Questions power Spartans’ development: ‘A smarter player is a better player’

EAST LANSING — Usually college football coaches have all the answers. At Michigan State, they’ve got all the questions.

Though the money and attention paid to college sports has professionalized the sport, college football is still, at its root, about player development. The vast majority of players come to campus either eyeing a future in professional football or needing to improve to touch the college field. From the perspective of Michigan State’s coaches, getting players there starts with their own ears.

“We believe that a smarter player is a better player, right?” safeties coach James Adams said Wednesday. “And so part of teaching and coaching and developing these young people is figuring out how they learn.”

Not only how players learn, but what they know in the first place. In ord