Michigan State Offensive Line: One Thing I Like, One Thing I Don't

College football season is approaching fast, as we are nine days away from Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis and inside a month from the start of fall camps around the country.

Michigan State's roster appears to be set for the 2023 season, and that makes this the perfect time to take a look at every position group on the team. In this exercise, I'll point out one thing I like, one thing I don't and one thing to watch.

Up next is a position group that will be under the microscope this fall: Offensive Line

One Thing I Like

One of my biggest areas of concern heading into the 2022 season was Michigan State's lack of depth along the offensive line, and that concern was validated as the season progressed.

Heading into 2023, the Spartans are in much better shape in terms of depth, though much of that depth is inexperienced. This position group is one of the most difficult to build in football, but O-line coach Chris Kapilovic's recruiting efforts are slowly getting MSU where it needs to be in the trenches.

It's expected that three holdovers from the Mark Dantonio era — redshirt seniors Nick Samac (center), J.D. Duplain (left guard) and Spencer Brown (right tackle) will start along the offensive line in 2023. That leaves two open starting positions to be filled by Kapilovic's recruits. The perceived favorites coming out of spring ball were redshirt sophmore Geno VanDeMark (right guard) and redshirt junior Brandon Baldwin (left tackle).

That starting five would bring a lot of experience up front for the Spartans, with guys like junior college transfer Keyshawn Blackstock, redshirt junior Dallas Fincher and redshirt sophomore Ethan Boyd as solid backup options (or pushing for starting jobs themselves). Unlike 2022, MSU has a good amount of playable depth along offensive line this fall.

One Thing I Don't

Experience is a great thing, but its not the be-all, end-all. Samac, Duplain and Brown have played a lot of college football over the last several years, but Michigan State's offensive line has been average at best during that stretch.

The Spartans have done a good job in pass protection — MSU ranked T-27th (out of 131) in sacks allowed in 2021 at 1.62 per game, and ranked T-34th in 2022 allowing 1.5 per game. However, the struggle has come in the run game, where Michigan State ranked 111th in rush yards per game, T-90th in rushing touchdowns and T-89th in yards per carry.

The run game struggles aren't fully the fault of the offensive line, but there's certainly a lot of room for improvement for the five guys that Kapilovic trots out there this fall. Can that improvement be realized with many of the same guys the Spartans started in 2022? Time will tell.

One Thing To Watch

During spring football, Kapilovic said incoming freshmen Stanton Ramil and Cole Dellinger were ahead of any true freshmen O-lineman that he's ever coached. That's a mighty compliment from a guy with over 20 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level.

There aren't many true freshmen offensive linemen who can come in and contribute right away in college, and I'm not suggesting Ramil and Dellinger will be able to either. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ramil in particular crack the two-deep on the depth chart. Those two guys join eight redshirt freshman and three redshirt sophomores on the roster. That goes to show the depth that Kapilovic is building at this position, and it's cause for optimism about the Spartans' future up front.

In Case You Missed It

This article is part of a series examining every position group on Michigan State's 2023 roster. You can find the other position groups that Spartan Nation has already covered here: (Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver)

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