“Nothing ever goes smoothly,” Dantonio said Monday at his press conference. “So there’s going to be transition there, there’s going to be adversity and we’ve got to be able to handle that.”

MSU will be playing UAB for the first time in the program’s history, and that makes Dantonio’s game planning more of a challenge.

“You don’t know for sure what you’re going to be getting, don’t have past games to look at,” he said. “You look at their personnel, and you look at what other people have done.”

Dantonio will be going up against another first-year head coach, Neil Callaway, who served the past six seasons as University of Georgia’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

If he’s anything like the offensive line coaches Dantonio has known throughout his career, then UAB should play a tough, disciplined game with strong attention to detail, Dantonio said.

As far as how he expects his own team to perform, Dantonio said he expects them to “play with great emotion, great technique and toughness.”

And while he’ll be paying attention to the scoreboard this Saturday, he said he’s looking to win more than the game itself.

“The first win we have to get is the win of respect,” Dantonio said.

Fresh and healthy

The Spartans are coming out of training camp “very, very well from a health standpoint,” Dantonio said.

“Relative to most teams in the United States, we’re probably pretty healthy,” he said Monday.

Senior left tackle Mike Gyetvai is practicing on a limited basis while he continues to rehabilitate a shoulder injury. Dantonio expects Gyetvai will return to the starting lineup in three or four weeks.

Captains elected

Players and coaches have named four team captains – all of whom are seniors – after two rounds of voting.

The players elected are middle linebacker Kaleb Thornhill, safety Travis Key, running back Jehuu Caulcrick, and left tackle Pete Clifford.

Thornhill received the most votes of all the captains, and Dantonio said he was “almost a unanimous pick in all respects.”

A spiking trend

Ever since former defensive lineman Domata Peko’s long orange locks debuted at Spartan Stadium, hair has been a topic of conversation surrounding MSU football.

This season, junior kicker Todd Boleski’s mohawk seems to be the buzz.

“I think he should get some stuff to stick it up,” junior quarterback Brian Hoyer said. “It’s probably a little better than his long locks he had going. There’s a bunch of mohawks on the team now.”

Other Spartans following suit under their helmets include Thornhill, and senior fullback Devin Pritchett.

“(Boleski) either needs to spike it up or trim it down, but those guys I think got it professionally done,” Hoyer said.