Michigan State’s defense may have found the kind of tone-setter it’s been missing, and his name is Kenny Soares Jr.
Pat Fitzgerald didn’t arrive in East Lansing with a roster of familiar faces in tow, but he did have a few former Northwestern players he could reach back out to after spending three years away from FBS coaching. Soares was one of them. The three-star linebacker from Fitzgerald’s 2022 recruiting class has already made the journey from Northwestern to NC State and now to Michigan State, where he’s reunited with the coach who started his college career.
The early read from inside the program is simple: he fits.
Soares has been described as one of the most talented players on the defense, and he’s also earned the kind of respect that shows up in a team vote. He was named “The Spartan,” a sign that he’s already made himself part of the fabric of this group. Veteran cornerback Charles Brantley may have put it best through Fitzgerald’s words: “Chuck Brantley told me 'this kid is the most competitive I've ever seen.'”
That edge matters for a defense that, by Joe Rossi’s account, has needed more players with that kind of fire. Since Mark Dantonio retired, Michigan State has had stretches where toughness showed up in spots, with Jordan Hall and Jacoby Windmon standing out as examples.
But having multiple players with that mentality on the field at the same time has been rare. Hall and Soares together gives the unit a different kind of backbone, and if that group also includes players like Nikai Martinez and Brantley, the Spartans could finally have a defense built around toughness.
Soares has already started to make that presence felt in fall camp, and the staff is clearly encouraged by what it’s seeing.
The timing is good, too, because Soares is entering his final season of college football coming off a strong 2025 run at NC State. He was solid at Northwestern from 2023 to 2024, posting 57 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks. Then came the breakout with the Wolfpack, where he finished with 80 tackles, four tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks.
Now Michigan State is asking him to do something a little different. He’s moving into an edge-rushing role after playing linebacker before, and that should put him in position to boost both his sack total and his tackles for loss. He’ll also be the first No. 1 wearer of the Fitzgerald era, another sign of how central he’s expected to be.
All of that adds up to a player the Spartans believe can be a real problem for opposing offenses. With the praise already coming from teammates and coaches, Soares looks poised for a big year, one that could land him in All-Big Ten territory. The expectation around him is clear: he should be Michigan State’s top pass rusher, and his speed and athleticism are supposed to create havoc.
The projection is straightforward from there. Soares should finish with more than 10 tackles for loss and somewhere between 5 and 10 sacks this season.
In Other News...
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Michigan States rising optimism around its young core got a little louder this week when Jeremy Fears Jr. took issue with a recent ranking of the top 30 sophomore players in college basketball. The list left out Cam Ward and Jordan Scott, two Spartans who are expected to play major roles this season and who have already built a case as potential All-Big Ten-caliber talents heading into their second year.
Ward and Scott each showed enough as freshmen to keep the Spartans breakout buzz from sounding like empty offseason talk, and their next step could shape how high this team climbs. Fears public criticism only added another layer to the conversation around Michigan States depth and upside, especially with so much attention now turning to what those two sophomores can become in East Lansing. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State May Be Getting A Huge Brady Pretzlaff Boost
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That matters for a linebacker room still sorting out its pecking order. Jordan Hall remains a central piece, but the Spartans also have several transfers and younger players competing for roles, which makes any meaningful rise from Pretzlaff particularly important. If he can turn this progress into a reliable presence on the field, Michigan States defense could get a much-needed boost from a player who still has plenty of runway left. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Needs More From Derrick Simmons Than Hype This Year
Michigan State is counting on Derrick Simmons to be more than a former recruiting win this season, because the defensive tackle room has some real turnover and the Spartans need younger bodies to settle in fast. Simmons arrived with plenty of pedigree as a four-star prospect, but his first year was mostly about learning the jump from high school to Big Ten football and adjusting to the speed, strength and physical demands that come with it.
Now a sophomore, Simmons has already made the kind of body transformation the staff wanted to see, and the expectation is that hell finally be part of the weekly conversation up front. He is projected to fit into the tackle mix with Ben Roberts and Eli Coenen, and for Michigan State the question is no longer whether he belongs in the rotation, but how quickly he can turn promise into production. [Read more 🡒]