Grading MSU's Offensive Position Groups Post-Portal
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The 2026 Michigan State football roster is pretty much set.
MSU is going to look a lot different next season. The Spartans have a new coaching staff, and that comes with a pretty new roster. Michigan State brought in 30 transfers this offseason, and then there’s the team’s 29-person 2026 recruiting class.
Those 59 newcomers mean that more than half of MSU’s players last year will be in their first season with the program. The possibilities can feel endless with that much change, both good and bad.
Now led by coordinator Nick Sheridan, one hope is a turnaround on the offensive side of the ball after the Spartans finished 97th in total offense last season. Let’s take a look at each position group and try to grade each one.
Quarterbacks: B+
Michigan State is hoping that it essentially has its franchise quarterback in Alessio Milivojevic moving forward. He has three years of eligibility remaining and earned the starting job two-thirds of the way through the 2025 season. Across four starts, Milivojevic completed 65% of his passes for 984 yards, seven touchdowns with just two interceptions.
Milivojevic showed several important qualities during those four games. He showed he can deliver passes on time and on target while facing pressure, overall toughness, and some good leadership skills by maintaining positive body language during times when it would’ve been easy to not do so.
The key will be if Milivojevic can maintain his success with teams now getting more film on him besides a couple of games. It’ll be on him and the coaching staff to see if he can adapt to when those curveballs start coming in.
Michigan State also has some decent backup options behind him. MSU brought in UCF quarterback Cam Fancher, who will presumably be the QB2. He actually won the Knights’ starting job to start 2025, but only played three games due to injury. The Spartans also have redshirt freshman Leo Hannan and four-star true freshman Kayd Coffman on the roster for added depth.
Running Back: A-
The most promising position group on the offense is the guys in the backfield. This is the spot where Michigan State got quite busy in the transfer portal, as it added three different running backs.
MSU’s top get was UConn transfer Cam Edwards. He finished 15th in the entire FBS in rushing yards in 2025, netting 1,240 on the ground and scoring 15 touchdowns. The Huskies are an FBS independent who play mostly Group of Five teams, but Edwards averaged 94.0 scrimmage yards during UConn’s three games this season against Power Four programs, all of which were from the ACC (Syracuse, Boston College, Duke).
The Spartans also added Western Kentucky transfer Marvis Parrish, whose 779 scrimmage yards in 2025 got him onto the Conference USA All-Freshman Team. Additionally, MSU landed Iowa transfer Jaziun Patterson, who brings in real Big Ten experience as a backup option.
Brandon Tullis, who was the RB2 for much of 2025, is also back. He had 301 yards and four scores during his sophomore season. Michigan State also retained scholarship guys Jace Clarizio, Bryson Williams, and Zion Gist.
Wide Receiver: C
The biggest question mark by a good amount is wide receiver. Michigan State lost its top two wideouts from last season, as star player Nick Marsh transferred to Indiana and Omari Kelly ran out of eligibility.
It’s questionable if MSU did enough in the portal to replace that lost production. The Spartans ended up adding Michigan transfer Fredrick Moore and Notre Dame transfer KK Smith. Moore only has 160 career receiving yards and one touchdown; Smith has 161 yards and two scores.
Michigan State did hold on to starting slot receiver Chrishon McCray, who had 330 yards and three touchdowns. It also landed four-star recruit Samson Gash, who is set to be the fastest player to suit up for MSU in quite some time.
The biggest reason to hope is wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins, who has a consistent track record of success and having the WRs being a strength of the Spartans since his arrival in 2020.
Tight End: D+
Even less proven are MSU’s tight ends. Michigan State lost Jack Velling (eligibility) and Michael Masunas (transferred to Texas) this offseason. Its only addition through the portal, Ferris State transfer Carson Gulker, is more known as an offensive Swiss army knife than being a traditional tight end.
The top main options right now are probably Brennan Parachek and Jayden Savoury, who both redshirted last year. Paracheck has 14 career catches for 118 yards. Savoury had one catch as a true freshman against Boston College for 16 yards.
Offensive Line: B
One of the biggest rebuilds has been to Michigan State’s offensive line. MSU only returns one of its five starters from last season: right tackle Conner Moore. It added several impressive prospects from the portal to bolster a new group that is led by coach Nick Tabacca.
At left guard is likely UConn transfer Ben Murawski, who stands at 6-foot-7 and is considered an elite run blocker. Next to him at left guard might be left guard Nick Sharpe, who transferred in from South Carolina after starting five of the eight games he played there.
Then there is North Dakota State transfer Trent Fraley — he won the FCS’s Rimington Award in 2025 for being the best center in the lower half of Division I football. He’s also the son of Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley.
MSU also held onto Luka Vincic. He is probably in line to start at right guard, which was also the case in 2025 before suffering a season-ending injury in Week 3 against Youngstown State.
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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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