenge that he's gonna have to face. He's gonna have to win in his state, you know, which He's got to get Michigan guys. He's got to get guys from Ohio and that fifty to you know, that three three and a half hour radius from East Laves and he's going to have to win that.
And there's a lot of competition there. There's you know, the school down the road, there's Ohio State, you know, so he's gonna have to win those battles, you know, keep a talent in the state. So that's one of the biggest challenges that he's going to face.
Really, what's the sales pitch do you think he makes to recruits about MSU football.
It's a beautiful campus, you can get a great education, and you play good football. You know, a week in, a week out, you're going to be on national TV. MSU football is a brand, and if you want to be part of something, if you want to be part of a brand, the tradition is that you go anywhere in the country and you say go great, someone's going to say go white back to you. It doesn't get it better than that.
You know what this is like because you did it for four years here, you did in the NFL as well. You practice, and then they always talk about hitting somebody who's not on your team and how different it is. Can you describe the difference between hitting guys and finding the whole and running a practice compared to playing in front of a sold out stadium and a regular season game for the season opener.
Yeah. Practice, You know, you try to get the best game like similation in practice, but it's not that because and practice is it's scripted. You know, you tell the scout team you go here, you go here, do this, do that, and when it comes game time, those pieces move a little differently. You know, a guy might see something different and fire in a different hole, those types
of things. But it's just a crowd noise you're not used to, you know, seventy thousand people, you know, screaming when they should what they should, and all those things coming, and then your emotions take over, your adrenaline takes over. It's a lot different experience played on game day tha and is a practice. Practice is very controlled environments to how you think it's going to go but when it's game time, those things change.
I'm interested to know from you how long it takes a player to adjust to a new playbook. If dare I say, a new style. You're used to doing things one way. A coach comes in and things are done differently, practice, maybe run differently. There may be different hours in which you're expected to do certain things. How do you adjust to that, especially a new playbook. How do you as a player recognize and are are able to adapt to a new playbook? How long does it take you?
You know, it depends for the guy, But you know, for me, it was something that I love the game of football and I love you know, the ex's and those side of things. So it's just spend you know, a couple of extra hours a night looking at the playbook trying to figure out a way too to make it something that you remember, something that you can relate to. So for these guys, it's not going to take too longs Like football's football, you just got to you just
got to adjust to it. And the more time that you put into it than the faster you're going to make that adjustment to adjusting to a new college playbook, Do.
You remember the fab play you had and what the name of it was?
Can you can you recite it?
Yeah? Jack right, Zebra thirty two. It's just an inside zone play. The full back takes out the end man online of scrimmage that left guard pools for the mic backer. The guard tackle have a deuce block from the defensive tackle backside to the linebacker's open cossover for the running back, and act right through the two holes.
I love it.
Hey, I have always said this about football. I love it. Okay, and I played in high school that was a long time ago, okay, and I've covered football for a long time, calling TV and radio pro in college. But it's the one sport I think everybody thinks they know, but they truly don't. How am I right or wrong about that?
Yeah? You're absolutely right. You know, there's the whole stereotype football players for dumb jocks. But I challenge anybody to h put up a playbook and how how to block them, how to block a scheme a play simple, It's just what I just call. That's a bread and butter play that you know anyone can do, but like figuring it
out how to block this? How the moving pieces Football is the most team sports ever that it takes because because what it is is it takes eleven guys to come together and for a five seconds do everything right, and if you gain one yard that's considered a success. You know, there's no other like that. Yeah, so you know,
it's it's it's a different game. And I challenge people to just, you know, take a step and dive into you know, look up, look up plays on large, you know, look at a playbook and see, you know, can you dis sect can you make different changes, different adjustments? You know that play? What happens now if the if the if the safety walks down in the box and it creates eight man box, Now what do you do? What different adjustments do you do? That's the game of football.
Those excess to those those moving pieces to have, that's the excited part about football.
