MSU Spring
the skill set to be a star, but that’s only part of it.
Chiles has spent his first few months in East Lansing getting to know his teammates. He’s taken the offensive line out for a fancy steak dinner and worked with the receiving corps. But getting everyone on the offense on the same page won’t happen in a month.
Wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins said the process of Chiles building chemistry with his offensive weapons, including returners Montorie Foster Jr., Alante Brown and Antonio Gates Jr., remains a work in progress.
“There’s been flashes.
There’s days where we do some really good things, and then there’s days where you can see where he’s thinking, we’re thinking, maybe we’re not on the same page,” Hawkins said. “But I think every single day this spring we’ve gotten better. It’s gotten better, guys are understanding the offense better and playing faster.”
Saturday is only a check-in and Hawkins noted that chemistry will continue to develop over the summer as guys get additional reps.
Transfers and early enrollees
Saturday will mark the first opportunity for fans to get a look at some of the Spartans’ 20 newcomers.
Michigan State welcomed
11 transfers, including three players who followed Smith from Oregon State, as well as nine early enrollees this spring.
Some of the more notable roster additions happened in the quarterback and linebacker rooms.
After all four scholarship quarterbacks transferred out at the end of last season, Michigan State signed two transfers — Chiles and veteran Tommy Schuster (North Dakota) — and added Ryland Jessee and Alessio Milivojevic to the 2024 freshman class.
All four of those aforementioned players have been on campus since January and have spent the past five weeks getting reps in the new system.
As for linebackers, Michigan State bolstered the
group with the addition of veteran transfers Jordan Turner from Wisconsin and Wayne Matthews III from Old Dominion. The Spartans also managed to flip freshman Brady Pretzlaff from Minnesota while also welcoming back a healthy Darius Snow, Jordan Hall and Cal Haladay.
Other newcomers to look out for include freshman wideout Nick Marsh and twin offensive linemen Charles and Mercer Luniewski.
The run game
It shouldn’t be hard for Michigan State’s hopefully improved run game to outdo what little damage it did on the ground last season. The Spartan averaged just 89.5 yards on the ground per game, the fifth-lowest average in FBS,
setting quite a low bar.
It didn’t help that Jalen Berger and Jaren Mangham had injuries, leaving little depth behind UConn transfer Nathan Carter. The offensive line also had its issues.
But Jim Michalczik has been brought in to help fix the Spartans’ abysmal run game.
Overall fan interest
While the players are rejuvenated and the coaches are excited, Saturday should be telling on how the fans will feel about everything that’s happened over the past few months. The Smith hiring seemed to get a stamp of approval from the fan base when it happened, but how many will brave the chilly weather to get a first look at what he’s cooking?