Why To Buy Hype on MSU's Emerging Tight End Group
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's group of tight ends will be a big X-factor for the Spartans' offense.
Starter Jack Velling and often-used TE2 Michael Masunas from last season both left -- Velling to eligibility/NFL and Masunas to the portal and Texas. MSU and retained tight end coach Brian Wozniak seemed largely content with what they already had, though.
Praise for Jayden Savoury
Second-year player (or redshirt freshman) Jayden Savoury has perhaps been the biggest riser in fall camp up to this point. He'll have to keep moving upward once pads go on Thursday, but he certainly seems primed to either be a starter or a real contributor for Michigan State this year.
"Jayden, certainly, has been somebody that's been just continuing to get better," offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said on Wednesday. "I think we all saw some of the movement and body controllability in spring. What I've been proud of him is, I think that he's playing more physical. He's playing behind his pads and trying to become a more dependable, reliable blocker."
The ceiling with Savoury this year and beyond is perhaps the highest in the tight end room. He is a pretty good receiving threat for somebody his size, and getting athletic doesn't look particularly difficult for him. His background as a basketball player at Orchard Lake St. Mary's helps with that.
His improvement as a blocker, according to Sheridan, is particularly interesting, though. That's the type of thing that can turn a tight end from a sort of specialist or somebody who is only in during certain situations to a starter or an every-down contributor. Savoury's weight of 253 pounds on the team's roster is 13 pounds heavier than where he was as a true freshman last year. His height even went up an inch.
"That's a normal transition," Sheridan said of Savoury's improvement in the trenches. "[Wozniak] has done an awesome job. Jayden has some catching ability that Woz never had as a player [at Wisconsin] -- Woz will probably tell you that. But Woz certainly was tough, and his players play tough. I have seen progress with Jayden from an ability to block the C and D gap, which is important, so that you can be treated like a tight end and not just like a wideout."
Other Tight Ends in Mix
The tight end room is much more than Savoury, though. Brennan Parachek, Carson Gulker, Kai Rios, and Eddie Whiting all seem to be in the running for some snaps this year. Parachek is entering his fourth year with the program and has 14 career catches for 118 yards. He and Jordan Hall are actually the lone remaining players from MSU's 2023 recruiting class.
Rios made one catch last year, a one-yard touchdown against Maryland. Whiting is a true freshman who was outside the top 1,000 overall prospects in his class, but his solid spring and his pretty loaded offer list as a recruit, at least by 3-star standards, make him a very interesting part of the unit's future.
Gulker, the only new transfer this year among the group, is the hardest player to figure out. That's partially because he's not exactly a tight end. It's the position he's listed under on the roster and the position group he works with during practices, but most tight ends don't have 50 career rushing touchdowns and experience playing quarterback.
I tried to get a hint from Sheridan on Wednesday about how he'd use Gulker -- it didn't work. Still, he provided some nice context on how he views those uniquely versatile players.
"But for any player, when they have some versatility, I think it's finding the things they do best, making them tough to defend, but still not overloading them [to the point] where they don't get good at the things you're gonna ask them to do. But certainly, Gulk's got some versatility... He has a different skill set than some other guys, with the different things that he's able to do."
There isn't a ton of proven, Big Ten-level production in the room, but my opinion of the room has still improved in the opening weeks of fall camp. Sheridan seems to think that he has an every-down option in Savoury, a nice receiving option in Parachek, a blocking option in Rios, and a do-whatever-I-want option in Gulker. Whiting is also another rising young option who seems to have some good hands.
How the snaps are distributed will still be interesting to see, but it seems like Michigan State has a guy or two for whatever it needs. Wozniak's retention was an interesting vote of confidence from Pat Fitzgerald, in hindsight. He's the only guy who followed Jonathan Smith from Oregon State and is still around.
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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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