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Spartan Red Zone breaks down everything happening in the world of Michigan State University football.
Three two. Welcome back. Spartan nation, another season of football is upon us. This one, the twenty twenty five version. We celebrated one hundred years at Spartan Stadium about two years ago. So you know how historic this program is. And we enter one of the most unique years, in my opinion, I think we will ever see in Spartan football. The twenty twenty five twenty twenty six campaign starts in two days as we are recording this on a Wednesday night as Michigan State football prepares for the Western Michigan Broncos on Friday, Jacob Mauer here joined alongside Kyle Keegan, Connor Gilley and Daphne Bohanek. It'll be US four who will be guiding you here through impact. Eighty eight point nine Throughout the whole Michigan State football season. Me and Kyle will be the ones on the broadcast. On the radio side, Connor and Daphne will be writing all of those A+ articles and recording and getting all of that killer content, and we look forward to bringing you guys this amazing season. And I don't know about you guys, but my nerves are and my excitement is just sky high for Friday night. Me too. I'm excited to be back. I'm excited to, you know, feel the buzz in East Lansing. There's high stakes this season. But, you know, maybe we can shock the world. Uh, people are saying that we've never been more back. Uh, that's how I feel right now. Um, the crew's back together again. If you remember us from women's basketball. Um, super excited to be on this beat. Uh, I am also extremely, extremely nervous for this season, but more excited than anything. Yeah, I would say, you know, kind of a mixture of both. You guys just said the vibes on campus. It's very obvious when it's football season around here. It feels like even with the lack of winning during football season the last three years, it's still the energy becomes palpable every August and September around here as football season starts to turn around the corner and, you know, people are excited to tailgate, people are excited to go back into Spartan Stadium, stripe the stadium on Friday night. And, you know, I'd say I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about the season right now. So I feel like it is one of the best traditions that Michigan State is now made into the most recent years of having that Friday night game before the Labor Day weekend. It's always an opponent that isn't too scary in a sense. There has certainly been a ton of close games. Utah State, Florida Atlantic last season, Central Michigan until about the fourth quarter two years ago, and for this Michigan State football team, it's still a great way tons of fans come up here on their way up north. And as you said, Kyle, it really doesn't matter what is going into the season. It's always one of those traditions where game one, you always have the thought in the back of your mind, could this be the year? And especially with the College Football Playoff expansion. That's right, the schedule. When we look at it, there are some rooms for hope. But you can only do so much with the schedule game. You can only do so much with your own internal optimism. What really matters is how the players perform on the field and what changes they truly made during the off season, because every single one on that roster will tell you last year did not cut it. They've gotten some transfers around twenty three or so, joining this twenty twenty five roster for Jonathan Smith and Michigan State. A lot of returners from a season ago. They're used to the system a year under their belt. And what we're going to do is we're going to take a detailed breakdown throughout this roster. We're going to see what we like, what could be some concerns. We're going to look through this whole team because as we know, you can have an outstanding offense and a terrible defense, aka USC a couple of years ago. Or you can have a great defense and a terrible offense, aka Michigan last year. You can have a mix of both. You can have a mix of none. And if you want to be good in the world of college football, you need a really complete roster in Michigan State tried to do their best to do that during the off season, and while we were all watching the finish of college football and the NFL, the Stanley Cup playoffs, NBA finals, the MLB baseball season, we might have got lost in the whole track of what these guys really did in the off season. So without further ado, let's break this down into four parts. We've got our QBs, running backs and playmakers. Wide receivers. We got the trenches, the offensive line, tight ends and more. Then we go to defense. We got the secondary, the safeties and a little bit of a mix of special teams and then the defensive line and the linebackers behind it. And with that, I'll turn over to Connor Gillie to get us started. The D-line and the linebacker room for Michigan State entering twenty twenty five. Connor, how are we looking and what do we need to know? All right. Yeah, you said it. Um, especially right about, uh, how confusing college rosters can be nowadays. College rosters now are scary, and, uh, you just don't know what you're looking at half the time. But, uh, we did the work. We did all the research. We're ready to get going here. General notes on the defensive line and the defensive ends and the defensive line and the linebackers. Um, second year under Jonathan Smith. I have a feeling we're going to see that a lot the whole second year. Getting back into the system, um, I think is a big deal for every position group here. So that's worth saying. The twenty twenty four version of the Michigan State defense literally middle of the road and yards. Rushing yards allowed per game one hundred and twenty five. That was ninth best in conference two hundred and six point nine passing yards a game that was ninth in conference in a league with eighteen members. So perfectly fine in those regards. But you need a little bit more than that to really excel in this league. Um, basement tier QB pressure team in twenty twenty four though. That is a big sticking point for this roster for this year. Get people on the quarterback. Nineteen sacks for the season last year. That is about one point five eight per game. Sixteenth in conference. Um, seven of which came against FSU, by the way. So the home or the opener? The home opener, however you want to say it. Uh, we will start in the linebackers room though. Um, I think this is, um, slightly more exciting than the defensive line, but those are there are really exciting people in that room, too. Um, we will start with the people that were losing a little bit of a negative note here. Uh, Jordan Turner and Cal Haladay Jordan Turner with sixty six total tackles, ten point five tackles for loss, three sacks, two picks, four QB hurries. Um, he was the team leader. The team TfL leader. Um, he was the clear and obvious, uh, defensive MVP last year. He's gone from the roster. Cal Haladay, fifty eight. Total tackles, four point eight TFLs, one sack. Um, he was the second best linebacker, for sure. He had the second, um, best, uh, total tackles all year last year. Um, I don't know that he's the clear second in command in defense from last year, but he was, um, close. He was it was arguable at that point. So those are big losses. But there's not a ton of worry for me. I don't think, because we got a lot of key returners and some good impact people that are coming