Role of MSU's Williams Clear After Social Media Post

Sometimes, you can figure out a thing or two from a team's own social media account.

Michigan State football is in the back half of spring ball now. The Spartans held their 9th of 15 practices on Saturday and will have their 10th on Tuesday. On Saturday night, MSU's official football account shared a video of rising redshirt freshman Bryson Williams catching a pair of touchdown passes during practice. That reveals a fair bit, actually.

Have a day @Brysonwill04‼️🙌 pic.twitter.com/pdbHivLmzC
— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) April 4, 2026

What It Means

The big takeaway is that Williams might be focusing more on wide receiver from here on out. He came to Michigan State as a bit of a hybrid between a running back and a receiver. Williams appeared in four games last season, the maximum allowed to preserve a redshirt year, getting two carries for 20 yards and having one reception for eight yards.

Glancing a little bit closer at the video, it appears that Williams is getting second-team reps. The first touchdown catch came from the arm of projected QB3 Leo Hannan. The next one was from likely QB2 and UCF transfer Cam Fancher. That seems to indicate that Williams is either in the sphere where he'll get occasional snaps or, at the very least, be very close to getting some playing time.

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s WR Bryson Williams stiff-arms Byron Center defender Isaac Lee in the MHSAA Division 2 football finals at Ford Field in Detroit on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press | Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Why WR Makes Sense

Given the current roster situation, wide receiver is probably the spot where Williams can make himself the most useful. Running back is probably the deepest portion of the roster right now. That group is led by UConn transfer Cam Edwards (1,240 rushing yards, 15 TDs in 2025), but there is also returnee Brandon Tullis (301 rushing yards, 4 TDs), Western Kentucky transfer Marvis Parrish (779 scrimmage yards), and Iowa transfer Jaziun Patterson (296 rushing yards).

That's not even all, necessarily. Jace Clarizio and Zion Gist are two more scholarship options who are both entering their redshirt freshman seasons. Clarizio, an East Lansing native, was a pretty sought-after recruit who flipped from MSU to Alabama and then back to MSU in the days leading up to signing day.

Wide receiver is a lot more open. Michigan State's top two projected receivers, Michigan transfer Fredrick Moore and Notre Dame transfer KK Smith, were both backups at their previous stops. Nick Marsh was the top receiver last year, and he transferred to Indiana. Second-leading receiver Omari Kelly graduated.

Starting slot receiver Chrishon McCray is back, but the wide receiver room is definitely thinner on paper than the running back room. That would best explain why to expect Williams out wide this coming season.