Michigan State Football Top 30 Players Countdown: No. 2
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Michigan State’s ground game has a proven and exciting RB1 leading the charge.
UConn transfer Cam Edwards is the most exciting transfer portal pickup MSU made this offseason. He’s set to be the lead back for the Spartans in a pretty deep running back room, and he’s one of the most proven players on the 2026 roster.
Why To Be Excited About Edwards
Edwards had a serious breakout season for the Huskies last fall. He ran for 1,240 yards and 15 touchdowns on 5.9 yards per carry last year at UConn. That put him at 15th in the entire FBS for rushing yardage, as well as a tie for 13th in rushing touchdowns. He was one of the most productive running backs in college football, regardless of Power Four or Group of Five status.
The hope should be that Edwards can be Michigan State’s best running back since Kenneth Walker III stunned everybody in 2021. On3 rated Edwards 414th overall in this year’s portal class, including 39th among running backs. That made him the fourth-highest-rated portal pickup for MSU, behind fellow UConn transfer and left tackle Ben Murawski, corner Charles Brantley, and EDGE Kenny Soares Jr.
Those rushing numbers sort of speak for themselves. Edwards probably won’t get the 210 carries he received at UConn last year, given the several other options behind him and the more physical nature of the Big Ten. Landing Edwards gives MSU a true RB1 it can lean on in pretty much any situation, though. That’s something the Spartans lacked last year.
Bringing in Murawski will give Edwards another boost. According to PFF, Edwards averaged 8.0 yards per carry last season while running to the left B and C gaps adjacent to Murawski. His two longest carries of the season, of 67 and 73 yards, were while running towards those gaps as well.
Edwards’ durability is also impressive. He’s appeared in every game in each of UConn’s last two seasons while averaging roughly 15 touches a game. Edwards has only fumbled once across his 356 carries during that time as well.
Injuries have been a big problem for Michigan State as of late, so getting and retaining players with small-to-limited injury histories is important. Lead back Makhi Frazier missed a bit of time towards the end of the season, for example. Edwards is very used to having a big workload and has gotten through the wear and tear of a long season multiple times.
More on MSU’s Running Back Room
There are four running backs who will be commanding carries for MSU this fall. That’s going to be a competition to watch a bit during fall camp, but all of those players are relatively proven. In addition to bringing in Edwards from the portal, Michigan State and position coach Devon Spalding landed Iowa transfer Jaziun Patterson and Western Kentucky transfer Marvis Parrish. Rising junior Brandon Tullis is also back, and he was the Spartans’ RB2 for a good chunk of the 2025 season.
Patterson is another running back MSU can use in a variety of situations. He’s been a secondary option in the Hawkeyes’ backfield for a few years now and comes to Michigan State with 858 career rushing yards. Patterson has also run for a reliable 4.9 yards per carry in each of the last two seasons.
Parrish will be a good back to have during downs where defenses may be expecting the pass. He caught 36 passes for 203 yards out of the backfield during his true freshman season at WKU. Parrish gained 576 yards on the ground, averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
Tullis is for situations where runs will be a little more obvious. He actually dropped some weight between spring and fall camp, but he’s still the heaviest running back MSU has at 224 pounds.
Edwards should be the every-down back, though. He picked up at least a first down on nearly a third of his carries, and he broke off a carry of at least 10 yards once every 7.5 carries. Giving Edwards the ball will make sense in most downs and distances, because he’s got the frame and runs hard enough to fall forward for that extra needed yard on third-and-short, and he can fire through a hole and break away on first-and-10.
Another nice part of Edwards’ game is that he can be a decent blocker in the pass game. Running backs picking up blitzes was a problem for much of the 2025 season. Edwards graded out to a 70.3 PFF grade as a pass-blocker — the highest such grade for Michigan State’s three main running backs last year was a 42.8 from Elijah Tau-Tolliver.
Pass-blocking across the board will have to be better. Aidan Chiles could improvise and bail MSU out sometimes, but Alessio Milivojevic doesn’t have that level of mobility. Most of the focus, of course, will be on the offensive line in that regard. Having running backs who can buy into throwing their body around, even without the ball, is another part of that.
Other Top 30 Articles
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 | No. 19, OL Nick Sharpe | No. 18, LB Caleb Wheatland | No. 17, RB Marvis Parrish | No. 16, DB Michael Richard | No. 15, EDGE Anelu Lafaele | No. 14, P Rhys Dakin | No. 13, LB Dion Crawford | No. 12, C Trent Fraley | No. 11, DL Ben Roberts
No. 10, CB Tre Bell | No. 9, OL Conner Moore | No. 8, EDGE Kenny Soares Jr. | No. 7, WR Chrishon McCray | No. 6, QB Alessio Milivojevic | No. 5, OL Ben Murawski | No. 4, S Nikai Martinez | No. 3, CB Charles Brantley
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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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