into the program for their first years. We're going to start with Jordan Hall. He is the unquestioned leader in the position. And on defense, uh, looks to step into the roles of these departures that I just mentioned last year, twenty one twenty four total tackles and two pass breakups in twenty twenty four. Um, looking to start um, in the mic slash middle linebacker group there. The mic, the mic back. Really excited to see how he does this year I think he's really going to take off. Um Wayne Matthews, redshirt senior, thirty three total tackles in twenty twenty four. Um played nine games in his first year at MSU three years before that played in Old Dominion. So he's got another year under his belt of power four football, big ten football. I think that's big. He will take the will and weak side. Projected starter there. Um, everyone knows this is a top name on the roster. Uh, Darius Snow I mean, any, uh, any objections to that or is there anyone want to throw a hat in the ring on that? But, um, Darius Snow, six year, twenty four total tackles in twenty twenty four. Um, most veteran presence, um, in the room and say so right. Sixth year Peach Bowl, sixth year peach. You gotta love a sixth year guy. It is the same Darius Snow that we heard in the early twenty twenties. Exactly the same guy. If you want to talk about a guy that does know about Michigan State winning football, then I mean, he's one of those guys. Um, has he, like, really, truly impacted winning the last three years? Not particularly, I guess. Has anyone. Yeah, exactly. So it's not his fault. I mean, he has had, you know, getting on the field issues as far as injury wise. Plenty of you know, I would like to see snow with a very healthy season and especially with the veteran presence. He is a good football player. We saw that very early on. He was a good football player on a good team in twenty twenty one, and it's just been an injury riddled rest of his college season. Luckily, he is granted a six year and like you said, a lot of hope there. Yeah, exactly. Um he is. Yeah. He's always just been a glue guy and a really important part of the defense. And he's he's back around. and so we're excited to see him. He's going to be front runner to start at the Sam and Strong side there. So um, despite major losses this still has the potential to be the best position group on defense. Um, just a lot of leaders, a lot of people who look really good. Um, we have some key transfers into and some impact freshman. Let's look at that to, I say a mo reg or redshirt junior linebacker coming in from BYU out West. Uh, spent three years with the Cougars. Um solid, solid production during that season. Sixteen total tackles in twenty twenty four, um had a breakout game against Kansas State with four tackles and a forced fumble. He's going to compete for playing time on the weak side and the strong side. Um, and two freshmen that I want to mention are, uh, Deja White and Demari Malone. These are two true freshman linebackers, two people that have not been in the system before. Um, but were the number one and two linebackers in the state of Michigan in the twenty twenty five recruiting class. They were number forty six and the number ninety five linebackers nationally. So two highly, highly touted young bucks to maybe keep an eye on if you're interested and all that. Um, let's switch over to the defensive line. So my consensus on the defensive line, um, not we will be losing some key guys. But again, this wasn't a super rush heavy or like impactful group from last year, if we're being honest. To start this off, I think this is maybe the biggest question mark. And honestly, you could say the expectation of probably the weakest group going into twenty twenty five. And I think if we're going to, you know, reflect on this and if Michigan State has an eight win, nine win somehow maybe double digit win season this year, I think it is going to be because there are some guys on that defensive line that just came out of nowhere because that, as we know, is how you win in the Big Ten is through the trenches. So without further ado, what? What hope can we kind of cling to? Who should we watch out for on this defensive line that could possibly really revamp this whole Michigan State defense? Okay, so we do have some key returners though who got production last year that well. So this is these returner guys are like okay, hopefully they'll take a step but we'll see what happens. Um Jalen Thompson junior uh seventeen total tackles in twenty twenty four. We're looking for him for breakout potential just because, you know um some of the top line people could maybe could have been clogging up his, um, his space, maybe his playing time. Um, but he did play a lot uh, but you know, Jalen Thompson another year, another system, another year to get going. Um Quinn Darius Dun dun again. Uh seventeen total tackles, four tackles for loss one sack last season. Um so we talked about Darius Snow being a six year. This guy's a seventh year um, breakout breakout potential maybe not there, but he is a reliable guy that you can lean on. But. So there's a basis there. Um, this is one of the biggest transfer heavy, um, parts of this roster. Um, a lot of new faces coming in, and they're looking to make some noise. And so one of the guys I'm really excited about, Isaac Smith, um, graduated from Texas Tech. So, uh, a lot of time, um, in the big twelve, um, a little bit injury prone here and there, but, uh, he's rangy. He's gifted and experienced, uh, athlete. He's got thirty last year, thirty one total tackles, two and half sacks. Um, David Santiago, redshirt sophomore, edge off out of Air Force. So an academy guy coming in, um, probably good for discipline, but, uh, that is just hearsay, so I don't know. We'll see what happens. Um, thirty eight total tackles, five, five tackles for loss. Uh, three and a half sacks, three pass breakups in twenty twenty four. Garnered recognition in the portal with pass rush capabilities. And that is something that this roster was in dire need of. And so we'll see if that experience in the Mountain West can really elevate into the Big Ten. Um, that's a question mark there. But he has he's got a great chance to start slash be a great contributor off the bench. So I think I have another name here. But let me look around here. Um yeah. Cincinnati transfer Tyler Gillison uh redshirt junior uh, missed all last season due to injury. But, uh, word is he looks healthy and capable and can add to the line. So, um, the edge trying to reload, I think, off of, um, transfers and some a little bit, a little bit of a bedrock of returning guys. And there's one big departure. Um, and that's Chris Bogle from last season with seven and a half tackles for loss, four sacks and six QB hurries. He was, if we're being completely honest, really the main guy doing things and wrecking things on the defensive end or on the defensive line last year. And so I think that's the big hole. But other than that, I think we're adding. So that is, you know, the big key from last year I feel is what really hurt. The defense was just injuries early on. So not only do you need playmakers, but you need depth. So Connor, looking at your opinion, as you said, a lot of new faces on this defensive line. Do you think compared to last year it's a deeper group? As you mentioned, it's already a more experienced group. Those seem to be two positives that you can take away. Is there a how do you see this defense compared to last year? Is it just too easy