Omari Kelly’s Role at MSU Raises Questions
In this story:
The Michigan State Spartans are in the midst of a public outrage, targeted towards head coach Jonathan Smith, after their devastating 38-13 loss against the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins.
Almost every player on the team has struggled because of their recent failures against Big Ten teams, aside from a very small minority, and one of the biggest names affected has turned out to be the breakout wide receiver Omari Kelly.
His production has fallen off a cliff in comparison to his early-season surprises, going from nearly 80 yards a game to only 15. What has taken place to affect his production and how can Smith get him involved again to take some heat off the team?
What Lead To The Drop-off
- There are three main factors surrounding Kelly's drop-off in production: Quarterback play, and volume, each of which must be fixed as soon as possible.
QB Play
- In both of his lackluster games, MSU's starting QB Aidan Chiles was injured and had to be replaced by backup Allesio Milivojevic, whose play style has not been in the best interest of Kelly.
- In fact, when Milivojevic has been at the helm, even though more passes have been completed in general, they have typically ended up being screens or short passes to star wideout Nick Marsh, not in deep balls that work to Kelly's strength.
- With a QB that has an adverse play style to his usual play-caller, Kelly needs his main play-caller consistently back in action to get himself in the mix again.
Volume
- The Spartans have built a huge part of their offensive scheme around rushing the ball with running backs Makhi Frazier, Brandon Tullis, and Elijah Tau-Tolliver. Chiles also takes part in the mix of rushers quite often, and the Spartans often have upwards of 30-40 attempts per game.
- With the amount of rushing going on, especially when Chiles is taken out of the picture and the less experienced Milivojevic comes in, Kelly has many fewer passes to work with.
- Furthermore, the passes that Kelly gets targeted with have not been deep balls of 20 or more yards, the area in which he seems to thrive the most in East Lansing.
- With the lack of deep passes and overall throws in the Spartans' playbook as of late, Kelly has undoubtedly struggled to pick up the pace.
- Similar to the National Football League's Alec Pierce, without the deep ball, he will get the ball very little.
Kelly's season is by no stretch of the imagination over, but he needs to bounce back in MSU's upcoming matches against the Indiana Hoosiers and the Michigan Wolverines.
Should he be back to full strength in his capabilities, the whole offense will most likely join him and give fans something to hope for going into the 2026 season.
If not, not only will Kelly's future look much less bright, but Smith's chances at coming back for the fans next year to coach the team again will become very, very slim.
Keep up with all our Michigan State football content when you follow the official Spartan Nation page on Facebook, Spartan Nation,WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be sure to share your thoughts on MSU’s Omari Kelly when you join our community group, Go Green Go White,WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE. Don't forget to give us a follow on X@MSUSpartansOnSI as well.
Nathan Berry is a senior at NCCS and was raised a Michigan State Spartan fan. With a great interest in sports and writing, journalism is a great avenue to pursue both.