With preseason practice starting on July 30 for the Michigan State football team, msuspartans.com takes a look at the position breakdown on offense for the Spartans.
Michigan State will have a new look at quarterback in 2024 with five new additions to the QB room.
Sophomore Aidan Chiles, the No. 2 transfer portal quarterback in the nation and eighth-best player overall in the transfer portal, according to 247Sports, gained valuable experience in a backup role at Oregon State last season, while sixth-year graduate transfer Tommy Schuster comes to East Lansing for his last season of eligibility after starting 42 games at North Dakota. MSU signed two freshmen to NLIs in December – Alessio Milivojevic and Ryland Jessee – and they both arrived on campus in January; redshirt freshman Atticus Carridine joined the team in the summer. Aidan Chiles transferred to Michigan State in January 2024 and went through spring practice with the Spartans. Chiles was ranked the No. 2 quarterback and the No. 8 player overall in the transfer portal by 247Sports.
Although he played behind DJ Uiagalelei at Oregon State, Chiles still played 100 snaps at quarterback in meaningful situations for the Beavers and completed 68.6 percent (24-for-35) of his passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He also had a net gain of 79 yards on the ground on 17 carries, including three TDs. Chiles was a consensus four-star prospect in the Class of 2023 and rated one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the nation coming out of high school by 247Sports. The Long Beach, California, native is entering his second year under Jonathan Smith and Brian Lindgren and continued to gain experience in the offensive system during spring practice.
Schuster played high school at Chippewa Valley in Macomb Township, Michigan, and led the Big Reds to the state title as a senior in 2018 while being named the AP Player of the Year in the state of Michigan. He played five seasons (2019-23) at North Dakota and holds school career records for passing yards (9,075), passing completions (843) and touchdown passes (63). Schuster started the last 42 games of his UND career at quarterback and appeared in a total of 45 games for the Fighting Hawks, completing 67 percent of his passes (843-for-1,252) for 9,075 yards and 63 touchdowns during his time in Grand Forks. Redshirt junior running back Nathan Carter led Michigan State in rushing yards (798) and carries (185) in 2023 while starting in all 12 games for the Spartans.
Michigan State returns its top rusher from last season as redshirt junior Nathan Carter ranked eighth in the Big Ten with a career-high 798 yards (66.5 ypg) while ranking third in the conference with 185 carries. Carter, who started all 12 games, also had a career-high 22 receptions for 103 yards. Playing in his first season for the Spartans, the UConn transfer had three 100-yard rushing games and led the team with four rushing touchdowns. He has rushed for 1,781 yards on 375 carries in his 28-game collegiate career (16 at UConn from 2021-22; 12 at MSU in 2023).
In addition to Carter, the Spartans brought in Kay'ron Lynch-Adams during the summer, a transfer from UMass who rushed for a career-high 1,157 yards and 12 TDs last season for the Minutemen. Lynch-Adams, who has a wealth of experience with 48 collegiate games under his belt at both Rutgers (2019-20) and UMass (2021-23), has rushed for 1,888 yards and 16 TDs in his career.
Joseph Martinez (R-Sr.) and Chris Williams (R-So.) also return and add depth in the backfield. Jay Coyne (R-So.), who played defensive end his first two seasons and earned his first letter in 2023, is making the position change to fullback in preseason camp.
MSU signed two running backs to NLIs in the Class of 2024: Makhi Frazier (McKinney, Texas) and early enrollee Brandon Tullis (Frisco, Texas). Freshman Jaxon McCaig (Plymouth, Mich.) also joined the team in the summer.
Assistant head coach Keith Bhonapha, who is also the team's co-special teams coordinator, is in his first season as the program's running backs coach.
Montorie Foster Jr. had a career-best three touchdown receptions last season for MSU, including this 29-yard TD in the win at Indiana.
►Letterwinners lost (5):
• Sebastian Brown (1L, 3 games)
• Christian Fitzpatrick (3L, 12 games/2 starts, 18 catches, 252 yards, 14.0 avg., 21.0 ypg, 1 TD)
• Tyrell Henry (12 games/3 starts, 24 catches, 195 yards, 8.1 avg., 16.3 ypg, 3 TDs)
• Nick Hunter (1L)
• Tre Mosley (4L, 8 games/7 starts, 28 catches, 288 yards, 10.3 avg., 36.0 ypg, 2 TDs)
The Spartans are returning four letterwinners, including three players with multiple games of starting experience, under fifth-year wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins.
The group is headlined by fifth-year graduate senior Montorie Foster Jr., who led the team in receptions (43), receiving yards (576) and touchdown catches (3) last season, all of which were career highs for the Cleveland, Ohio, native. Foster has 62 career catches for 838 yards and five TDs in 42 games.
