EAST LANSING - After introducing Michigan State's 2018 recruiting class during the first day of the early signing period Wednesday, coach Mark Dantonio addressed the close of the 2017 season.

The No. 16 Spartans (9-3, 7-2 Big Ten) will face No. 18 Washington State (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) in the Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl in San Diego and Dantonio said the majority of the team will make the trip. He later elaborated about absences when asked.

Redshirt junior defensive end Robert Bowers is no longer on the team while redshirt freshmen safety Austin Andrews and true freshman defensive end Lashawn Paulino-Bell are suspended for the Holiday Bowl.

Bowers, from Walnut Ridge High School in Columbus, Ohio, appeared in eight games this season and had two tackles and a quarterback hurry. He was listed as a backup on the depth chart before Michigan State's 40-7 win at Rutgers on Nov. 25 but had apparently had already been off the team for a couple weeks.

"Robert Bowers (is) no longer on the team following the Ohio State game," Dantonio said of the 48-3 loss at Ohio State on Nov. 11 in which Bowers played. "Separated from the team."

Andrews, from St. Francis DeSales High School in Columbus, Ohio, redshirted last year and has appeared in just one game this season with one tackle. Paulino-Bell, from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has not appeared in a game this year while taking a redshirt. He was injured in a jet ski accident in April but arrived on campus in July.

"It's not related to academics," Dantonio said of the suspended freshmen. "Lashawn Paulino-Bell will not make the trip, nor will Austin Andrews. Separate incidents. I suspended them for the bowl game."