to say it's going to be improved? Um, I do think cautiously that this will be a better defensive line and a better pass rush. Um, just from new people being brought in, maybe a little bit of new blood and, you know, people who are experienced. Um, to say that I know that one hundred percent is obviously, you know, there's no way of knowing this is college football. Um, but, uh, I feel a little more confident in this group. I don't know how what their ceiling is, really. I think we're just gonna have to see them play against conference opponents and just see what that's like. But I think by the year's end, we will see improved numbers. Well, that's excellent to hear again. Your whole D-line, middle linebackers, edge linebackers, the whole breakdown of the big tacklers for Michigan State and hopefully they can be much improved. And, you know, as we were talking about there on the defensive line, how you win football games as we know in the Big Ten Conference. It's not the flashy, you know, West Coast offense. It is the trenches. You need to know how to run the ball. You need to know how to stop the run. You need to know how to tackle for losses. That's how you win in November. And those are the wins that count in the Big Ten Conference. So without further ado, let's meet the big guys up front. And we could also say this was an area where Michigan State really struggled. And I think it was really the offense as a whole. They were fourteenth last year in rushing yards per game in the Big Ten, thirteenth in passing yards per game, which can be a little bit surprising considering how much they had to do that last season, but it's always hard to set up your offense when you're also third in penalty yards in the conference. So it was a young offense, an offense that needs to be better disciplined this season and also shows some growth, but doesn't mean they also didn't bring the new guys in. And I think the big thing, similar to the defensive line that really needed a car wash on this team was that O-line. And besides Staton Remiel, who is returning as the starting left tackle for Michigan State, we heard about him at media Days in Las Vegas this summer. Other than that, all the other four on the offensive line are new guys or guys that made their first starts late last season. So let's start with Stanton Remiel. I think he is the big guy that probably on this whole line, has the best chance to get all conference All-Conference honors. And he is. When you look at just the numbers and the size on this guy, he is the biggest NFL body. You can probably look at six seven three hundred and twelve pounds. That's right six seven. We better not get any of those when we say our win predictions. But he's young to redshirt sophomore so he's about twenty years old. Again he stands at six foot seven. He was an outstanding recruit out of high school. Number eighty eight overall in the whole nation. Out of high school, he was a four star eleven games. Last season he had eight starts. And the thing about Ramel is he got more starts or more playing time, more snaps, I should say, as the season went along. And I think he is one of those guys that Jonathan Smith and we've really heard in camp that he has been really developed, and that's the big thing that they need for Aidan Chiles. They can critique the turnover issues all they want, but he didn't have speed outside of Nick Marsh in the receiving room and he didn't have time. And when you have a young quarterback and I know he was listed as a sophomore last season, but I really don't think starting every third drive for Oregon State and barely playing throughout the year counts as a year of college football. So and especially in a new offense, too. And I know we'll talk about Chiles a little bit later, but that was basically his freshman season. And it did not help that he had, you know, just the new, you know, rocky road that he had to deal with. So I think this new revamped offensive line, as well as his weapons on offense can really help this Michigan State team. But they have really good size on this offensive line. Christian Phillips, he's a guy who got injured after week one against FSU. He was a left guard. That was really just going in there and filling in when the offensive line needed him, but ended up totaling six games last season but was really solid for Michigan State out of high school. Comes from Salim High School out of Georgia. Was the number fourteen offensive guard in the nation coming out of high school. So just a redshirt junior again still has some more years of eligibility. And when we really see the big jump, especially from guys on offensive lines, it's really that sophomore to junior season that we see, okay, there are ready to be true starters and I think it's good. Christian Phillips, he stands at six foot four, weighs three hundred and ten pounds, a big dude, an outstanding left guard. And I think if he's going to make that jump and be a true protector on that line, he's really in a good spot to do. So. He got his feet wet last year with some experience. Again, good. You know, morale out of camp. That's the thing too. You'll hear you really only hear good things out of camp because the bad things they, they don't like to have squeeze out. But there has been a lot of positive notes on this offensive line. Then we go into the transfers for Michigan State. So from the right side to the center, these are all new guys that we did not see last year for the green and white. Matt Goldman will be Michigan State's new center or the presumed starter on week one, a redshirt senior. He comes from Wake Forest. Again, a guy with a lot of experience. And I think that's what you need on the offensive line. If you can have the biggest prospect that you want. But until they go out there, play in the Big Ten in front of seventy five thousand fans every single week, it's going to be different. It's going to be hard to adjust. So Matt Goldman is a guy with good experience, six foot four, three hundred and twelve pounds. Again a senior, he was an honorable mention all ACC last season. Started all twelve games for Wake Forest. And we know the last notable transfer from Wake Forest. I was gonna say, you like to hear the sound of Guy from Wake Forest generally. So Matt Goldman, someone to watch out for. He replaces Tanner Miller, the center for Michigan State, which Miller was very solid last season for the Spartans. So that's one of the bigger losses that they'll get on that offensive line. But I think a lot of these replacements for Michigan State and a lot of these guys that have stuck on this offensive line are real big positives for the Spartans. Luka Vincic will be the presumed starting right guard for Michigan State, a redshirt junior that stands at six foot five and weighs three hundred and five. So again, there is excellent size on this offensive line. Basically, you know, when you read these heights, it seems like we're confusing it with the basketball team per se, but a lot of good length for Michigan State. But Vincic is a transfer from Oregon State, and he did it seemingly a year later than everyone else. Once Jonathan Smith came to Michigan State, a whole bunch followed him. Vincic decided to stay for one year. He played ten games, had two starts, kind of got that towards the end there, but did not allow a sack. And he was part of a very good Beavers offensive line last season, one hundred and eighty nine rushing yards per game, and he was a good prospect out of high school too, number thirteen