Fifth-year senior Alante Brown, who earned his first Spartan letter in 2023 after transferring from Nebraska, started three games last season while catching three passes for 27 yards. Redshirt sophomore Jaron Glover started five of the first eight games before getting sidelined the last month of the season with an injury; he had 14 grabs for 261 yards for an average of 18.6 yards per catch as a redshirt freshman. Promising redshirt sophomore Antonio Gates Jr. (five catches for 82 yards) also returns for the Spartans.
The Spartans welcomed early enrollee and consensus four-star prospect Nick Marsh to the room in January, who looks to provide an immediate impact in his first season in East Lansing. Austin Clay signed an NLI in December and Jaylan Brown signed an NLI in February; both joined the program over the summer, in addition to freshman Dyson Sims and sophomore transfer Shawn Foster (Hope College).
First-year offensive line coach Jim Michalczik inherits an offensive line with nine players returning, three incoming transfers and a strong recruiting class of five signees. One of the top offensive line coaches in the country, Michalczik has more than 30 years of experience at both the collegiate and NFL levels. He has mentored 15 NFL Draft picks, including 2024 first-round left tackle Taliese Fuaga from Oregon State, and the Beavers were one of 12 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award in 2023.
Among the four returning letterwinners, fifth-year senior Brandon Baldwin has the most experience. He started 10 games at left tackle last fall and has started 15 games at the position the past two seasons for the Spartans.
Along the interior, the Spartans lost multi-year starters J.D. Duplain (left guard; 47 career starts) and Nick Samac (center; 32 career starts) to graduation. Fifth-year senior Dallas Fincher did start twice at center last season and has earned letters the past two years.
Sixth-year transfer Tanner Miller, who played for Michalczik at Oregon State, earned second-team All-America honors from ESPN.com and first-team All-Pac-12 accolades at guard for the Beavers in 2023. He started 10 games at right guard and three at center for an offensive line that was named a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award. Miller spent five seasons at Oregon State (2019-23), playing in a total of 40 career games with 14 starts. He primarily spent spring practice at center for the Spartans.
MSU also welcomed in transfers Luke Newman (Holy Cross) and Andrew Dennis (Illinois) during the summer. A two-time FCS All-American at left tackle, Newman finished his career at Holy Cross starting 37 consecutive games at left tackle and was also a three-time All-Patriot League First Team honoree. Dennis, a four-star prospect in the Class of 2024, enrolled early at Illinois in the spring semester, but transferred to Michigan State with four seasons of eligibility remaining.
Redshirt sophomores Ashton Lepo (tackle) and Kristian Phillips (guard) both earned their first letters at MSU in 2023 and continued to build on that experience with valuable reps during spring practice.
Cole Dellinger and Stanton Ramil, who both redshirted in their first season in East Lansing last year, will also compete for time in the playing rotation.
Redshirt sophomore Gavin Broscious, who has battled injuries that have kept him off the field his first two seasons, also returns for the Spartans, in addition to Jacob Merritt (R-So.) and Cooper Terpstra (R-Fr.).
The Spartans are also welcoming in five signees to the offensive line, including twins Charlton and Mercer Luniewski (Cincinnati, Ohio), who enrolled for the spring semester. Rakeem Johnson (Boise, Idaho), Payton Stewart (Kelso, Washington) and Rustin Young (Honolulu, Hawai'i) joined the program in the summer, along with Kyler Brunan (Traverse City, Mich.) and Hayden Lorius (Brighton, Mich.). Junior tight end Jack Velling competed in spring practice after transferring from Oregon State. Velling set an OSU single-season record for a tight end with eight receiving touchdowns in 2023.
Michigan State brings back four players and welcomes transfer Jack Velling to the tight end group in 2024 under first-year coach Brian Wozniak.
A second-team All-Pac-12 honoree at Oregon State last season, Velling set an OSU single-season record for most touchdowns by a tight end with eight, a total that also tied for the most by a tight end in the FBS in 2023. He had 29 catches for 438 yards overall in 12 games, including 11 starts.
Sophomore Brennan Parachek saw his playing time increase throughout the season last fall and he finished with six receptions for 55 yards as a true freshman. Redshirt sophomore Michael Masunas earned his first letter last year and will compete for playing time, alsong with redshirt junior Ademola Faleye, who redshirted in 2023 after transferring from Norfolk State.
Tyneil Hopper also returns for the Spartans after getting a seventh year of eligibility from the NCAA. Hopper transferred to MSU from Boise State last year, but suffered a season-ending injury in Week 3 against Washington.
Wyatt Hook signed a National Letter of Intent with Michigan State in December and arrived on campus over the summer in addition to Charlie Baker. Reeves Taylor also joined the team in the summer after spending the 2023 season at Ventura College.
