Breakout Games Were a Long Time Coming for MSU RBs

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Two sophomores from the Dallas, Texas area were the engines of Michigan State's offense in its win over Western Michigan on Friday night.

Plenty of casual MSU fans might not have even heard of them before they truly introduced themselves for the first time against the Broncos. That's OK, East Lansing wasn't the original plan for them, either.

Makhi Frazier and Brandon Tullis combined for 14 carries, 41 yards and no touchdowns last year as true freshmen. Against WMU, they went for a combined 155 yards on 21 rushes. Both of them reached the end zone, too.

Frazier led MSU with 103 rushing yards on 14 carries. Tullis was going yard-for-yard with his opportunities, though (actually averaging 0.07 more YPC), as he picked up 52 yards on seven attempts.

Past bonds

Michigan State running back Makhi Frazier (5) runs against Western Michigan safety Jaden Lyles (16) during the first half at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing on Friday, August 29, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"We've been doing it (together) since youth," Tullis said after the game. "It's fun to do it on a higher level now."

"It's cool to see each other, like, be able to go out and have success and just be able to help each other on the things that we need to fix and be able to tell each other what we're doing good and what we're not doing good," Frazier said.

Down south in Dallas, Frazier and Tullis only lived a few minutes apart and became childhood friends.

Makhi Frazier | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans On SI

"We played on the select football team together in Texas, and then we knew each other since middle school and stuff, so we've always been close friends," Frazier said about his past with Tullis during fall camp. " ... I saw him the first time in, I want to say, fifth grade. He was bigger than everybody, which he's still kind of bigger than everybody, but he was a big kid at the time, and I was a little kid."

As recruits, Frazier and Tullis were looking to be a package deal. Both of them ended up committing to Jonathan Smith's Oregon State program, with Frazier doing so in May 2023 and Tullis pledging in July 2023.

Of course, Smith then left Oregon State for Michigan State. According to 247Sports, both Frazier and Tullis officially visited MSU on Dec. 8, 2023. They both flipped to the Spartans within a week after that.

Bright futures

Michigan State's Brandon Tullis, right, scores a touchdown against Western Michigan during the first quarter on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What might be the best part to Spartan fans is that Frazier and Tullis are both just true sophomores. Not only will both running backs be around for the 2025 season, but there's also the real possibility of seeing them improve in 2026 and 2027.

Both running backs were three-star recruits ranked outside the top 1,500 of the 247Sports Composite for the class of 2024. Frazier and Tullis are already on a great path to proving their rankings wrong and then some.

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