How Recent Wave of Injuries Will Affect MSU Football
In this story:
Michigan State is going to be without a few different important players for a while. On Monday, head coach Jonathan Smith announced that linebacker Brady Pretzlaff will miss the remainder of the season and that starting left tackle Stanton Ramil will miss approximately a month due to injury.
The statuses for linebacker Wayne Matthews III, safety Nikai Martinez, and defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan for MSU's upcoming game at Nebraska are also in question.
On this edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, we go over these injury updates and how MSU might handle things in the probable or potential absence of these players.
Watch the MSU Spartans Insider Podcast here:
Below is also a partial transcript of Smith's opening statement from his Monday press conference.
Jonathan Smith
Bye week, kind of approached it early in the week to take a deep look at ourselves, and so Monday and Tuesday, a lot of self-scouting, trying to learn from the first four games, what we put out on tape, what we're doing well, what we've got to do better, just kind of an evaluation of our schemes, personnel, those kind of things. And you're always looking to grow and just learn lessons from that, so we took those couple of days and then emphasized that in practice on Wednesday, flipped gears on Thursday practice with an emphasis on Nebraska, and then we did that on Sunday as well.
So, gave Friday and Saturday to the guys. We did a heavy amount of recruiting, Thursday, Friday, Thursday evening, Friday, all day we'd be watching the guys.
And so, big goal, coming back yesterday, just kind of improvement on what we learned, right. Emphasizing that, just kind of recovery, got some bumps and bruises, mid-season healthy, getting refreshed and refocused, after four games going into a stint of one game at the time, this is a stint of five games straight here.
I was pleased with the work we got done yesterday, kind of as a team.
(We're) headed toward a big opportunity back into this league and conference play in a tough environment, going back on the road. Coach (Matt) Rhule has done a nice job there. These guys are a good football team. They can score points. This quarterback's (Dylan Raiola) one of the better ones we're going to play. You can see their stats in points scored, passing yards, and those things.
I think defensively, they hold their own. Done some really good things, especially on the back end. Pass defense, you look at it, stands out on tape, so we've got a real, real challenge coming Saturday.
Keep up with all our 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 this episode of the MSU Spartans Insider Podcast 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.
Previous Episode:
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.
Follow jacobcotsonika