Michigan State’s new starting rush end brings a little bit of everything to the table, and that’s exactly why Kenny Soares Jr. lands at No. 8 on the Spartans’ top-30 countdown.
Soares is the only player on MSU’s roster who has already spent a season with Pat Fitzgerald as his head coach, dating back to his true freshman year at Northwestern in 2022. That was Fitzgerald’s final season in charge there, and now the two are back together in East Lansing. This time, Soares arrives with a chance to be one of Michigan State’s most important defenders.
What makes him such an interesting fit is the position change. Soares has been listed as a linebacker throughout his college career, including at Northwestern in 2024 and NC State in 2025, where he spent more time as an inside linebacker than an outside one.
Michigan State, though, has him on the roster as an EDGE, with the more exact label being rush end in Joe Rossi’s defense. It’s a role that sits between linebacker and defensive end, and Soares figures to line up on the weak side edge in a stand-up pass-rushing spot.
That move comes with some intrigue because the sack numbers don’t jump off the page. Soares has only 3.0 sacks in his career, including just a half-sack last season at NC State. But he was productive in other ways, piling up 80 tackles in 2025, which ranked second on the Wolfpack.
The surprising part for some observers may be that Michigan State chose Soares for that rush-end role instead of Dion Crawford. The Buffalo transfer brought 8.5 sacks in 2024 and 3.5 more in 2025, but the Spartans appear set to use him as the other starting linebacker alongside Jordan Hall.
Soares did get real work as a pass-rusher at NC State, even if it was often in the form of blitzes. According to PFF, he logged 124 pass-rushing snaps among 656 total defensive opportunities in 2025. The site gave him a 68.7 pass-rushing grade, along with 11 quarterback hurries and 14 pressures.
Michigan State should be able to ease some of that burden. Anelu Lafaele is the other notable rush end on the roster, and he likely would have been the Spartans’ top sack producer last season if not for the season-ending injury he suffered in the fifth game against Nebraska. Before that injury, he played 68 defensive snaps, and 60 of them came either as a pass-rusher or in coverage.
That kind of limited usage suggests Michigan State needs a more complete player in the role, and Soares fits that description. His linebacker background should help him hold up against the run, and Rossi and rush ends coach Andrew Bindelglass clearly saw enough on tape to trust him with a bigger job, even if the counting stats aren’t flashy.
By the standards of the transfer portal, Soares is one of Michigan State’s better pickups this offseason. On3 ranked him 410th overall in the portal and 29th among linebackers, while 247Sports had him at No. 970 overall and 59th at linebacker. With the position switch, those rankings only tell part of the story.
Across 41 college games - 28 at Northwestern and 13 at NC State - Soares has totaled 137 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, two fumble recoveries and five pass breakups.
This season could also mark the first time he’s in a full-time starting role from opening day through the end of the year. He has started games before - three in 2023, five in 2024 and eight in 2025 - but he has never held down a job wire-to-wire. Last year was his longest stretch, with those eight starts coming over NC State’s final eight games at middle linebacker.
For Michigan State, the early part of the season will be about how the snaps are divided between Soares and Lafaele. But Soares should get the bigger share because he’s the more complete option.
And if the Spartans need him to slide back into linebacker duty in a pinch, that’s on the table too. The room has depth with Hall, Crawford, Caleb Wheatland, Brady Pretzlaff and others, but Soares gives them another emergency option if injuries start to stack up.
Back when he was a recruit, Soares was a 3-star prospect from New Canaan, Conn., and the 247Sports Composite ranked him 748th overall in the class of 2022. He chose Northwestern over offers from Colorado, Indiana and Maryland.
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