overall in the whole state of Washington. Any position. So again, he's a guy going from his sophomore season to his junior season. You can expect a big jump there. Connor Moore will be the presumed right tackle sixteen starts with Montana State. He went fifteen and one with that Montana State team. He was a first team All-Big Sky selection. Second team All-American for the FCS. But still, this is a guy. Good experience at Montana State. He's young too. He's still only in his junior season. Stands at six foot five, three hundred and six. It just rounds out an excellent offensive line for Michigan State. And Connor Moore was the number eleven offensive lineman in the entire transfer portal. Number eighty eight player overall in the portal. So this is a really good pickup for Michigan State. And I think it rounds out an excellent offensive line. And I think the biggest solid cornerstones for Michigan State will be those tackle positions, which if you're going to pick anywhere on an offensive line, usually you pick that spot. Now Chiles has the ability. Again, he's a dual threat. He can run to the outside if the tackles are able to close it off. That's big for this offense. So both Moore and Ramel will be big on the edges of this offensive line. But talking about the true edge of this Michigan State offensive line, we got to talk about the tight ends. Jack Feeling returns for his senior season. And we will say a little bit of a disappointing first year at Michigan State. Thirty six receptions four hundred eleven yards and one touchdown. This is just considering what he did on Oregon State two years ago. He was a second team All-Pac-12 selection as a tight end, and he was just a sophomore when he did it. So I think Michigan State was expecting a lot higher numbers. But again, you know, it all starts with that offensive line. If you don't have protection, you don't have time to find healing. Again, it's just the first year in this offense for this Michigan State team, and I think feeling is on edge to really start and be a solid tight end for Michigan State has the capabilities, in my opinion, to be an all conference type accolade person by the end of the year, and we'll really have to see what he does. But I think the biggest thing to see how involved he'll be in this offense is watching for through the first three weeks. On how he does. But I think the thing that really goes unnoticed from last season is how great of a blocker he was. He was one of those staples on that offensive line. Again, it's about a half mix revealing being on the line and off of it. So really solid in the run game as that's concerned. So a good piece to get back again a veteran presence. He's played a lot of college football and returns for this twenty twenty five season for the Spartans. Michael Mason will be back and him and Jack feeling were kind of the big two names. It was a surprising poll that we saw, I believe, around Big Ten analyst around the football department, but they ranked Michigan State out of the entire Big Ten, third in the tight end department led by Wheeling and Masons. So I think those two have the capabilities to really highlight this offense. Mason's last season had four receptions for thirty seven yards, but again, he really got involved with the offense late off and on the field with injuries. And he's another guy. Big frame, good hands, similar to Jack feeling when Wheeling was dinged up during camp. It was really Mason who kind of, you know, stepped up. Brendan Pericak another tight end, eight receptions, sixty three yards last season. Michigan State has the you know, a really deep tight end room as far as the offensive numbers are concerned, comparing it to, you know, something that might be more familiar when you think of the Lions, you think of Sam Laporta as the offensive tight end. Brock Wright is more of the staple guy on the line. This is a team for Michigan State full of those Sam Laporta type guys, these offensive guys who are really, you know, blocking first, of course, but have the capabilities to really go out wide and play a receiver type role. And someone else. I just want to point out Jaden Savery, the true freshman for Michigan State. We've heard circulations throughout camp in the scrimmages that he has looked really good. So it's going to be interesting how they get the six foot four, two hundred and forty pound freshman involved, especially with the stacked tight end room. But this is one of the deeper units, I think, on this Michigan State team is this tight end room. So it rounds out a really good offensive front for Michigan State, and I'm excited to see them in action. All right. Well I guess that leads to offensive playmakers. And I'm going to start with the man of the hour Aidan Chiles Miles, who is entering his third year as a quarterback, second year starting quarterback at Michigan State last year was Chiles real first Testament. Um, in Big Ten play, kind of a rocky season through two, uh, two thousand four hundred and fifteen yards with thirteen touchdowns while also putting up eleven interceptions. And the interceptions were a huge part of MSU's offensive struggles last season. Um, along with that, MSU football and red zone offense were not not very compatible. They weren't good friends, not they didn't get along very well. Um, MSU football went seventy five point eight six percent scoring in the red zone, which ranked one hundred and fourteenth in the nation. Um, they scored points only seventy five percent of the time. They had possession in the red zone. And the touchdown rate of that was only Five percent, which was ranked one hundred and twenty fourth in the nation. So needless to say, how many teens are in D1 college football? Yeah, so needless to say, it is, uh, not hard to to, uh, improve in that area. I don't think you could really get much worse, but you never know. Um, so back back to Chiles. Uh, like Jacob, you just said, playing with a whole new offensive line. Basically, that I feel like is going to really help the offense in general. Help him relax, help him have more time in the pocket because we've seen he can make those plays. He can. It's just a matter of giving him more time, less pressure on him, less careless turnovers, less interceptions thrown. I feel like with new chemistry with new offensive linemen, you have potential for him to show his full potential, which we've seen blips of it last season. We know that he is very athletic guy. We know he can run. We know he can make those plays when he's comfortable. It's just a matter of giving him as much time as possible, which obviously is the point of the game. And there's a reason for Chiles why he was ranked so highly out of high school, and why he was so highly sought after when he entered the transfer portal. Like, this is a guy with a ton of talent, and I think we kind of forget that, as you mentioned. But if all the pieces are there for Chiles again, second year in this offense, there can be a really big ceiling that he can try to get to. Right. And especially going back to his athletic ability, um, reports that he has gone up eight pounds in the off season, which obviously is a positive. I think he'll be able to, uh, you know, avoid sacks, get out of the pocket, things like that. Um, Chiles talked a lot about his growth on becoming a better leader. You know, mastering the basics of being a quarterback and just executing better in the red zone more efficiently. And I feel like, I know we're going to say this a lot, but I feel like with one one