Michigan State Faces Long Odds in Fitzgerald's First Season
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Michigan State could once again find itself on the outside looking in when bowl season arrives this fall. The Spartans are entering a new era under former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who returns to college football with a program that needs significant rebuilding from top to bottom.
The roster turnover this offseason has been staggering. A total of 44 players from last year's team entered the transfer portal and have since found new homes. Replacing that volume of departures in a single offseason is an enormous challenge, but Fitzgerald responded by bringing in 31 players through the portal and adding 21 more through the 2026 high school recruiting class.
Despite the departures, Fitzgerald was able to retain several players who made meaningful contributions last season. Linebacker Jordan Hall tied for the team lead with 2.5 sacks and brings proven production back to the defense. Running back Chrishon McCray did not have the season he was capable of after transferring from Kent State, but he showed enough flashes of his ability to remain a player worth building around in the new offense.
Michigan State Ranked Last in the Big Ten
With so many unknowns surrounding the roster and a first-year head coach still learning the landscape of a changed college football environment, skepticism around the Spartans is understandable. Michigan State is loaded with question marks, both across the roster and in how Fitzgerald will adapt to the modern era of college football, including the transfer portal and NIL landscape, which look very different from when he last coached at Northwestern.
ESPN released its rankings of every Power Four conference team this offseason, and the results were not kind to the Spartans. Michigan State ranked last among the 18 Big Ten programs, a reflection of just how much work remains to be done in East Lansing.
What ESPN Has To Say
ESPN writers Eli Lederman, Max Olson, and Adam Rittenberg evaluated every Division I football program this offseason, covering what went right, what went wrong, and the most significant coaching move each program made.
For Michigan State, the headlining move was obviously the hiring of Fitzgerald himself. While the writers acknowledged that Fitzgerald brings legitimate questions as a coach returning after time away from the sideline, they also highlighted several notable staff additions as reasons for measured optimism.
Bringing in LeVar Woods, a longtime special teams coach at Iowa, adds proven Big Ten experience to a staff that needed it. Hiring former Spartan player Max Bullough from Notre Dame as linebackers coach adds both familiarity with the program's culture and high-level coaching experience on the defensive side of the ball.
The ESPN panel also praised Fitzgerald's ability to retain key holdovers from the previous regime, specifically citing Hall and McCray as players who provide continuity amid an otherwise heavily reconstructed roster. On the portal side, the writers highlighted several additions they viewed favorably.
Kenny Soares Jr., a transfer from NC State who previously played for Fitzgerald at Northwestern, brings a built-in familiarity with the head coach's system. Return specialist Kenneth Williams arrives from Nebraska, and Charles Brantley returns to East Lansing after spending last season at Miami, giving the Spartans a player who already knows the program and the conference.
However, the concerns raised by the ESPN writers were equally significant. The sheer volume of portal departures was a major red flag, particularly the losses of high-caliber players like Nick Marsh, Ayden West, and Mahki Frazier.
The writers also noted that many of the portal additions Fitzgerald brought in came from smaller programs, raising legitimate questions about whether those players are ready to contribute immediately at the Big Ten level rather than needing a full year to adjust to the speed and physicality of the conference.
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Luke Joseph is a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in journalism. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of sports and commitment to storytelling, he serves as a general sports reporter On SI, covering the NFL and college athletics with insight and expertise.