Michigan State Spartans 2026 Season Preview

Redshirt sophomore Alessio Milivojevic runs with the job after seizing the starting role for the final four games of 2025, where his toughness and decision-making stood out even as the line surrendered pressure at an alarming rate. He completed better than 64 percent with a 10-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio down the stretch, and new coordinator Nick Sheridan is trading the previous pro-style attack for the spread system he ran under Kalen DeBoer at Washington and Alabama. Milivojevic will need a quicker trigger, but he can make every throw. Veteran transfer Cam Fancher, who owns 28 career starts across Marshall, FAU and UCF, gives the room an experienced insurance policy.

The passing game lost its top three targets, with Nick Marsh off to Indiana and Omari Kelly and tight end Jack Velling gone, so the perimeter needs new production in a hurry. Chrishon McCray, the leading returning receiver at 24 catches for 330 yards, is the anchor, joined by portal help in KK Smith from Notre Dame and Fredrick Moore from Michigan. Sheridan's calling card is scheming playmakers open, and he gains a matchup weapon in Carson Gulker, a do-everything tight end and Division II national champion out of Ferris State who can line up all over the formation. Brennan Parachek adds a bigger in-line target.

The backfield was rebuilt to be a strength. UConn transfer Cam Edwards is the projected bell cow after piling up 1,240 yards from scrimmage that ranked 13th nationally in 2025 and 2,070 rushing yards with 23 scores over his past two seasons. A smooth, decisive runner, he headlines a portal haul that could give Michigan State its healthiest ground game since Kenneth Walker III's 2021 season, though the yardage came against lighter competition. Jaziun Patterson from Iowa, Marvis Parrish from Western Kentucky and returnee Brandon Tullis add depth behind him.

The line was gutted and rebuilt, losing seven contributors and importing five transfers who bring 72 combined career starts. UConn's Ben Murawski, a 6-7, 340-pound senior, anchors the left side, and Rimington Award winner Trent Fraley arrives from North Dakota State to steady the interior alongside Wake Forest transfer Nick Sharpe and Montana State's Conner Moore. Fitzgerald has called this the group that improved most in spring, which matters after a 2025 front that allowed 35 sacks. Returning starter Rakeem Johnson gives the room a homegrown piece.

Up front is where the rebuild looks thinnest. The Spartans lost five defensive linemen who accounted for the bulk of their production and return essentially one starter, so generating a pass rush is Rossi's biggest challenge. Ben Roberts is a 335-pound interior anchor, and Isaac Smith, a 6-6 end who transferred in with starting experience, teams with him to bring more than 60 combined games of seasoning; Eli Coenen adds interior depth. On the edge, Kenny Soares Jr. reunites with Fitzgerald from Northwestern and projects as the top rusher after an 80-tackle campaign, but the group lacks proven difference-makers and interior depth is a genuine concern.

Linebacker is the defense's clear strength. Senior Jordan Hall mans the middle after leading the unit with 88 tackles and starting every game, and he grades as arguably the best NFL prospect on the roster. He gets real help from productive transfers Caleb Wheatland, who arrived by way of Auburn, and Dion Crawford, a disruptive playmaker from Buffalo with 12 career sacks. Rossi stocked the second level with experienced portal additions, giving the level the seasoning it lacked a year ago.

The secondary turns over all four starters but reloads with veterans. Free safety Nikai Martinez returns after missing eight games with shoulder and concussion injuries and is the group's steadying presence. Charles Brantley, who began his career as a Spartan and spent last season at Miami, comes back at corner, with Iowa State transfer Tre Bell and Louisiana Tech slot defender Michael Richard rounding out an experienced back end. There is quality depth here, though the ceiling is hard to gauge for a defense that forced only nine takeaways in 2025, the sixth-fewest in the country.

Special teams landed a marquee hire in coordinator LeVar Woods, who built Iowa's units into a national standard before following his own recruits east. Australian punter Rhys Dakin comes with him, replacing an NFL-bound leg with a strong net average of his own, and Nebraska transfer Kenneth Williams arrives as a return man with All-Big Ten pedigree. Charlotte transfer Liam Boyd handles placekicking, though his short-range accuracy (4-for-6) will bear watching. A stable of speedy young wideouts will battle for return reps.