Kenneth Walker III keeps turning Sundays into his personal highlight reel, and he did it again against a familiar face. The former Michigan State star went over 100 yards for the second straight week, and this one came with Jim Harbaugh on the other sideline.
Walker has now done this twice against Harbaugh-coached teams. The first time came in 2021, when he hung five touchdowns on Harbaugh’s Wolverines.
On Sunday, he added two more. In two career games against Harbaugh, Walker has piled up 325 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
Harbaugh may have to send Walker a Father’s Day card next June.
Jaden Akins is also finding plenty of attention, just in a different league and a different city. The Grand Rapids native, who was a G-League All-Star with the Motor City Cruise a year ago, is building momentum with the Knicks in New York. His preseason play has quickly turned heads, and Knicks fans are starting to talk about him like a guy who could stick in the regular rotation.
The word around New York has been simple: Akins is a walking bucket. He’s on a two-way deal, but he’s quietly pushing his way toward a bigger role with the defending world champs this season.
Back in East Lansing, the football program is still trying to steady itself after a fifth straight loss, and Pat Fitzgerald and his staff are clearly searching for answers. But the losing streak didn’t keep recruiting from having a strong weekend.
Fitzgerald brought several top 2028 and 2029 prospects to campus, and they got a long look at the program before the Spartans found a fresh way to lose after leading for 59 minutes. Even so, the visitors came away sounding upbeat about what they saw.
“Michigan State is a special place.”
2028 four-star LB Allen Kennett V, the No. 165 prospect nationally, said he was impressed by MSU's fight against Northwestern and by his relationships with Max Bullough and Pat Fitzgerald.
Another visitor, Austin Phillips, also had praise for the atmosphere in East Lansing and thanked Bullough and Fitzgerald for having him up. He noted that he is currently the only 2029 prospect to have an offer, something he said meant a lot. The weekend featured several recruits who met and spent time with Fitzgerald and left impressed with the program despite the result on the field.
In Other News...
Michigan State Has 3 Big Roster Questions Against UConn
Michigan State gets a useful early measuring stick when it hosts UConn at Breslin Center in a preseason exhibition, and the Spartans have a few roster questions worth watching long before the games count. Freshman center Ethan Taylor, sophomore Cam Ward and freshman two-guard Jasiah Jervis all stand out as players who could shape how this team looks once the 2026-27 season arrives, with each bringing a different kind of intrigue after what they have already shown.
For Tom Izzo, this is less about the final score than about what the rotation starts to reveal. Taylors presence inside, Wards sophomore leap and Jervis fit on the perimeter all give Michigan State something to evaluate against a high-level opponent, and UConn should provide a real stress test for where those pieces stand. The Spartans will leave the exhibition with answers, but probably not all of them. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State May Finally Have The Defensive Front Fans Wanted
Michigan States defensive front looked more like the unit fans had been waiting for in the win over Northwestern, with several players drawing strong Pro Football Focus grades and the group showing the kind of disruption that had been missing at times earlier in the season. Under recently hired coach Winston DeLattiboudere, the line has taken noticeable steps forward, and the Spartans are seeing a blend of veteran presence and younger pieces start to come together.
What makes the performance matter is that it did not feel like a one-game outlier so much as another sign of a room that is being developed the right way. The staff has been encouraged by the progress up front, and with that mix of experience and growth, Michigan State may be closer to having the defensive line it has been trying to build for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Has One Costly Problem It Can't Keep Wasting
Alessio Milivojevic gave Michigan State a little bit of everything in the loss to Northwestern, and that has become part of the problem for a team trying to stop the slide. Pat Fitzgerald pointed to the quarterbacks touchdown passes as proof the offense can still find answers, but he also noted the missed opportunities that left the Spartans with too much wasted potential in a game they needed to squeeze for everything it was worth.
Now comes UCLA, a matchup that adds another layer of uncertainty with backup Ty Dieffenbach having recently started because of an injury to the Bruins starter. Fitzgerald offered his read on both quarterbacks as Michigan State turns the page, but the larger issue remains the same: the Spartans cannot keep letting usable chances slip away and expect a losing streak to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]