Post-portal roster, analysis: Pat Fitzgerald remade Michigan State roster in Year 1
The Spartans will be a drastically different looking football team come fall, largely based on the glut of new players in the program.
Note: This is the fourth of five stories digging into the makeup and changes of the rosters of the five FBS teams in Michigan. The publicly posted rosters — if available — are largely accurate but incomplete, and this series will compile from those, signing and transfer class announcements, and other available info to put together a fairly comprehensive breakdown for each team.
Read about Western Michigan here, Eastern Michigan here and Central Michigan here. And you can read about Michigan here.
Michigan State took on a big transfer class in 2026. That will not be the case every year if Pat Fitzgerald has his way.
The Spartans want to be a program where development is king, and that means recruiting and retaining high schoolers, not adding a glut of transfers. But in Year 1, along with 53 returning players, Fitzgerald brought in a glut of new faces via the transfer portal as well as signing a robust freshman class.
MSU has some notable returners at key spots, namely quarterback and middle linebacker, but needed a major infusion of new talent to upgrade the roster and fill the gaps left by departures. Things will look very different in the running back room, at linebacker, on the defensive front and in the secondary.
It all sets up for Fitzgerald and Co. to, ideally, microwave some success in Year 1 with a roster composed of some veterans via the portal as the years-long project to get MSU football atop the Big Ten grinds forward.
The team
Quarterback (5): Alessio Milivojevic is the presumed starter coming back, finishing out the 2025 campaign with a solid run of starts for Michigan State. The new staff brought in UCF transfer Cam Fancher as depth and a veteran in a room that otherwise is very young. Along with Milivojevic, who is a redshirt sophomore in 2026, the Spartans return Leo Hannan, who is a year younger, and signed true freshmen Kayd Coffman and Peyton Babbitt.
Running back (10, plus a fullback): This group goes to 11 players if fullback Jay Coyne counts here instead of at tight end. In terms of pure tailbacks, Brandon Tullis is the top returner for an MSU backfield that will likely feature a number of transfers. Cam Edwards is the likely leader of the cadre of incoming transfer, but Jaziun Patterson, Marvis Parrish and Kenneth Williams could all crack a spot in the rotation. Zion Gist and Jace Clarizio are two other returners who could make impacts in the backfield. MSU also signed one freshman, Cedric Williams Jr.
Wide receiver (14): Chrishon McCray and Rod Bullard are the two receivers returning from the 2025 team that managed to play significant snaps in green and white. There’s an intriguing group of second-year receivers in Bryson Williams, Braylon Collier and Charles Taplin, too. A pair of wideouts transferring in from rivals, KK Smith from Notre Dame and Fredrick Moore from Michigan, will be factors in the room, too. And of the four freshmen wideouts MSU has signed, Detroit Catholic Central prospect Samson Gash has a chance to make an immediate impact.
Tight end (7): Coyne could also count here, as mentioned above. In terms of fully fledged tight ends, Brennan Parachek and Kai Rios popped up in moments in 2025 and could step into bigger roles this year. Jayden Savoury is an interesting second-year player who came to East Lansing with plenty of hype out of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. Ferris State transfer Carson Gulker is a true wildcard here. He was a multi-positional playmaker for the Bulldogs and fits the cliched “football player” archetype. He’ll be useful. MSU also signed two freshmen tight ends.
Offensive line (16): How the offensive line shapes up is one of the more intriguing storylines for Michigan State in the build up to the 2026 season. The Spartans bring back a number of linemen who started or played significantly in 2026: Conner Moore, Rakeem Johnson and Rustin Young have played notable snaps and a healthy Luka Vincic should factor in, as well. And MSU went to the portal to ensure it has options, bringing in Ben Murawski, Nick Sharpe, Robert Wright Jr. and Trent Fraley. Fraley, a center from North Dakota State, is the son of Detroit Lions offensive line coach and former NFL player Hank Fraley. From the array of returning players and transfers, Michigan State is betting on assembling an improved line from a year ago. The Spartans also inked five freshmen in the class.
Defensive line (8): Ben Roberts, Mikeshun Beeler and Derrick Simmons are the three returnees on the defensive line for MSU. Simmons is a high-upside prospect aiming for a sophomore leap and Roberts started in 2025 for MSU prior to an injury in October. Toledo transfer Carlos Hazelwood and Illinois transfer Eli Coenen will fill out the room and serve in the rotation. MSU also signed a trio of freshmen on the defensive line, and one or more could end up cracking into the rotation.
