Linebacker Jon Reschke is once again a member of the Michigan State football team more than a year after he was dismissed from the program for using racially-charged language in a text message.

Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio confirmed Reschke’s return at a Big Ten football media even Tuesday, The Detroit Free Press reported.

“I thought that people need to heal, quite honestly, and our team needs to heal and that’s happened,” Dantonio said. “…I want [Reschke] to be able to finish what he started. I want him to see himself through a difficult situation and come out the other end. I don’t think he wants to end his career in that way…”

Reschke departed Michigan State in February of 2017 after issuing an apology for using the N-word in a text message to a former teammate. Dantonio said he first discussed the possibility of bringing Reschke back with his team before making the decision. He said his African-American players, in particular, had to approve.

“For our football team and our players — they weighed in. especially our black athletes, our African-American players,” he continued. “It had to be a decision made by our African-American players, led by them, and they had to support that. At any time, the most important thing to me is to have great chemistry on our football team and I think that’s the thing everybody needs to understand…I can’t allow anything in there that’s gonna create a division and so I’ve asked them over and over and over and they see no problems with that… forgiveness is power. He’s asked for forgiveness and the players have given him that.”

Reschke came to Michigan State in 2013 as a four-star recruit and whe he left the program his intentions were to transfer to another school for his final year of eligibility. That, however, never happened and he hasn’t played since. Dantonio says that Reschke, who in 24 career games at MSU tallied 101 tackles, has “paid the ultimate price by being out of football for a year.”

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