EAST LANSING — It has been a long offseason for the Michigan State football team.

The Spartans are coming off a 7-6 2018 season that included a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten Conference’s East Division.

The Spartans also had the nation’s 117th-ranked offense, averaging 342 yards per game.

Changes had to be made.

So, during the offseason, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio shuffled his coaching staff. Dave Warner, Terrence Samuel and former Dowagiac standout Mark Staten were all reassigned.

Warner, who was the Spartans’ play-caller, returned to being the quarterbacks coach. Staten, who was the offensive line and assistant coach, was moved to tight ends, while Samuels was moved to assistant defensive backs coach.

Dantonio is hoping these moves will help return the Spartans to their 2015 form, when they went 12-2 overall, 7-1 in the Big Ten and defeated Iowa 16-13 in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Brad Salem, former head coach at Augustana, has been promoted to play-caller for Michigan State. Dantonio is hoping that he can help spark the Spartans’ offense.

“I think offenses today are predicated upon what you see is really what you’ll get, in terms of, if you see a particular defense, you’re going to certain things,” he said.

“That’s the basis of RPOs, the basis of a lot of things, whether you’re running to the three, running to the shade, based on different things. So, a lot of it is predicated on what you see, whether it’s coverage or front related or blitzes or those type of things. Those things have always been opportunities for our quarterbacks to get out of bad plays.”

Dantonio said that he wants to give the quarterbacks in his offense a chance to read what they see and make changes at the line of scrimmage if necessary.

“So those types of things will continue, and they’ll continue all over the country,” he said. So, in the event that, we’re going to give our quarterback some latitude. We always have. I don’t think that those things are going to change. That guy (QB) needs to control issues out there. That’s the nature of that position. That’s why it’s criticized and praised probably the most of any other position in football.”

Dantonio also knows that if his team does not improve along the offensive line, which has suffered numerous injuries each of the past three or four seasons, that it will not matter who is playing quarterback or who is running or catching the football.

“I think we have guys that have played,” he said, “As I said earlier, I think maybe it was last Friday or whenever it was, Tyler Higby is taking steps to get back involved. He’s still not back all the way, but I think he will be shortly. And then after that, hey, what are we playing today? You playing left tackle, right tackle? Are you playing left guard, or are you playing center, those types of things? So, I think that type of thing is going on.”

With all those players moving around, it will be important for the coaching staff to figure out who is the best fit at each position.

“So we want to find the best five, get them involved, get them situated,” Dantonio said. “Beyond that, there’s three or four other guys that have played and there will be some newcomer or somebody that will step in, whether it’s some freshman or a younger player will get involved as well. But they’re taking steps.”

Michigan State always seems to have one of the top defenses, not only in the Big Ten, but in the country year in and year out. Dantonio said that his team will not rest on their laurels, but look to become an even better unit in 2019.

“I think, last year, we came up with interceptions,” he said. “We didn’t come up with a fumble. Sometimes balls were on the ground. We stopped the run and played pretty good on third down. We were difficult to score on. Of course, you want to continue to get better in those areas, but I think what we’d like to see is our turnover margin be better than plus one.”

Turnovers are the key to success, according to the Spartan head coach. He believes they will also be the key to his defense.

“When you look at us in 2013 and 2014, and I think 2015, we led the Big Ten in turnover margin,” Dantonio said. “I think we were plus 14 or something like that at one point in time, maybe 2013 or 2014. So that wins football games for you. Can’t turn it over, but got to come up with maybe some more fumbles, maybe ball disruption a little bit more. We work on it, but sometimes they come in batches.”

Former Edwardsburg standout Dante Razzano is hoping to help bolster those defensive numbers. Razzano is listed at No. 2 on the depth chart going into fall camp. He played in all 13 games for the Spartans on special teams in 2018.