Edge (9): Isaac Smith, Anelu Lafaele and Kekai Burnett are back for the Spartans and represent a bulk of the returning edge production of the six players coming back. The room is broadly quite young, so adding two redshirt seniors among three transfers infuses some veteran presence in Keahnist Thompson and Kenny Soares Jr., with redshirt sophomore Trey Lisle the third addition at edge. Jumps in 2026 from Cal Thrush or Luke DeJager, two younger returning players, could supercharge this unit if the transfers also hit. MSU didn’t sign any freshmen at edge, but could end up moving a linebacker or defensive linemen to the position at some future date.
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Andrew Graham
Andrew Graham
Linebacker (11): Retaining Jordan Hall might’ve been the biggest early win of the Pat Fitzgerald Era in East Lansing. The rising senior linebacker is the emotional center of the defense in a lot of ways and toughed it through various injuries to be on the field through the balance of the 2025 season. He’s easily the top returner for a unit that will count on some transfers or youth to step up. Younger linebackers who are coming back like DiMari Malone, DeJae White or Brady Pretzlaff could be answers to fill spots, as could one of the three transfers MSU signed: Caleb Wheatland, Cam Stodghill and Dion Crawford. MSU also signed two freshmen linebackers.
Cornerback (11): NiJhay Burt, Andrew Brinson IV and Keshawn Williams are the only three Spartans back listed at cornerback returning from 2025. MSU did add a familiar name in reuniting with Chuck Brantley, a transfer from Miami who previously played at MSU under Mel Tucker and had the game-sealing interception against Michigan in 2021. Fellow transfers Tre Bell and Tyran Chappell could just as well start for the Spartans this fall. MSU also signed five freshmen, including TJ Umenyiora, son of NFL defensive end and two-time Super Bowl champion Osi Umenyiora.
Safety/defensive back (13): Michigan State has three players listed as defensive backs without a specific positional designation: Khalil Majeed, Dorian Davis and Nikai Martinez. Martinez played safety primarily and the other two have been largely reserves and special teams. As for players listed at safety, MSU has 10 in total, four returners and six newcomers. The returning safeties have one start at the position between them, so it will likely be some combination of Martinez and the three transfers — Devin Vaught, Michael Richard and Trevaughn Martinez — holding down the safety spots. MSU also signed a trio of freshmen at safety.
Specialists (7): MSU needs a new punter and kicker with Ryan Eckley off to the NFL and Martin Connington transferring. Tarik Ahmetbasic returns as a kicker and will compete with transfer Liam Boyd and freshman Stephen Gonzalez. Punters Rhys Dakin and Alex Weeks transferred in and one will take that job over. Transfer long snapper Nick Duzansky is the favorite to take on that role, with MSU signing freshmen Trey Serauskis as the other long snapper on the roster.
Superlatives
Top returner: LB Jordan Hall
Hall ekes this out over Milivojevic in large part due to service time. Milivojevic emerged late last year and certainly established his credibility as someone who can lead this MSU team. But Hall has been the anchor, spine or whatever analogy you want to use for Michigan State’s defense in recent years. He wore the green dot in 2025. And MSU frankly lost more on defense to graduation and the portal than it did on offense. And having someone who is practically a coach on the field at this point should give some edge to a defense with a lot of new.
- Honorable mention: QB Alessio Milivojevic
Top addition: CB Tre Bell
Bell follows position coach Hank Poteat to East Lansing from Ames, Iowa. And at Iowa State, Bell showed the goods after an up transfer from Lindenwood. He had two interceptions in 2025 as a junior, along with four tackles for loss and four passes defensed. He had 36 total tackles as the 6-foot-2, 205 pound Bell can ideally be a big-bodied bully outside for the Spartans in a league with no shortage of elite receiving talent, while not sacrificing the physicality to get down and play the run.
- HM: RB Cam Edwards
Instant impact: C Trent Fraley
MSU needs a new starting center. Trent Fraley is a center with starting experience. And don’t be scared off by the FCS playing history, as North Dakota State has been a powerhouse at that level, is moving up to FBS, and has consistently competed against and often beat FBS programs. Plus, NFL legacies tend to know their way around a football field. Fraley projects to be a high-floor option in the middle of the MSU offensive line to fill a major need for this regime’s inaugural team. Perhaps Dan Campbell makes it out to an MSU football game, too.
- HM: OL Ben Murawski
Up transfer primed to shine: TE/ATH Carson Gulker
Officially listed as a tight end, it would not be a surprise to see Gulker get deployed in something akin to the role Taysom Hill played for years with the New Orleans Saints, where it’s about getting the ball in his hands and letting a big, strong, fast athlete go to work. Gulker comes from Division II Ferris State where he played some quarterback and just generally as an offensive weapon. His role at MSU might not involve any passing, but it’s certainly a card the coaching staff can keep up their sleeves for a player who will surely be involved in the offense as a blocker, a mover and a weapon with the ball in his hands.
- HM: S Devin Vaught