season under his belt, you know, you live and you learn. And I'm hoping that he just uses everything from last season to be like, hey, I've experienced all these things before. I now know what to do and I know the people I'm with. I know all these things. I have this chemistry built with my team. Hopefully it just because if he's calm, I feel like everyone else will just be calm. You know, you got to follow your guy, and Childs has to be the guy who is going to step up for this team now to help Childs down the field is probably one of the biggest names that we've heard, uh, returning, which is Nick Marsh, and that that was huge for Michigan State for their offense. I was very, um, selfishly excited when he announced that he was coming back. Marsh set the MSU true freshman record for most receiving yards and receptions in a single season last year, and him and Chiles have spoken about their connection. And I think it's obvious. I think Chiles trust that, hey, Nick Marsh is down there somewhere, and if I'm going to throw the ball, Nick Marsh is most likely going to come up with it. Um, along with him, we have. Oh. I'm sorry. Going back to Marsh, though, uh, it just as you said, the Chiles Marsh connection. It always seemed like when you look at Aidan Chiles best highlights, his best throws were always to Nick Marsh. And even if they weren't one hundred percent on the money, Nick Marsh was going to come down with that football. But a lot of them, though, you think about that Maryland game, you know, right in the breadbasket, the Indiana game, scrambling to the sideline put it where only Marsh could get it made a phenomenal play As you mentioned, if Jeremiah Smith didn't exist, this would have been your Big Ten Freshman of the year last year. So that is a huge return for Michigan State for him not to go searching elsewhere in the transfer portal. You know, every single team was calling him throughout the whole ranks of college football. This is one of the most elite wide receivers that you know is in the game right now, and it's good to see him wear green and white for this season. Absolutely. And I feel like that just again helps child's confidence helps him know like, hey, I have my guy down there and he will catch the ball. Most likely he will come down with the ball. Um, along with Marsh, senior wide receiver Omari Kelly, who was a transfer from Middle Tennessee, uh, Kelly was named to the All Conference USA first team as a receiver and second team as a punt receiver. Um, there have been talks in practice of Kelly being, you know, a real go to guy of him making really good strides, really good plays. And I think him and Marsh will be a problem in the backfield for, you know, opposing teams. And I think Charles knows he's got his guys. He's got his guys down there. And the thing too about Kelly he has speed six foot one eighty eight. But he can fly. There's a reason why he's the punt returner for Middle Tennessee State. And also a very talented guy out of high school, too. This is a guy who played for Auburn for two seasons. So a really good get for Michigan State. And IT boosters a much needed wide receiver room. Again, the true freshman Nick Marsh could not do it all by himself last year. And it's good to see that he'll have some company. Absolutely. And then last but not least, our run game is full of a lot of new faces. With the departure of Karen Lynch Adams and Nathan Carter, and Carter was recently added to the Atlanta Falcons fifty three man roster after going undrafted. So good. Shout out, shout out, shout out. Yes. Um, so in our run game, we have Mickey Frazier and Brandon Brandon Tullis, who had fourteen combined carries last year. They are returning to the running back room along with new transfer from Sacramento State senior running back Elijah Toliver. He is expected to start, um in his time at Sacramento State. He led in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, carries and all purpose yards whilst having a having five one hundred yard rushing games. So the run game last year was not not stellar, but it's good to have two guys back in Frazier and Tullis. And I think Toe Toliver is tall. Toliver is going to be one of those guys that you know, you can go to, especially being a senior with all that prior experience. Yeah. For Ty Toliver to something to mention. He's also a really good passing back. And it's those are the type of guys that you want. On third down, thirty eight receptions last year, three hundred and seventeen yards and two touchdowns through the air. He's a dual threat guy in that backfield for Michigan State. As you mentioned Tullis and Frazier. They were just true freshmen last season for Michigan State. So they got some experience. They got their toes wet last year. They're sophomores this year. So I think that can be a really surprising running back room. And again you don't need all the talent in the world. All the talent in the world can help. We saw that with Kenneth Walker and what he did to this offense. But if you have a good offensive line and you have solid running backs, the run game can take care of itself for sure. And I circling back, just to just summarize, I feel like last season left fans with so many questions of what this offense is going to look like this season because it was rocky, it was scary at times. There were times when it showed great potential. Iowa Yes, there were times when they were when they're on and you're like, okay, like this team can be very good, but it takes everyone. It takes chiles to relax, and it takes all these other people to have that chemistry, have those connections and just complete it. And I think especially red zone offense circling back to that. Gotta finish there. We cannot leave any more unanswered dries. We cannot leave. Oh they played great between the twenties. No, we need to keep keep going all the way. And I think they know that. And I like, uh, based on, you know, interviews and practice, they all seem very aware of what they need to do. It's just a matter of whether or not they will be able to execute those things under pressure. But, you know, there's I don't have very high expectations, but that's also a good thing. I'm ready to be shocked. I'm ready to have my expectations met. So needless to say, that's that's what I got on the offense. And really for this offense, you got a lot of talented transfers and you have a lot of guys returning last year that were young guys. Nick Marsh, freshman season outstanding. What the heck can he do in his sophomore campaign? You can only imagine. Aidan Chiles, basically a freshman last season and his second year with this offense. We've seen the growth through him through the offseason. But really the big questions are going to be answered on Friday and then throughout the season, we can only talk so much, but we still have one portion of this team we have yet to talk about. Can I mention someone before we throw it to Kyle real quick? Go ahead Kyle. Did we talk about Christian McCray in the wide receiver room? I was going to talk about him in special teams a little bit, too. I'm gonna I'm gonna let you take it then. Yeah, yeah. No. Nice little tease there. We'll start we'll start on the defense for, you know, you know, just continuity's sake. So, you know, I actually, you know, looking at this at these defensive backs in this secondary this year. Um, and you guys feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I believe this might be the most turnover we've seen in any of these four groups. There's