Notable Observations from MSU's Travel Roster at Notre Dame

Here are some of the players who made the trip to Notre Dame on Saturday.

Sep 19, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Michigan State Spartans running back Cam Edwards (0) runs against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- One of the tough parts about road games is the fact that head coaches have to temporarily cut down their roster a bit.

Michigan State carries 110 players on its roster this year, but only 80 are allowed to make the trip for road games. This forces coaches to make tough decisions, even for positions and players further down the depth chart. Here's what stood out about the 80-man roster at No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday:

Surprise Travelers

Sep 19, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Pat Fitzgerald arrives before the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

One thing that stands out is how many true freshmen made the trip. Normally, those would be the first players off the list, but there were a healthy number of first-year players who were on the trip.

The list, which Spartan Shadows' Emmett Matasovsky and I compiled, includes: wide receiver Samson Gash, quarterback Kayd Coffman, linebacker Adam Shaw, safety Jonathan Granby, defensive back KJ Deriso, long snapper Trey Serauskis, offensive lineman Collin Campbell, offensive lineman Eli Bickel, tight end Eddie Whiting, kicker Stephen Gonzales, and defensive lineman Jackson Pahl.

Michigan State's Kai Rios, right, catches the ball as Adam Shaw closes in during the football Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

A few of these definitely are not surprises. Gash, Granby, Shaw, and Campbell have already seen game action, and Serauskis and Gonzales need to be on the travel roster so Michigan State can have a backup long snapper and kicker. It's a welcome sign for the rest of those names to make it onto the team plane.

Pahl is probably the biggest surprise of the bunch, given that he is a walk-on. He likely moved up a peg after an apparent injury to Carlos Hazelwood, but it could also mean he got the nod over scholarship freshman Hudson Aultman.

The Biggest Absence

Michigan State's Jace Clarizio runs the ball during the football Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The most notable absence was probably running back Jace Clarizio. His career at Michigan State only seems to get more confusing as it goes on. Clarizio arrived as a highly touted prospect in the 2025 class, coming out of East Lansing High School and flipping from MSU to Alabama and then back to MSU in the final days of his recruitment. He finished ranked 487th overall on the 247Sports Composite, which was the second-best finish among Spartan recruits that cycle.

Clarizio hasn't appeared in a game through Week 3 of his second year with the program, and he wasn't even one of the 80 players there on Saturday. Zion Gist, a former high 2-star, low-3-star recruit whom the Spartans flipped from Western Michigan, got carries against Eastern Michigan last week over Clarizio. Walk-on running back Darrin Jones Jr. was also on the travel roster, too.