Maverick Hansen eager to leave a legacy at Michigan State ahead of final season as a Spartan

Maverick Hansen has seen it all. The sixth-year Michigan State defensive tackle has withstood two coaching changes and numerous peaks and valleys during his time in East Lansing. Amid the constant change, Hansen has continued to ground himself in his love for the game of football.

That passion was on display during the onset of his sixth fall camp at Michigan State – and head coach Jonathan Smith’s first – on Tuesday.

“It was a lot of fun, man, just being able to go out there and compete,” Hansen said after Michigan State’s first day of camp. “There’s so many new faces and it’s such a different defense going against such a different offense. I mean, it’s almost like I’m at a new program but I still get to wear my green and white and be a Spartan. It’s awesome.

“It is truly different, though, I will say. And I love it. I’m trying to embrace every bit of it. You can’t take any day for granted. You have to take advantage of every day because one day I’m not going to be able to strap up here anymore. Hopefully at the next level, but as far as here, I have to really take advantage of every day.”

Unlike last season, there’s a definite finality to the upcoming campaign for Hansen. This time last year, the Farmington Hills, Mich., native didn’t know what would follow his fifth season at Michigan State . The ideal scenario might have resulted in an NFL Draft declaration for the 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle.

Following the turmoil of last season’s 4-8 finish, however, Hansen chose to return to Michigan State using his COVID year. Now his goal is to end his final season in East Lansing on a more positive note.

“Every year I’ve tried to put my best foot forward, but this is my last year, truly,” Hansen said. “Last year I was kind of like, you know, ‘I kind of have one more year.’ But I would like this to be my last because I’ve missed a lot of my family time and my dad passed away while I’ve been up here. I want to spend as much time with my family as I can, but also, this game requires a lot of your time.”

With the finality of this season in the back of his mind, Hansen identified a clear objective for himself ahead of fall camp.

“Man, I feel like my mindset going into this year is just, ‘Do everything to the best of your ability and leave no regrets’ because the weight of regret is way heavier than the weight of just putting in the hard work right now,” Hansen said. “So that’s kind of my mindset going into it. I just want to be the best I can be at everything I do and compete at a high level.”

Asked what excited him the most about getting back on the practice field after three months off, Hansen pointed to the ability to build relationships with his teammates. For him, that’s one of the most important building blocks toward success.

“The star of the team is the team,” Hansen said. “If everyone’s super close, you’re going to be fighting harder for the guy next to you and you’re willing to put more on the line for them.”

Embracing a Michigan State mindset

Hansen hopes that those building blocks will help Michigan State achieve several of his big goals for this upcoming season. Hansen thinks about those goals often, just as he does during most fall camps. But they’re especially pertinent for Hansen this year, given Michigan State’s mediocre finishes the last two seasons and his desire to accomplish them while he still has time.

“Something that I have on my mind is honestly, for me, I always think about what’s after the season,” Hansen said. “First things first is the season, we have to get through those 12 games. But my biggest goal is to get that bowl game, get to the Big Ten championship and get us a chance at the natty, man. That’s all anyone in college football could really hope for. So I’ve always kind of had that in the back of my mind and I kind of just tuck it away and be like, ‘OK, we have to take it one day at a time.’ But it is something that I think about.”

Michigan State hasn’t competed on that level since 2021, Hansen’s redshirt sophomore season. The Spartans finished 11-2 that season and beat No. 13 Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl. Prior to that, Michigan State enjoyed a run of three consecutive New Year’s Six bowl games under former coach Mark Dantonio , who Hansen played under for one season.

Following the graduation of some of his former classmates, Hansen is now the only player on Michigan State’s roster to have played for Dantonio. Hansen takes pride in that fact, given that the former Spartan coach took a chance on him as a three-star recruit late in the 2019 recruiting cycle.

“It matters,” Hansen said, “and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I was given an opportunity to get my sixth year from the COVID year. Obviously I redshirted before that. So having a sixth year, being able to play here one more time, it means the world to me. I feel like I haven’t been able to put my best out there for a whole lot of reasons. But I really just feel like this is a great opportunity for me to put my best foot forward and leave a legacy that I’ve been wanting to leave here that I haven’t been able to in the past.”

Five years after he signed to Michigan State under Dantonio, Hansen believes the same “underdog” mentality that his former coach so often embraced is embedded within this year’s team. With his final season as a Spartan fast approaching, Hansen is eager to take hold of that mindset with the hope of achieving his long list of ambitious goals.

“Honestly, I like the underdog mentality,” Hansen said. “As a program, we’ve been the underdog in many years, even when coach Dantonio was here. We showed that we could do stuff and they’ve always looked at us as an underdog. I really like that. Obviously our goal is to win the national championship, just like everyone else right now. As far as executing that and going out there and doing it at the best level, I really think that we can get it done with the amount of depth and the type of culture that coach Smith is bringing in here.”

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