only a couple names here that you know, are really recognizable to start Spartan fans in terms of guys that have, you know, gotten legitimate snaps or an actual snap count so far. Um, well, especially the cornerback room, right? Specifically. Specifically, the cornerback room is very new. That is just everything. But Chance Rucker from last season, essentially. Other than that, it is brand new, correct? Absolutely. And so, you know, we'll start off with, you know, the safeties, the guys that have been around the last couple of years where, you know, maybe I wouldn't say you know, what to expect. But you know, Nakai Martinez last year played in all twelve games had two interceptions thirty solo tackles. And you know then you got Malik Spencer as well at safety. Was injured for a few games last year. Had a pick as well. And those are two guys that you're going to probably be viewing as more of the veteran leaders on this secondary, I think. Um, but something that I am also looking to see, especially in these first three games, is the way that this secondary is going to be rotated about. Head coach Jonathan Smith, in his press conference on Monday, said that there are certain position groups that maybe there's not a question mark going into the season surrounding them, but you're not exactly sure how you want them to shake out completely yet. And he left a lot of those secondary rotational spots kind of up in the air. So I think that you'll definitely see a lot of a lot more snaps out of Chance Rucker this year. The redshirt sophomore is ready to go coming into this season out of Houston, Texas, and didn't play a whole ton or didn't have a whole ton of stats last year. Four pass deflections, just one interception, uh, twenty three total tackles. But expect to see him on the outside a lot more going into this year. And then other names. I'm looking at Joshua Eaton, transfer, redshirt senior Jeremiah Hughes, a guy that's been on this Spartans roster for a little bit, but I expect him to get some more time going into this year. Omarion excuse me. Omarion Smith coming into this year is another guy that I expect to see. And I think that we'll really have a much better idea of what the rotation is going to be like, or for that matter, how many guys are going to be in the rotation, which guys are going to start, which guys are going to just, you know, be third down or just in the nickel? Um, but I think that you can expect to see maybe six or seven guys playing cornerback, uh, throughout the first three games in a rotation. So and that is wild to think about, but also refreshing if you have the depth and you have, you know, experienced guys reps throughout the season, it can be scary. You know, quarterbacks, that's kind of one where you want the staple because you get used to those wide receiver matchups and tendencies throughout the game, but it also has played favor because you keep adding fresh guys in the mix and especially in Big Ten play, when, you know, late in the season it's cold, you need fresh legs out there. So hopefully the Spartans can turn that on in the secondary. But absolutely. And looking back to last year's secondary and, you know, kind of going back to what we talked about with Connor, uh, earlier, you know, this team didn't generate almost any pass rush at all last year. And I think that that kind of affected the secondary in a lot of their numbers. If you look back there, bottom five and a lot of categories that pertain to, you know, passing defense, they were second to last last year in the big that is in the Big Ten. Um, just to clarify, tied for last last year in pass deflections in the Big Ten. Uh six thirteenth out of eighteen last year in interceptions. So, you know not that necessarily that pass deflections and interceptions are the only thing that you're judging your secondary on. But last year, no question that Michigan State's defense gave up a lot more yards than that. I think they initially thought they would. And this year the secondary I think, goes in with a lot of question marks, as you know, similar to a lot of position groups. But I think that we'll have an idea of who the guys they're going to be in the rotation more often than not are after the first three weeks. I think after the Youngstown State game, we'll have a better idea of where the Spartans are at in terms of that. And so transitioning over to the special teams, obviously no more, uh, no more Kim at no more Jonathan Kim at kicker for Michigan State. And so, you know, that could be the biggest loss. Yeah, I was I was about to say underrated too. And that's another thing that Coach Smith actually touched on on Monday was that it kind of does affect the way that the offense gets coached or, you know, the the the decision making of the game at, you know, certain moments depending on the score, knowing that you don't have the same range that you had in a guy like Jonathan Kim is because, you know, redshirt sophomore Tariq Ahmed basic, you know, you don't know what you're going to get out of him. Martin Cunnington, also a kicker on the roster for Michigan State. And you know, I think you could see both guys getting opportunities. I think you could expect Jonathan Smith to stick with a hot hand if you see one. If one guy gets going early on, that's the guy you stick with. But I don't think that, you know, either are a given to be the kicker for the whole year at this moment in time. And punter, you got Ryan Eckley, the redshirt junior, saw him last year. He should be back in that spot once again this year as well as the holder for the kicks. And then I think this kind of goes back into some of that playmaking conversation. I think a couple of guys that you could see taking kicks and punts are Chris McRae. Omar Kelly is listed on here. Alante Brown we've seen him get a couple of looks, even though he hasn't panned out as maybe the receiver that Michigan State fans had hoped that he would be. So, um, a lot of question marks, like I mentioned, in all these position groups, the special teams, you know, Michigan State's had some pretty solid special teams, especially coming from their kickers and punters over the course of the last three to four years. And obviously second year of the regime with Jonathan Smith. We're still trying to see the identity that his teams are etching out. But of course that's something that you'd probably like to keep going. So we'll see how that develops throughout the year as well. Yeah, it should be some optimism, I think throughout all four groups that we reviewed for the Spartans. And we said the same thing last year, but we beg the question of how can they not improve? And I guess they did. They went five and seven compared to four and eight a year ago. But for this Spartan team, I think it is the biggest, you know, step up that we want to see. Jonathan Smith, when he made the big leap at Oregon State was in his second season. It was a three win improvement. That would mean winning eight games this season, which I think we can all say if they win eight games this year would be a heck of a successful season for the Spartans. But you never know. Looking at this schedule and looking at the season, what this Spartan team can do. And when we look at this schedule for the Spartans, the big thing that looms is the next game on the clock. And as they say, it is the Western Michigan Broncos on the clock. So let's go around and see the expectations for this game for the Spartans. Last I checked they were nineteen and a half point