College football: Michigan State vs. Rutgers - November 12, 2016

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio looks on in the first quarter of their Big Ten football game against Rutgers at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, on Saturday, November 12, 2016.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

LANSING -- Mark Dantonio does an evaluation of his program during every offseason, including after seasons like 2013, when it seemed like little needed to be changed.

But after its 3-9 campaign in 2016, that review is receiving increased attention in the early months of the offseason, as a critical component of Michigan State being able to about-face and return to contention in the Big Ten.

Dantonio went over some details of that review as part of his yearly address to the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association on Friday morning in Lansing.

Included in that process is individual evaluations, Dantonio said. They were compiled for every player and staff member, upwards of 150 people in total. Dantonio said he went over those evaluations in meetings with the individuals.

The staff also evaluated how it conducts its offseason, from its winter workouts and summer workouts to strength training to how its offseason calendar is built.

The early conclusions?

"There's a lot of change that we'll go through," Dantonio said.

Dantonio said changes will come to Michigan State's offense, defense and special teams. Asked for specifics, he said changes will be "nuanced."

"I think what we've got do...critique everything in our program, take a systematic approach, identify problems and find solutions," Dantonio said.

As far as any personnel that may be changing, that has yet to be revealed. Dantonio said soon after the season that he "absolutely" expects player attrition during this offseason. On Friday, he declined to speak on the subject.

Since the end of the season, the only players with eligibility remaining to announce their departures are Malik McDowell and Montae Nicholson, who both left after their junior seasons to declare for the 2017 draft.

Yet one thing that hasn't changed much, Dantonio said, is recruiting. When he hasn't been in East Lansing going through his program's evaluation, he's been on the road meeting with recruits, and said their perception of the program hasn't been significantly adversely affected by the 3-9 campaign last season.

"Prior to this season, we won 40 out of 45 games," Dantonio said. "All of our people that we're recruiting not just last year and two years ago but they remember '10 and '11."

"We're having a great recruiting class."