{
  "id": 6354471,
  "title": "Pat Fitzgerald Tells Spartans Playing Time Starts in Practice",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/pat-fitzgerald-tells-spartans-playing-time-starts-in-practice",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-09T00:20:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pat-fitzgerald-tells-spartans-playing-002000211.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald challenged his players and coaches to practice harder ahead of Saturday's home game against Eastern Michigan. He emphasized that players need to be a \"superstar in their role\" and that practice is \"really important.\" Fitzgerald will not allow players to take practices easy or go through drills at half-speed. He wants players to put in their best effort at all times so he can trust them to do the same on game day.\n\nFitzgerald acknowledged that Eastern Michigan is not an \"easy\" opponent, despite their MAC affiliation. He noted that Michigan State has struggled with special teams in recent games, and he pointed out that Eastern Michigan has four former Spartans on their roster, including starting quarterback Noah Kim. Kim, who hasn't played since before Fitzgerald took over in 2023, is expected to be a key player for Eastern Michigan.\n\nFitzgerald praised the team's performance in the heat and humidity, highlighting the toughness required to win games. He will be looking for players to step up their performance in special teams and across all aspects of the game to be successful against Eastern Michigan.",
  "summary": "Pat Fitzgerald told Michigan State that playing time is earned in practice, not on Saturdays. #GoGreen",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}