Written by: Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Hoosier Huddle’s first glance series moves on to the Old Brass Spittoon Game. The Hoosiers and Spartans have split the last four meetings and 2024 could be another close battle in November.

Week Ten: Michigan State Spartans

Date & Time: Saturday, November 2nd TBA

Venue: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI

TV: TBA

Spartans at a Glance

Head Coach: Jonathan Smith

Record at MSU: 0-0 First Season

Overall Record: 34-35 Entering Seventh Season as Head Coach

Last Season: 4-8 (2-7)

Spartans Returning Leaders

Passing: No returning players have thrown a pass

Rushing: Nate Carter–798 Yards on 185 Carries 4 Touchdowns

Receiving: Montorie Foster– 43 Catches for 576 Yards 3 Touchdowns

Tackles:– Cal Haladay(LB) 91 Tackles (41 solo), 5.5 Tackles for Loss, 1 Sack

Spartans Preseason Predictions

Athlon: 13th in the Big Ten

Lindy’s: 12th in the Big Ten

Phil Steele: T-17th in the Big Ten

SP+: 82nd Nationally

Impact Newcomers for the Spartans

Aiden Chiles, QB, Transfer from Oregon State
Jack Velling, TE, Transfer from Oregon State
D’Quon Douse, DT, Transfer from Georgia Tech

Biggest Questions Facing the Spartans

How long will the Rebuild Take?
Is Aiden Chiles the Answer at QB?
Is There Enough Talent to Compete

Program Preview

The Michigan State Spartans drop from being a Big Ten contender to missing bowl games the last two seasons has seemed sudden, but was rolling down hill for a while. The Spartans not only struggled on the field, but had to dismiss Mel Tucker for off the field issues involving explicit messages with a consultant who was brought in to educate the team on sexual assault prevention.

After going 4-8 (2-7) in 2023, MSU hired Jonathan Smith who escaped purgatory with Oregon State to come to the Big Ten. He rebuilt the Beavers program into one of the better teams in the PAC-12 the last couple years.

The Spartans suffered massive losses in the transfer portal including plenty of playmakers and every quarterback who had thrown a pass for them last season. The good news for MSU is that there are some potential stars coming in from the portal as well. The biggest being quarterback Aiden Chiles who followed Smith from Oregon State.

The Spartans schedule does them no favors early, even after leaving the Big Ten East. MSU draws Ohio State at home while having to travel to Oregon and Michigan. The non-conference slate is FAU and Prairie View A&M at home with a tricky trip to Boston College sprinkled in. The back end looks much more manageable with home dates against Indiana, Purdue and Rutgers with Illinois being the lone road game in November.

The expectation is that Smith will get things turned around in East Lansing, but there may not be enough talent or depth to get to the postseason in 2024.

Offensive Preview

Michigan State has put all their offensive eggs in the Aiden Chiles basket, which is risky considering there is not much depth behind him and he played sparingly in nine games for the Beavers as a freshman. Chiles has plenty of potential and was a big time recruit coming out of high school, but he has only thrown 35 passes in college. Last season, he completed 68.6-percent of his passes for four touchdowns and 309 yards. Chiles is also a threat with his legs scoring three times and running for 79 yards.

The Spartans will have to replace four of their five starting offensive linemen off of a unit that was middle of the pack in 2023. Left tackle Brandon Baldwin is the lone returner on the unit and he will be joined by a trio of sophomores (LG Gavin Brocious, RG Kristian Phillips and RT Ashton Lepo). Walk-on transfer Tanner Miller who has played in 40 career games at Oregon State will likely start at center. The depth is relatively thin and young with three freshmen in the two-deep along with two seniors in Dallas Fincher and Luke Newman.

The tight end position will be manned by another Oregon State transfer in former second-team All-Pac-12 player Jack Velling. Velling, who made 29 catches for over 400 yards last year, takes the place of Maliq Carr, who tormented defenses in 2023 with his size. Redshirt sophomore Michael Masunas will be the backup after getting some experience playing special teams.

Nate Carter returns to the backfield after a strong first season with the green and white running for nearly 800 yards, but the rushing offense needs improvement after finishing 125th nationally in 2023. Kay’ron Lynch-Adams joins the team after running for over 1,100 yards at UMass in 2023 and provides much needed depth and production at the position.

Like many units on the offense, the wide receiver room needs to be rebuilt. The good news for the Spartans is that they return two of their four leading receivers from 2023. The bad news is that the passing attack ranked 96th nationally. Montorie Foster, Jaron Glover and Alante Brown are a solid top three who combined for 60 catches last season. Again, the depth is young and inexperienced with sophomore Antonio Gates Jr and freshmen Nick Marsh and Aziah Johnson in the two-deep. Will it be enough to help Chiles adjust to a full-time role?

Defensive Preview

The foundation of the Spartans when they were great in the 2010’s was their defense. It has fallen off as Michigan State ranked 84th in scoring defense and 76th in total defense. The defensive line is totally new while the back end of the defense returns some really solid players.

The strength of this defense will be the linebacking group headlined by Cal Haladay who has been the heart of the defense for a long time. Jordan Hall will be his partner in the middle of the defense. The two combined for 13 tackles for loss in 2023.

Cornerback Chance Rucker and safety Malik Spencer anchor the secondary that will have two new starters in corner Charles Brantley and safety Dillion Tatum. Senior Angelo Grose is a versatile player and will start at the nickel position. Michigan State’s pass defense has been awful since 2021 ranking 130th, 86th and 86th the last three seasons. There is no depth there either with two freshmen rounding out the depth chart.

The defensive line will bring in four new starters after being picked apart in the portal. The good news is that they have five seniors in the two-deep. The biggest addition may be Georgia Tech transfer D’Quan Douse, a 300-pound defensive tackle who has 44 games of experience and 8.5 career tackles for loss. Khris Bogle will man the new rush end position with Avery Dunn opposite him. Maverick Hansen will fill out the middle of the line.

Special Teams Preview

The unit that has little turnover is special teams. MSU returns both punter Ryan Eckley and kicker Jonathan Kim. Eckley averaged 46.8 yards per punt coming off an All-Big Ten season. Kim was 13-of-18 on field goals last year and has the leg to hit from anywhere inside 60 yards. Wide receiver Alante Brown should handle the return duties.

2024 FIRST GLANCE PREVIEWS

Week One: FIU Golden Panthers

Week Two: WIU Leathernecks

Week Three: at UCLA Bruins

Week Four: Charlotte 49ers

Week Five: Maryland Terrapins

Week Six: at Northwestern Wildcats

Week Seven: Bye

Week Eight:Nebraska Cornhuskers

Week Nine: Washington Huskies