Yeah, it's really easy from the stands or the press box to say you should have ran on this hole, or you should have thrown it to this guy. You're not looking at from a bird's eye view. You got that big nasties coming at you with bad breath, trying to break you in half. It's a little bit easier said than done. We're joined by Jay Kolchra, outstanding Michigan State sidelines talent here on Exus and Bros. For just a few more minutes. You are a really successful high
school football coach as well. What's the biggest message you tried to convey to high school athletes, especially in today's landscape. I remember when I coached, I thought my job.
Was to do two things.
A make sure the players enjoy it and B make sure when they get to the next level the coaches say you were well coached. What do you think was the most important message you had for high schoolers when you coach them.
You know, that's a really good question and a great point, and I, you know, simple to me what you said, that's exactly what I was. I was going for as well, because I went to such a small school back in New York. You know, my graduating class is twenty six kids. And I was bigger, stronger, faster. So I just you know, have the mindset, get the ball, run and you know you're you're gonna be bigger, You're gonna be faster than the guy is trying to tackle you. I didn't learn
the game of football until I came to college. True story. Matt I was in the when else in college, sitting in the running backs room, They're like, hey, you know we're watching film. They're like, hey, identify where's the money couse, Like Mike's in the other room, you know, like, no,
the Mike Backer. You know those things. And that's why I took with me from when I was in when I was coaching at high schools, like I don't want kids that I coached to go to college and that's their dream and be you know that naive like that, Like I want him to go in and Blake. You said, to be like this guy as well, coach, you understand the game of football, you know want that's who love the game of football, because at the end of the day, it's a game.
It's Beautty said, we were talking earlier before you joined us that Brad Holmes, the general manager of the Lions, who's done an outstanding job putting that team together, wasn't afraid to come out and say our expectations are to win the Super Bowl. I love that. I think players overall embrace that too. What are the expectations from Michigan State this year?
Do you think.
I think you know similar to like Brad Hopes say, everybody goes into the season with the expectation of reaching the college football playoffs and win the national championship. You know, you got to think about that. Why not us? You know, the schedule's there, it's in front of you. So Michigan staytion going with the expectation. They're a power for school. They attract good talent. They you know, they have the resources year and the year out. The expectation is to
win the Big Ten. That's the first step. Make the playoffs. You know. Back when I played, the goal was, you know, make play the Rose Bowl. But now it's win a national title. You know, that's the expectation. You're recruiting guys that that you know could go anywhere else. You you beat out, you know, different schools to get these players. Now, put the pieces together and let's roll. Uh.
That's that's a pretty interesting take. Those are lofty goals, especially for a first year head coach in this program. He was really successful of course at Oregon State. Final thought, are you still good friends with Ryan Miller? I know you were here.
Yes, yes, yes, I'm good friends with Melsey. Ryan and his brother Drew. You know played some golf with Drew this summer. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
That's pretty cool. I think right.
I used to call some of Ryan Miller's college hockey games. As a matter of fact, I called the Cold War when he started the goalie in that outdoor game at Spartan Stadium. I think he's the best college hockey player I have ever seen. Did you recognize as a friend how good he was, perhaps along with John van Beisbrook, maybe the guy like Richter, maybe the greatest American born goalie in the history of the sport.
The time that I recognized it was you know that Olympic, that Wich Olympics, when he was the goalie want MVP there. I was like, this is on the biggest stage of it all and you know, the greatest from all over the world that are playing in here, and he had so much success in that. That's when I recognized how, you know, special of a talent that he is.
I think it's awesome that he can appreciate your talents as a football player, you can appreciate his as a high key player. You're both bleeding Green and White and your friends to this day, we appreciate the time, We appreciate the stories and the knowledge you do a great job on the sidelines with the Michigan State football enjoyed all season long, while we'll enjoy what listening to you and George and Jason. Thanks for the time today, Jehu.
Thanks Matt. Really appreciate you having me on he