Second-year coach Jonathan Smith wants Michigan State football to be a developmental program, and he's banking on roster retention to yield results.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/michiganstate as Michigan State LB Jordan Hall Defends Jonathan Smith. Given where Michigan State football had been prior to Jonathan Smith's arrival, a lot of pressure has been placed on the Spartans' head coach to turn this program around and get it back to a level of prominence.

An old idiom espouses the idea that patience is a virtue – and perhaps no one will come to embody that statement quite like Michigan State football head coach Jonathan Smith. The Spartans are a program with a history of success yearning for a return to the spotlight,