The Mel Tucker era in East Lansing has been an interesting one. Year one in 2020 was very bad for Michigan State football, but the Spartans did beat their rival, Michigan football. That's one of the only things that matter for Spartans fans. Year two, however, saw a complete turnaround. Michigan State beat Michigan again, went 11-2, and won a New Year's Six bowl game. That earned Tucker a new $95 million contract that made him one of the highest paid coaches in college football. Then in year three, the Spartans took a major step backwards. They lost badly to Michigan and finished the season 5-7 and didn't even go to a bowl game. Now, the pressure is on for Mel Tucker and Michigan State football.

Right before every college football season starts, members of the Big Ten Network crew travel around to every Big Ten team's camps and get a sneak peak at how each team looks. When they stopped in East Lansing, they were impressed.

“This is our 10th stop,” BTN analyst Gerry DiNardo said, according to a tweet from Jim Comparoni. “To me, this is the team that has made the most progress from last year.”

Michigan State fans will love to hear that. People aren't expecting the Spartans to be good this season, and they have a very gruelling schedule that includes games against five teams ranked in the preseason top-25, four of those teams being ranked top-1o. Michigan State needs to have a good year to satisfy the fans, and to make that $95 million contract seem worth it. It certainly isn't going to be easy, but things seem to be going well in camp so far for the Spartans.