White, who was a part of the Detroit Lions for 19 years and their interim general manager in 2015, is now the director of player personnel. The longtime executive was hired in July 2016 by MSU as a program consultant.

"I just felt that Mark has done a lot of things within the community and he's been one of those guys I've been with for 14 years," Dantonio said Tuesday during media availability. "In the transition period and recruiting he picked up that gauntlet again and did an outstanding job. I think that it's warranted."

Staten enters his 11th season at MSU and 14th under Dantonio. Since 2011, Staten has been the offensive line coach. The new promotion will be similar to Staten's past role at MSU, when he was the recruiting coordinator from 2007-10, along with the tight ends and tackles coach.

White said his role as a program consultant was more of an "orientation" to the college game after so many years in the NFL. Now, he said there are definite differences as he continues to transition to the college game.

"It's a different level of player," White said. "Usually when you're going from college to pro, they're a little bit closer to being fully-developed than they are in college. So the difference is being able to take a look at the younger kids ... just see their development, find out where they are in their development and then continue evaluate them as they grow."

White's role at MSU includes "coordinating the evaluation of all current players on the active roster, providing detailed evaluations to the coaching staff."

MSU's revamped recruiting staff comes after Curtis Blackwell's contract was not renewed May 30. Blackwell was officially the director of college advancement and performance, but had a heavy hand in MSU's recruiting efforts.