favorites. That was a larger margin than they were given last year against Florida Atlantic. So we'll see what the Spartans can do against this Broncos team. But what are you guys expecting on this Friday night. Well, for starters, I think that you'd love to see Michigan State do something similar to what they did the last time they played Western Michigan at Spartan Stadium back in twenty twenty two, and that's get out to a good lead. In the first half. They went up twenty one to three in the first thirty minutes of that game, and I think that it'd be really poignant to see this Michigan State offense. Aidan Chiles, Nick Marsh, some of the names that I think a lot of the fans will recognize offensively, some of the mainstay playmakers, um, and guys that you want to see improve upon, just get involved in the scoring early, get the fans into it, get those vibes back. And then, of course, do the opposite of what they did against Western that last time out and play a convincing sixty minutes. But I'm really looking to see how those first two to three drives go for Aidan Chiles and this offense. And, uh, quite frankly, I think most Michigan State fans are not only looking for a win, but they're looking to see a convincing win at that. Um, I'm gonna throw it to Daphne because she wrote a, uh, really good, um, preview earlier today, and so she's got the most information on that. For those who have not checked it out, it is on our website at impact eighty eight point nine. Go check it out. It is a great preview. But, Daphne, without further ado, explain the written piece through the people who prefer the audio version. Thank you guys for the shout outs. Um, I fully agree with what Kyle said. I would like to get up to a defining start because I think, you know, I said this about the Boston College game, which we'll talk about later, but I think it is really telling if we go into halftime in this game is close. I think that is a true testament to what the rest of the season will look like. And that might be a little, you know, pessimistic of me to say if we're close with Western Michigan. I don't think so. I don't think that's pessimistic. And I, I understand that, okay. They're probably. They can pull off the, uh. Pull it, pull it back off, pull it together, you know, blow them out towards the end. But I don't want to see us keep getting into these positions where we're close with these teams at half time, when you should be blowing them out realistically. Uh, the Broncos went six and seven last season and five and three in conference play. Just had to do it. That's the third one of the of the show. All right I wanted to say one. Um, I think, you know, you said nineteen point five underdogs. They they could look to pull off the upset. I don't I don't see that happening. Realistically. I think it's just about how we are going to start because not only is this starting the game, it's starting the look for the rest of the season. And I think this game will tell a lot of what we need to know. Looking forward, I think something that's super interesting about this Western Michigan team is that their starter from last year, Brock Lowry, um, looks like that Brady Brittany Jones. The JuCo transfer is going to start over him this season. So I don't know what that says about their offense. I don't know what that says about Brady Jones. Um Jonathan Smith some background on Brady Jones two seasons at Riverside Community College started all games in twenty twenty four. This was just in twenty twenty four, threw for four thousand four hundred and fifty six yards and forty four touchdowns. It was at a community college, but those are still great numbers, and it shows you that this offensive attack will probably be through the air, which maybe might not favor this Michigan State team. We'll have to see how the secondary looks, but lots of question marks. It is an interesting move to go with Brady Jones as your starter here compared to the starter from last season. And if they attack through the air then that is a great addition here for this defensive line. So we'll see what happens. But that is I mean we saw a lot of hope in week one against for you for this defensive line. And then it kind of went downhill from there. But, uh, as you said, Daphne, I think you know, it is telling what will be the halftime score again. You know, we've seen a lot of good MSU seasons determined by the halftime score. And it's a dumb thing to look at because we see some of the best teams in college football in close games at halftime, always at the beginning of the year. But it just always seems like those good Michigan State teams, that twenty twenty one team for the Spartans was never a one possession game at halftime. Western Kentucky was not a problem, right? So will Western Michigan. I want a convincing win. Yes. What? I think a convincing win will convince me that. Okay, we're going to be all right. Mhm. And you know that's that's the big question. And I think last year when you start off the first play of the game with an interception, you can't start much worse than that. And so for this Michigan State offense as you mentioned Kyle it's going to be very interesting to see the first three drives of the season. But you know the saying. Good teams win, great teams cover. I think we all believe that Michigan State is a good team in this matchup. But are they a great team? We'll go around and we'll say some score predictions because I think that'll be fun and might be a good thing to trace back next week. But we'll start with you, Mr. Kyle. Keegan, what do you think? We will, for those who may miss the game on Friday, after they listened to the impact eighty eight point nine recorded broadcast and read all the articles from the game, what's going to be that final score? I'm going to go with, uh, thirty eight to fourteen Michigan State. I am I'm choosing to believe that Aidan Chiles in this offense will have a good game. I'm choosing to believe that this defense will be able to, you know, maybe cause a turnover or two to get the crowd really into it. And, uh, I'm choosing to believe the Spartans will cover that nineteen and a half and get off to a one zero start and be looking on to BC. So feeling confident, like I said at the beginning of the show, feeling cautiously optimistic about this season as a whole right now. And I think they'll start off, uh, breathing some fire down their in-state rivals throats. I phrase that weird, but, uh, I'm gonna go somewhere similar. Uh, I'm gonna go thirty eight, twenty. I think maybe Western gets another six in the second half. Um, a six or seven. Some would say, um, all right, that's enough. Now, that was a reach. Yeah. Um, I think, yeah, maybe the defense slows down towards the end of the game. Hopefully it's because we've built up a big lead. And you know, Aiden Charles has thrown all over the place. We're running all over the place. And the defense. Like, maybe it's like a thirty one to ten halftime score. And the game's over by by halftime. And people are just going through the motions. Um, in the second half. And you kind of that's kind of what ends up happening usually. So thirty eight twenty is my guess. Yeah, I'm gonna be kind of boring. And I was also thinking somewhere like literally along the lines of what you guys both said, I'll go with thirty eight twenty, but I feel like it will be somewhat close at half time. I feel like we'll really put it away third and fourth quarter. But you know, you guys kind of already said it and that's thirty