MSU Football Stock Up, Stock Down Report Entering Week 5
In this story:
Michigan State football is already a third of the way through its 2026 season.
The Spartans currently sit at 2-2 overall with a 0-1 Big Ten record following a 31-13 loss to Nebraska this past Saturday. Next, they face Wisconsin (3-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) on Saturday. Before that, let's look at a couple of players whose stock has risen and fallen the most so far.
Stock Up
DT Eli Coenen
One of this year's surprises has been the effectiveness of Eli Coenen at defensive tackle. He was an expected starter after transferring in from Illinois, but he's made a serious jump. Really, the interior defensive line has been a pleasant surprise so far -- Ben Roberts has played pretty well lately.
Coenen, though, went from a decent rotational piece for the Fighting Illini last year to Michigan State's best pass rusher so far. He's consistently won the 1-on-1 battles he's gotten on pass plays. Coenen's 3.0 sacks this season are more than what anybody on last year's roster had all season. The rest of the team has just four sacks combined.
TE Jayden Savoury
Second-year tight end Jayden Savoury has been one of Michigan State's bright spots on offense. His 153 receiving yards through four games rank second on the team, and his 13 catches are third, but that's only two behind Chrishon McCray's team-high 15.
Savoury is going to be one of the players to watch for the rest of the season. Given how much eligibility he has left and how much he's producing, the Spartans and Pat Fitzgerald already need to be forming a plan for how to keep Savoury this coming offseason. Too many of MSU's best players have left via the portal in recent years, and Fitzgerald cannot allow Savoury to join the list.
C Trent Fraley
It's a bit funny that Michigan State seems to have a running bit of always having a great center on an offensive line that seems "meh," at best, otherwise. There was Tanner Miller in 2024, Matt Gulbin in 2025, and now Trent Fraley in 2026. He's been MSU's best offensive lineman so far, and PFF actually has Fraley graded as the No. 4 center in the FBS (82.7 overall) among those with at least 200 snaps.
Fraley won the FCS Rimington Award for the subdivision's top center last year at North Dakota State. He was one of the team's more-heralded pickups, but how Fraley would adjust to Power Four football was still a natural question. He's certainly adjusted just fine.
Stock Down
TE Carson Gulker
So... where's Carson Gulker? He was another exciting transfer portal addition for Michigan State this offseason after a highly successful career at Ferris State. There's a big jump from the Division II level to the Big Ten, but Gulker was once splitting snaps at quarterback there with Trinidad Chambliss, who is now one of the best QBs in college football, if not the best, at Ole Miss.
Gulker can throw, run, and catch. It seemed like he'd at least have a gadget role in the offense. Instead, Gulker got one offensive snap against Toledo and eight against Eastern Michigan, and now he hasn't played on offense in the last two games. Fitzgerald said on his Wednesday radio show that Gulker could become a more important piece soon, though.
CB Charles Brantley
It's been a tough year so far for Charles Brantley. He's had his moments, like forcing a pair of fumbles and recovering one of them. Still, Brantley has been pretty prone to some costly mistakes. He's been beaten on deep balls several times this year, and he's also been flagged four times this season already. The rest of the defense has gotten flagged three times combined, according to PFF.
Brantley has allowed 229 yards in coverage so far, which is also according to PFF. That is the third-most yardage allowed by any FBS cornerback. What doesn't help is that the two guys ahead of him have played 46 and 53 more coverage snaps than Brantley so far this season, so they're really both allowing fewer yards per snap.
QB Alessio Milivojevic
The season actually began well for starting quarterback Alessio Milivojevic. He went 26-for-34 through the air against Toledo for 247 yards and a touchdown, looking confident and perhaps a bit sharper than he did at the end of the 2025 season. Things looked a bit shaky against Eastern Michigan, though. His stat line shows two touchdowns and no turnovers, but with a couple of decisions that better teams could punish.
Well, the better teams have gotten the better of Milivojevic so far. He wasn't responsible for any touchdowns against either Notre Dame or Nebraska, and he turned it over twice in each game. Milivojevic holding onto the ball too long and taking some unneeded sacks is another emerging problem. He has time to turn it around, but Milivojevic certainly needs a bounce-back day against Wisconsin.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
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