Michigan State Football Top 30 Players: No. 19
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Michigan State was pretty aggressive in its quest to upgrade its offensive line this offseason.
Three of the Spartans’ expected starters up front right now are incoming transfers. One of those newcomers is South Carolina transfer Nick Sharpe. He brings a ton of experience and a lot of knowledge about what is expected from him at left guard. That’s gotten him to No. 19 on my “top 30 players” list for MSU this fall. Here’s why:
Basic Background on Sharpe
Sharpe is going to be a sixth-year senior during what should be his only season at Michigan State. The first four seasons of his career were spent at Wake Forest before transferring as a graduate to South Carolina last season.
That time at Wake is the interesting part, because Sharpe was coached by now-MSU offensive line coach Nick Tabacca there. Sharpe will be the only lineman on the roster with prior experience with Tabacca. It’s not as important, but Sharpe and Spartans safeties coach James Adams also overlapped with the Demon Deacons during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Sharpe had five starts across eight total appearances with South Carolina in 2025, playing 392 total offensive snaps. PFF charges Sharpe with three sacks and eight pressures allowed across 237 pass-blocking snaps. His overall grade of 65.9 ranked 15th among SEC guards.
The 2024 season at Wake Forest is the largest sample size of football available with Sharpe. He started 10 games for the Demon Deacons that year and appeared in all 12 contests. Sharpe was charged with three sacks that season, as well, to go with 15 allowed pressures over 406 pass-blocking snaps. The key difference is that Sharpe was playing right guard there — that’s actually all he played before last year at South Carolina.
Tabacca and Michigan State seem unlikely to move Sharpe back to right guard. Sharpe was working on the left side during the spring, and there are multiple options at right guard between Luka Vincic, Rakeem Johnson, and potentially even Conner Moore.
Sharpe is originally from Gastonia, N.C., and Hunter Hess High School. He was a 3-star recruit in the class of 2021 at 1,581st overall on the 247Sports Composite. Wake Forest is his only listed Power Five offer online, with his other opportunities being from Akron, Appalachian State, East Carolina, Charlotte, and Liberty.
Outlook at Left Guard
Guard play was a bit of a weakness for MSU last season. The early-season injury to Vincic and some ailments for others were a contributing factor, but the fact of the matter remains that those who were playing the most snaps weren’t entirely cutting it.
The two guards who received the most playing time last season were Caleb Carter (548 offensive snaps) and Gavin Broscious (485 snaps). They received offensive PFF grades of 52.0 and 60.6, respectively.
Broscious is the main player Sharpe is essentially replacing. Every single offensive snap for Broscious, who transferred to Iowa State during the offseason, was at left guard in 2025.
Broscious technically started four games last season for the Spartans, but the “starts” don’t matter all that much given how frequently former offensive line coach Jim Michalczik rotated guys in and out. He still played at least 30 snaps in nine games last season and at least appeared in all 12.
Tabacca probably won’t be seeking to rotate as many linemen in and out. Having so many players coming in and out just creates too many combinations, which impacts the offensive line’s overall chemistry.
Players usually need the occasional snap off, but it’s not out of the question to have interior offensive linemen go the distance. Sharpe played all 61 offensive snaps during South Carolina’s rivalry game against Clemson last season.
What To Expect From Sharpe, MSU’s Offensive Line
There is a chance that Michigan State’s offensive line could be approaching “old” territory, at least in college football terms. If Vincic were to start at right guard, every player on the Spartans’ starting five would be either a fifth- or sixth-year senior.
That much experience around the offensive line comes with the expectation of production, especially when MSU fans are desperate to see decent offensive line play once again. Sharpe’s prior knowledge of what Tabacca expects from his players is something Michigan State will have to lean on.
Sharpe may not earn captaincy this fall, but his leadership is still important. Any sixth-year senior better have some leadership skills in the first place; plus, the fact that he’s the only one to truly know Tabacca makes him a reliable source of information for others, whether that be Tabacca’s expectations or something as simple as confusion over terminology.
I think Sharpe can be part of the solution for MSU on the offensive line. He’s actually the heaviest player on the team at 351 pounds. He’s a large dude, and he seemed to use it relatively well during April’s spring game. Broscious was listed at 308 pounds last season while being two inches taller than Sharpe, who is 6’2”.
Sharpe is one of the more proven transfer portal pickups that Michigan State made during the offseason. He’s got starting experience in two of the four power conferences, and now he’ll be in the Big Ten for the first time. On3 ranked Sharpe 804th overall on its transfer portal rankings this offseason, as well as 71st among interior offensive linemen. That puts Sharpe comfortably in the upper portion of MSU’s 32-person portal class.
That level of experience isn’t something the Spartans had last season. Broscious only had 65 career offensive snaps prior to the 2025 season. Carter had 16 career starts when he transferred to Michigan State, but all of them came at the FCS level with Western Carolina. Sharpe has been playing Power Four or Five football his entire career. A lot of things are new to a lot of people right now, but he’s positioned as well as anybody to succeed on MSU’s offense.
Other Top 30 Stories
No. 30, WR Samson Gash | No. 29, WR Charles Taplin | No. 28, S Devin Vaught | No. 27, KR Kenneth Williams | No. 26, OL Luka Vincic | No. 25, OL Rakeem Johnson | No. 24, CB Tyran Chappell | No. 23, DL Derrick Simmons | No. 22, TE Carson Gulker | No. 21, WR KK Smith | No. 20, DL Eli Coenen
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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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