The Biggest Concern Nobody Is Talking About for Michigan State
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Michigan State certainly doesn't have the perfect roster.
The Spartans haven't made a bowl game in four seasons, and the odds seem to be above 50% that the drought will reach five in 2026. Most questions tend to revolve around those in the projected starting lineup. How will Alessio Milivojevic do as QB1? Can the offensive line hold up? Who will step up at wide receiver? Can the secondary and pass rush improve?
One major issue concerns MSU's bench, though. Michigan State doesn't have much depth in the interior of its defensive line. If the Spartans have to dip into their bench, things can become pretty uncertain pretty quickly.
MSU's Top Defensive Tackles
I actually think MSU's three core defensive tackles should do just fine. The starters at the position for Michigan State should be Ben Roberts and Illinois transfer Eli Coenen. Most teams rotate in at least a third defensive tackle, though, to keep everyone fresh given the extremely physical nature of the position. That third player should be redshirt freshman Derrick Simmons, a former 4-star recruit.
That is the top three while assuming everybody is healthy, though. Roberts has missed multiple games during each of his two seasons with the program after transferring in from Oregon. Simmons hasn't played enough in college to know how he'll handle a full season. Availability hasn't been an issue for Coenen during his college career so far, but football is a sport where it's never safe to assume.
The Spartans had a lot to replace from last season's team. Both of their starters from the 2025 team, Alex VanSumeren and Grady Kelly, both left -- VanSumeren transferred to USC, and Kelly ran out of eligibility. Contributors Ru'Quan Buckley and Jalen Satchell also departed the program via the exhaustion of their NCAA eligibility.
Michigan State wound up allowing 147.3 rushing yards per game, which ranked 65th in the FBS. Given how frequently MSU was playing from behind as a 4-8 team, that is actually relatively decent. A reason for that is depth.
The Spartans had five or six defensive tackles who could play last season. I'm not so sure that number is that high this year, and it may not truly extend beyond the top three.
Looking at Michigan State's Backups
Michigan State only seems to have three other interior defensive linemen on the roster. There really seemed to be more of a focus on trying to fortify the EDGEs and rush ends this offseason than on building depth at defensive tackle. The lack of a pass rush has been a serious issue for MSU as of late, so it's hard to fault the strategy, but the lack of overall bodies is a concern in itself.
The fourth defensive tackle on the depth chart, and thereby likely the first outside the group of players getting regular playing time, is probably Carlos Hazelwood. He transferred to Michigan State this offseason after spending the first two years of his career at Toledo.
Hazelwood has just 93 defensive snaps of experience from his time with the Rockets. His 83 defensive snaps in 2025 were the fourth-most among interior defensive linemen at Toledo last year, according to PFF. There just isn't a lot to go off of as Hazelwood jumps up to the Power Four level, and he'll probably end up playing more snaps at MSU this year than he did at Toledo in 2025.
The next person up would probably be Mikeshun Beeler. He's entering his redshirt sophomore season with the team, but he has even less to go off of through two seasons than Hazelwood did. Beeler has played just nine total defensive snaps so far. This season will be a big one for him as he seeks out a real role with Michigan State in Year 3.
Rounding out the defensive tackle group is true freshman Hudson Aultman. He flipped to MSU from Miami (OH) in November despite plenty of uncertainty around Jonathan Smith's future. Aultman still opted to sign early with the Spartans and Pat Fitzgerald a little less than a month later. He enrolled early and participated in spring practices, and also finished ranked 1,262nd overall in the class of 2026, per the 247Sports Composite.
There is just no proven production coming off the bench for Michigan State. Even the third defensive tackle, Simmons, hasn't proven himself yet. Perhaps someone can become a surprise contributor this year, but that's hardly a strategy to rely on. A small cloud of uncertainty will be hovering over MSU's defensive line this season, and it'll only grow bigger if that group starts dealing with injury issues.
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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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