Michigan State Football Top 30 Players Countdown: No. 1
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Michigan State’s best player from last season is back for another year.
The Spartans and new head coach Pat Fitzgerald were able to retain linebacker Jordan Hall this offseason. Hall was one of MSU’s team captains last season, but he felt like the captain of captains. He’s the No. 1 player on the team this year and caps off my “top 30 players” list that began back in early June.
Hall’s Stellar 2025 Season
Hall was one of the handful of bright spots on Michigan State’s roster last season. He was the only member of the defense to get honorable mention All-Big Ten honors from both the media and coaches last fall. Hall racked up 88 total tackles (most on the team), 4.5 tackles for loss (tied for fourth-most), and 2.5 sacks (tied for the most) during his junior season.
He also intercepted a pass and forced three fumbles. Nobody on the Spartans’ defense was all over the field more and made more of an impact every single week. Hall was also playing through turf toe and an oblique that tore against Minnesota during the later stages of the season. He still played every single defensive snap in the three games after that, including a 78-snap day in the season finale against Maryland.
Fitzgerald will now be the third different head coach (fourth if you include those 10 games of Harlon Barnett) Hall has played for in his four years in East Lansing. Another coaching change would’ve made a portal decision for Hall, who at the time held just one more season of eligibility, pretty understandable. He and tight end Brennan Parachek are the only members of MSU’s 2023 recruiting class left.
“He's been a role model on and off the field,” Fitzgerald said last week during Big Ten Football Media Days in Chicago. “When he made the decision to stay as a Spartan, it was a huge, huge boost for our locker room. He was a captain last year… He's an outstanding middle linebacker. He loves the game, but he's just an all-around just special, special guy.”
Hall’s Role in Linebacker Room Going into 2026
Hall’s job on the field shouldn’t be too much different than last year. The system should be about the same with Fitzgerald’s decision to retain defensive coordinator Joe Rossi. He’ll still be the starting MIKE linebacker, and he should still be the star player in the middle of the defense.
One of the underrated parts of Hall’s game is his coverage ability. He had an 80.7 PFF grade in coverage last season, which was well up from 68.7 in 2024 and a 50.7 the year before that. The improvement in that category over Hall’s career is what transformed him from an exciting, but flawed, freshman (that’s why he took a step back in his role as a sophomore), to being one of the better linebackers in the Big Ten last year.
Hall’s numbers as a tackler have also gotten better. His missed tackle rate as a true freshman was 15.8%. That’s not terrible, but it’s not great — Michigan State’s rate as a team last season was 13.1%. Hall got that figure down to 9.7% last year. It was also 7.4% during his sophomore season, but that was with a much smaller sample size.
Dipping beneath 10% is around the area where a Big Ten-level starting linebacker should be. Wayne Matthews III, the Spartans’ other starting linebacker last year, had a missed tackle rate of 8.1%, and he came to MSU as a pretty gifted tackle after a 135-tackle season at Old Dominion in 2023.
Michigan State has some more linebackers coming in to replace Matthews and key reserves Darius Snow (now at Texas) and Aisea Moa (now at Michigan). The Spartans picked up Auburn transfer Caleb Wheatland and Buffalo transfer Dion Crawford. Wheatland was a starter at Maryland during the 2024 season, and Crawford was a third-team All-MAC selection in ‘24 as well.
Crawford and Wheatland will be competing for the starting WILL linebacker spot during fall camp. There won’t really be a true “loser” in that battle, though — both of them should see the field fairly often this year. True freshman Adam Shaw also made some noise during the spring, and third-year linebacker Brady Pretzlaff will also provide some added depth to the room.
Potential for a Fifth Year
The NCAA’s new “5-in-5” eligibility rules also mean that this season doesn’t have to be Hall’s last in college. He’ll have the option to return to Michigan State once again this coming offseason, though he’s making it clear that he hopes he doesn’t need to use that additional year to reach the NFL.
“I’ve never looked at this year as a ‘pressure’ year, even before the whole ‘5-for-5’ rule finished out,” Hall told Spartan Nation when asked about if having that option for a fifth year eases anything off his shoulders.
“If you play with that kind of pressure going into the year, you can’t play free. With that [extra year], it’s great. Let’s say I have a God-awful year, and I don’t [leave or go to the NFL], that’s cool that that’s an avenue, but I’m going to act like it’s not and just play with the most freedom that I can, and kind of see how things happen once the season starts coming towards the end.”
“I hope he goes and plays on Sunday. That's what I've talked to him about," Fitzgerald said about Hall’s potential return in 2027. "That rule benefits you if we need it. And he could go out and have an All-Big Ten year, and I told him I'm gonna do everything in my power — and I've done this my whole career — researching and finding out where he's at.
“This is a brass tacks conversation. If it fiscally makes sense for him to come back, that's something that he and his family want to do, we would do it with open arms and I'd be doing the Irish jig. If it's not, then I hope he invites me to his draft party and it probably means he had a great year."
Every Other Top 30 Article
No. 30, WR Samson Gash | No. 29, WR Charles Taplin | No. 28, S Devin Vaught | No. 27, KR Kenneth Williams | No. 26, OL Luka Vincic | No. 25, OL Rakeem Johnson | No. 24, CB Tyran Chappell | No. 23, DL Derrick Simmons | No. 22, TE Carson Gulker | No. 21, WR KK Smith
No. 20, DL Eli Coenen | No. 19, OL Nick Sharpe | No. 18, LB Caleb Wheatland | No. 17, RB Marvis Parrish | No. 16, DB Michael Richard | No. 15, EDGE Anelu Lafaele | No. 14, P Rhys Dakin | No. 13, LB Dion Crawford | No. 12, C Trent Fraley | No. 11, DL Ben Roberts
No. 10, CB Tre Bell | No. 9, OL Conner Moore | No. 8, EDGE Kenny Soares Jr. | No. 7, WR Chrishon McCray | No. 6, QB Alessio Milivojevic | No. 5, OL Ben Murawski | No. 4, S Nikai Martinez | No. 3, CB Charles Brantley | No. 2, RB Cam Edwards
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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