The MSU football program held a much anticipated press conference today. Mark Dantonio took to the podium to answer questions presumabley about a sexual assault scandal in the Michigan State University football program and the state of the football team heading into the Spring Game.
Dantonio made it clear from the start that he was not allowed to comment on the ongoing investigation. He also made it clear that he wasn’t going to talk about football as that would be disrespectful in some way to the current situation at MSU.
"I think to stand up here and talk about who are QB is is trivial right now. I thought it was unfair to investigation as a whole." Dantonio
— Justin Rose (@JRoseDet) March 28, 2017
So, what did Dantonio say during the press conference?
He did reveal some information about players who are transferring.
Dantonio says Martinez, Lukusa, and Reschke are all transferring. We knew this before signing day. #MSU
— DetroitSportsNation (@detsportsnation) March 28, 2017
All old news, except for one new piece of information. Dantonio did update on more attrition from the Spartan football program announcing a new transfer.
Mark Dantonio: Drake Martinez has decided to transfer
— Freep Sports (@freepsports) March 28, 2017
Regarding the players who are currently suspended due to sexual assault allegations, Dantonio vehemently declined to comment. However, he did leave the door wide open for speculation at the upcoming spring game.
Dantonio says players will play with their respective numbers this weekend. It will be obvious who isn't there (suspended)
— DetroitSportsNation (@detsportsnation) March 28, 2017
Unfortunately, this means that any player not at the Spring Game, regardless of why they are not there, will be suspected regarding possible involvement in the scandal
A question was asked about the length of the investigation and if there is an end in sight.
#Spartans Dantonio says he doesn't know how much longer the investigation will take, says they are fully cooperating
— FOX 2 Sports (@FOX2Sports) March 28, 2017
We will have to wait for more news from East Lansing and the football program there about…well…pretty much everything. Apparently, this wasn’t the appropriate time to mention anything, really.
In this press conference, Dantonio declined to talk about the investigation or Spartan football. There was a review of three players who we already knew were going to transfer. There was also a reminder that the Spring Game will take place on April 1.
The only piece of news today is that Drake Martinez is planning to transfer. Many are taking to social media to criticize the program and Dantonio for having a press conference where football wasn’t discussed, and the highly talked about sexual assault case isn’t discussed either. There’s still a lot we don’t know about the MSU assault case, and legally Dantonio isn’t able to comment on it. With the Spring football game slated for April 1, MSU had to make some sort of statement. You can’t have a Spring game and be silent regarding the allegations surrounding the program. When authorities finish their investigation, I’m sure we’ll hear much more from Coach D and the Spartans.