eight. Twenty is my prediction. I don't know the last time Michigan State has broke forty for an opening game. So I think it just spells that it has to be in the thirties. So Western Michigan, I'm not too confident in their defense. They have a lot of returners. They're older this year, but they were also ninth in the Mac in yards allowed and points allowed per game. So I know this Michigan State offense had their struggles, but they should be revamped, removed, had a good camp. Week one starts now. New plays in the book. I think it's going to be a thirty eight to thirteen victory for the Spartans. I think it might be a slow first quarter, might be like a did we all predict thirty eight? Sorry to interrupt. No, there was a thirty five. There was a thirty five. Okay. My bad. I went thirty eight, but was it was everybody I went thirty eight. Oh, I said thirty five. Oh wait, I don't remember. Who knows. It's all kind of. Yeah. I feel like thirty eight is just a it's a great you know, there's a field goal in there. You're not going to be wrong. You think five. I do think there's going to be a field goal in there. Yeah I, I think uh for the Spartans though, I think it might be like a seven three first quarter type score and then really try to take over in the second. So that's usually how these things go. I don't know how much we're going to find out in that week one game for the Spartans. But I want to just conclude this real quick season upcoming. This is the chance for you guys to, you know, firmly place your hot takes. Just a quick record prediction for Michigan State. We look at the schedule. They do have some tough games. Number two Penn State's on there. But there's also some guys that you do avoid Ohio State the national champions in your conference. You wouldn't play until the Big Ten championship. Hypothetically. Oregon is not on the schedule for the Spartans. You get the Wolverines at home this year. There's some challenges on there, but there's also really a lot of games where I think Michigan State can pull out the win. Besides that Penn State game, I really think there's only one game on this schedule where I just really don't see a window where the Spartans win, but other than that, I think it's wide open. So real quickly, out of the twelve games in the regular season, we won't count the bowls. Hopefully we can count the Bulls later on, but regular season, twelve games, what's the record prediction? Seven and six. That that is thirteen games Kyle. Oh you're going regular. Okay I'm going regular. Six and six. My apologies. Six and six. I was gonna go six is six and six. And they'll win. They'll win like the Alamo Bowl or something. Is there is there any big win in there where I, you know I think Michigan State's going to go to USC. I do think that I do think Michigan State will beat BC this year. Um, I don't know if you could consider that like a big, big win. Um, I think they'll go to Iowa and win. Um, I think that's a place that they haven't always been at their best and like, yeah, I'll go BC though. I think they'll win week two. I think they'll win week two. Yeah. And I think we have to consider last year for Michigan State five and seven. But there were a lot of games on there where they could have won the BC game last year. One of those games, the Michigan game last year, really I thought was one of those games the Spartans could have won. So a lot of games in the mix, it really could have been a nice seven and five team last year for the Spartans with all their struggles. But I think really the signature win last year was that Iowa game. So we're looking for that again. So Connor will go to you twelve game regular season prediction. There is a part of me that wants to say in five, there's a part of me that believes that will happen, but I'm going to be rational. Let's go seven and five. Um, signature wins that are possible. Um, home against Michigan is looking at me really real nice right now with the big puppy eyes. Yeah, yeah. Um, cute at, um, at Nebraska, like, Matt Rhule is doing a podcast that nobody asked for, so that that screams to me not locked in. And Dylan Raiola still thinks he's Patrick Mahomes. So I mean, I mean that that crowd is what scares me at Nebraska. That could also be a gettable. They're gettable. Um, and yeah, I don't know. I think that's kind of what I'm looking at there. Okay. So I'll say Michigan possible Nebraska for Mr. Connor. Seven and five. Daphne, up to you I am I want to say seven five. I'm leaning towards six and six, beating either Boston College or Michigan as our two statement wins. And then if we're seven and five, I say we beat both because, as Jacob, you were saying, both of those games last year were very winnable for Michigan State. And, you know, optimistically, I would like to be seven and five beating both. I'd be content. I'd be very content with that season. But realistically, I think it's going to be six and six. I think we can beat Boston College, but I think if we don't, we'll get Michigan. I think it'll be one of the two if we go six and six. And I think those are the two games that are going to really be staples this season. I, uh, I think for me, I'll take the eight and four train. I, I don't know why, but I just I feel like Aidan Chiles has the capability to be a top three quarterback in the Big Ten. And if you have that, you have a good offense. He does have the weapons. When we look at it, he does have the revamped offensive line. There's a lot of factors going into it when we look at the big quarterback leaps throughout college football. It's all those factors that play into it that happen? It's kind of like Michael Penix when he is, you know, in burst in college football, when he's given the weapons, when he's used to the scheme, he's able to use his talent to the best of his ability. And I think I see that potential in Giles. And so it's the question of does he step up or does he not? And if he does step up, I don't think there's a way where if Giles is a top three quarterback, that Michigan State does not win eight games with this schedule. So I'll say eight and four. And I think they finally do get that big win against Michigan. It's been far too long. Way too long I think you know Michigan they have a freshman quarterback coming in. You can't expect a lot with that no matter how talented he is. And for the Spartans they're just a year I think ahead of what that could be. And it's more so saying that as far as if we don't beat the Wolverines this year, I don't really think there's a better window for the next four or five years. Realistically, looking at it because it's at your place. Michigan is still kind of going through a rebuild. You are trying to get out of your rebuild and should be in a spot where your team is fully developed. So I hope it's going to be an eight and four season for the Spartans, but that's not up to me. That is up to the team on the field, the fans behind them and the hype crowd, which should be all in store Friday night and throughout the season. And for everyone listening on impact. Eighty eight point nine Wdbm or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll be back with another episode next week and the broadcast live on Impact's website or over the airwaves at eighty eight point nine FM in Lansing East Lansing area. Gunnar and Daphne will have articles from the game, a recap, and a breakdown. You don't want to miss it. We'll have all the coverage for Spartan Football this fall and beyond, and we hope to have a great season.