Michigan State Football Takes RBs Coach from Big Ten Rival
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Michigan State has filled one of its final major vacancies.
A source has confirmed that MSU and Pat Fitzgerald are hiring Devon Spalding to be the Spartans' new running backs coach. Spalding previously held the same position at Wisconsin for each of the last three seasons.
The offensive coaching staff for Michigan State now includes Nick Sheridan as coordinator, Nick Tabacca as offensive line coach, Courtney Hawkins as wide receivers coach, Brian Wozniak with the tight ends, Mike Bajakian as quarterbacks coach, and now Spalding.
This is another hire for Fitzgerald that has shown that he's been willing to look outside his coaching tree. Only one on-field hire has been somebody who spent time with him at Northwestern: Bajakian.
Spalding's Resume
Across those three seasons at Wisconsin, the Badgers have been 61st, 78th, and 115th in rushing offense. Spalding has still mentored some great individual backs.
In his first year in Madison, he coached Braelon Allen to a 984-yard, 12-touchdown season in 11 games, which helped lead to Allen becoming a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Allen did have seasons of 1,268 and 1,242 rushing yards in the two seasons before Spalding arrived, though.
Tawee Walker was Wisconsin's top rusher in 2024, going for 864 yards and 10 touchdowns on 4.5 yards per carry. The run game really was not working great this past season, as evidenced by the 115th national ranking, as the Badgers' top rusher ended up being Darrion Dupree at just 363 yards and two touchdowns.
What truly does stand out on Spalding's resume is that he mentored Jaleel McLaughlin at FCS Youngstown State. Spalding held the job with the Penguins from 2020-22, which completely overlapped with McLaughlin's time there. McLaughlin improved on a per-carry and per-game basis all three seasons he was there. His final tally was a staggering 3,424 career rushing yards and 30 rushing touchdowns in just 28 games. McLaughlin is actually the NCAA's all-time leading rusher at any level.
McLaughlin went undrafted in the 2023 NFL Draft, but has forged himself a role with the Denver Broncos, one of the top teams in the NFL this year.
The only other piece of coaching experience that Spalding has is one year as a graduate assistant at Cincinnati in 2019 --- the Bearcats' rushing attack finished 25th nationally that year. Spalding also played running back and wide receiver for Central Michigan, totaling 1,450 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground during his time with the Chippewas, along with 609 receiving yards and another touchdown through the air.
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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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