It was for the Spartans of MSU. And with the man of the hour, Mr Steve Courtney is here with MSU football coach extraordinaire. Mel Tucker. Good morning, Stevie. Good Morning, Dub. Hello again, everyone indeed. Good things come to those who wait. Late kick and Evanston on Friday night. The very first play from scrimmage the first play of the season. How about it? Kenneth Walker, the third, the junior transfer running back, takes it. 75 yards to the house. Just like that. Probably drew that play up during spring ball. Coach. How are you this morning? I'm doing. I'm doing great. How are you doing? Everything. Good morning That play took 13 seconds. When you when you figure it all out, tough to win time of possession when you got action like that, What a way to start the year coach. Yeah, that was that was pretty special. You know, we wanted to come out and run the ball, obviously and for, uh, we can to pop that when the way you did. That was just the, uh I don't know if you could ask for a better start for the season. Well, 264 yards a career high, obviously, but what I thought was very impressive As this game unfolded, coach was Kenneth would pop run of 50 yards and another one of 30 yards. In the fourth quarter. So obviously a young man that, uh, got a little rust and gets stronger as the ball game goes on. Yeah, he's he's a relentless competitor and You know he practices that way as well. I mean, I've never seen him take a playoff for low. Uh, since he's been here, I mean the day he walked in the door with his In the in the weight room and all of the officers and conditioning workouts. He was, and he's always goes full tilt. And so if he just a if you if you practice that way And you know, it gives you a better chance to have success and success in the game. And so you know, we weren't surprised by what we saw and for his efforts for all the right reasons. He was named the Big 10 offensive Player of the week. Meanwhile, uh, you give the starting assignment of Peyton Thorn, making his second career started their QB position 15 to 25 coach. Goes for 185 yards, one score What I thought was impressive, And during the course of the week we discussed his poise carrying over from last year. Under duress. A couple of times he did the right thing. He lived for another play and got rid of it. So that's nice to see. Yeah, He did a solid job for us. Um, you know, obviously, you know, we, you know, there's so many areas of our of our team where we just need to with you to improve. And we're going to do that. But, you know, he ran a good show. He took care of the football play with a lot of poise. Um, like you said, a couple of times. He just threw it. He just threw it away, which is smart. There was a couple of times he had a little a little pressure. He stepped up in the pocket, kept his arms down Phil and delivered the ball. And so you know, you can see that he's uh, you know, he's gotten better. He's grown. He's mature. You know, he thought he was going to continue to do that. He's still a young player. Joe Johnson, Uh, offers a coordinated quarterbacks coach is, you know, done a phenomenal job with him. And you know, he and afternoon Russo both, uh you know, we're playing at a high level when we came out account. Was anxious to see the former running back Connor Hayward at that tight end position, and I was not disappointed coach and I'm sure the the staff wasn't either. Three receptions, but I found it interesting. What a great seal block he had. On the second score of the evening, Kenneth Walker goes left and it was a wonderful blocked by Connor Hebert. That was something Yeah, Connors has done a fantastic job for us. You know, He's just He's a very talented football player he can do. He's very versatile. He's in his unselfish player. He's a real team guy. You know he's doing up and tells the job for us, Uh, on on on office, you know and blocking, you know, Eat. Uh, you know, out and out in the route, you know, he's very productive. He's leading, um, minute and also he's given given us production on special teams. So, um, you know, I really appreciate you know what he's doing for us right now. And I'm just looking forward to seeing him continue to progress. Defensively. Obviously savior Henderson, uh, the find safety. Very active. Jacob Slade. Couple of batted balls after the ballgame, Coach. You said you and your staff couldn't wait to look at the film. And I'm sure you saw relentless football responsible football. We were talking about turnovers, just the one fumble that was obviously questionable, Severe hit. Harold Joyner there in the fourth quarter and just five penalties your thoughts overall on that opening performance. Yeah, Overall, we were part of our of our players the way they handled the first campus season. Um and, uh and and the effort did they did they gave him the game from start to finish? Felt like our conditioning was was was very good, And that's a credit to our strength and conditioning Coach and our nutrition program. And and the kids, the work that they put in the what they prepared and practice to be able to play four quarters. 60 minutes in the game. We saw that, um, you know, obviously, you know, there was there was there was lots of areas for improvement. Um, and we're already you know, and in that process of correcting those things that We? We didn't do properly, um and working to get better. You know, we're still working progress. Coach cannot wait to see a pack. Spartan stadium come Saturday. Oh, it's going to be something else. The Penguins of Youngstown state coming in. We'll preview that Friday. I know you've got to run little meeting to go to. I've got nothing going on. I could be here for hours. But, coach, We'll talk soon. Thank you. Thanks, Coach. Here. Thank you so much. Go Green. Go away. White coach Mel Tucker MSU, beating Northwestern 38 to 21 Tailgate nine A.m. Saturday in East Lansing. Of course, uh, and will be there along with Steve Courtney, if he gets through this day, which is a national beer lovers day And who knew, Lord? Yeah. You were looking for an excuse for another Miller light as a Sarah visa file. You are a Sarah Another day. Did you know that would say just another day, Paul? Yeah. Did you know you were a Sarah visa file? Mm hmm. Sarah Visa File is a beer lover or enthusiast. I think that I think you fit that one pretty well. You've known me long enough to understand that I've been called much worse. Yeah, well, you're an expert in your area. Speaking of experts, we've got our WJR business, beat Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of Startup Nation, spotlighting the entrepreneurial tech and startup community on WJR. Good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Paul, The U. S Small Business Administration. And all hail the SP A. By the way, their support programs by way of grants and lending were nothing short of a godsend during the pandemic. I can't imagine where the state of small business would be if they hadn't stepped up as they did. And they continue to focus their support on small businesses. During this most challenging time, the S B A has announced a new program in which it has awarded 27 organizations across the United States a total of $5.2.