Michigan State Football Top 30 Players Countdown: No. 10
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Michigan State’s top two corners are going to be two of the best players on the team this fall.
The No. 2 corner this season will be Iowa State transfer Tre Bell. Charles Brantley will probably get the toughest assignments each week, but Bell provides enough that I have him just inside my top 10 on my ongoing list for the upcoming season.
Bell’s Unorthodox Path to MSU
Bell overcame some odds to get to this point. He started his career at Lindenwood and was originally set to be a member of the Lions’ football and basketball teams, but he wasn’t on campus long before he decided it would be best for him to focus on football.
Lindenwood was also just making the move from Division II to Division I when Bell got there. He didn’t appear in a game as a true freshman, seeing his team put together a solid 7-3 season in its first season at the FCS level.
A big part of what makes Bell’s overall path is that he was never really a full-time starter at Lindenwood. He only started 5 of his 20 appearances between the 2024 and 2025 seasons, playing 319 and 315 defensive snaps during those years, respectively. Bell had one interception during that time, though it came against Big 12 foe Kansas.
Bell decided to transfer after that. Even though Bell didn’t have a ton of experience, Iowa State and cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat gave him a shot. He originally started the year in Ames as a rotational piece for the Cyclones, but injuries to teammates Jontez Williams and Jeremiah Cooper put Bell into a starting spot.
He wound up starting the final eight games of the season, playing no fewer than 45 snaps each game, and it could’ve been nine had ISU not opted out of a bowl game following Matt Campbell’s departure for Penn State.
Bell allowed 32 catches on 51 targets (62.7% completions) and two touchdowns, but Bell also intercepted a pair of passes. One was against Arkansas State, and the other was against TCU. He actually wound up playing a few more snaps during his season at Iowa State (638) than he did in his three seasons at Lindenwood combined (634).
Michigan State will have plenty to contend with Campbell’s move to Penn State, but the Spartans will benefit a little bit from it for now. First of all, it opened up the possibility for Pat Fitzgerald and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi to hire Poteat to be the team’s new cornerbacks coach.
That move made the move to MSU pretty sensible for Bell. Poteat is one of the people who helped turn Bell into a true Power Four-caliber starter in one season after Bell had been splitting snaps at the FCS level.
TRE BELL 👀@TreBell13
— Iowa State Football (@CycloneFB) September 13, 2025
📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/pOesJNgJoV
The Spartans and Poteat will be looking for Bell to take yet another step forward. Between Brantley, who can be a lockdown corner when healthy, and Bell, there is a chance Michigan State can have one of the better cornerback duos in the conference.
Looking More at MSU’s Cornerback Room
Bell wound up being one of the top-rated transfers the Spartans landed this offseason. He finished up ranked 260th overall in the portal by 247Sports and 419th overall by On3. Bell was actually Michigan State’s best incoming transfer on 247. On3 had him ranked fifth, though that is still pretty far up there when you remember that MSU is bringing in 32 players from the transfer portal this fall.
Michigan State’s three top corners are all players coming in from the portal this offseason, in fact. Brantley is certainly not new to the program in East Lansing, but he was playing at Miami (FL) last year. The only reason he was able to come back was that he only appeared in three games in 2025 for the Hurricanes, allowing him to redshirt and keep his final year of eligibility.
The No. 3 corner appears to be Houston Christian backup Tyran Chappell. He was one of the best young players in the entire FCS last year, intercepting four passes as a redshirt freshman and being a first-team all-conference player. Chappell should be getting snaps this year, and a good year would put him in prime position to be a top-two guy and a starter in 2027.
Michigan State’s secondary last year wasn’t exactly a strength last season. The Spartans allowed 231.3 passing yards per game in 2025, which ranked 92nd in the FBS and was second-worst in the Big Ten. Not all of that was on the corners, necessarily. Reliable free safety Nikai Martinez was hardly available all season.
UConn transfer Malcolm Bell was actually the highest-rated player on MSU’s defense. Texas State transfer Joshua Eaton didn’t entirely meet expectations, but the Spartans got some decent run out of true freshman Aydan West later on in the year. All three of those players are now gone, though — Malcolm Bell and Eaton were one-year rental portal options, and West transferred to Minnesota this winter.
Tre Bell and Brantley feel like safer options from the portal. Neither Malcolm Bell nor Eaton had starting experience at the Power Four or Five level when they came to Michigan State. Both Tre Bell and Brantley do. Bell succeeded at Iowa State, and Brantley might have been the Spartans’ best defensive player during the 2024 season.
The first-string of MSU’s secondary actually feels pretty solid. There should be more help over the top this year than last, with Martinez coming back and with second-team All-CAA strong safety Devin Vaught coming in.
Depth could be a slight concern, but it’s so hard to build depth these days, anyway, especially during the first year of a new head coach’s tenure. Injuries have been a real thorn in Michigan State’s side in recent years, and the overall health of the team, especially the defense, will be a big part of how the Spartans do this year.
More 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
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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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