Things will look different for Michigan State football this season, and the changes won’t stop with the new head coach and the revamped roster. The real shift should show up in how the Spartans play the game.
On offense, the clearest expectation is a move toward a run-heavy identity. That has less to do with the coordinator switch from Brian Lindgren to Nick Sheridan and more to do with what Michigan State has available.
The Spartans are working with a quarterback situation that is still unproven, even if Alessio Milivojevic turned some heads in his four starts last fall. He may surprise again, but Michigan State probably isn’t built to let it fly every snap right now.
The ground game, though, has real pieces. Michigan State has at least four backs who should see work, and the headliner is UConn transfer Cam Edwards, who rushed for 1,240 yards and 15 touchdowns a year ago. The room also includes Marvis Parrish, who was Western Kentucky’s RB1 last season, Jaziun Patterson, who was Iowa’s RB2, and Brandon Tullis, who spent much of the 2025 season as MSU’s RB2.
That should pair well with an offensive line that has some real run-blocking ability. Ben Murawski stands out most among the additions. His 86.4 run-blocking grade on PFF ranked fifth among all offensive tackles in the FBS last year, and Edwards averaged 8.0 yards per carry when running into either gap next to Murawski at UConn.
The challenge for the Spartans is keeping that approach from becoming too easy to defend. Losing teams usually have to throw more often, and if Michigan State can stay close in games, that should help prevent the offense from getting stuck in a predictable groove.
There should also be a little more creativity built into the playbook. The offense under Lindgren never really felt especially inventive, and Michigan State didn’t seem to use many trick plays over the last two seasons.
Sheridan is expected to open things up some, even if it doesn’t turn into anything close to what the Detroit Lions do with Ben Johnson. The more likely change is extra misdirection and some oddball wrinkles.
That sort of stuff figures to run through tight end Carson Gulker. He’s the kind of player who can force a defense to spend extra time in meetings because of everything he can do.
Gulker played quarterback, running back, and tight end at different points in his career at Ferris State, so it’s a safe bet he’ll get a chance to throw at some point this season. He should also have a role as an H-back and as a pass catcher at tight end.
Defensively, the biggest adjustment may be subtler since Joe Rossi is back at coordinator. Still, one change to watch is whether Michigan State gets more aggressive on the back end.
That will depend a lot on the pass rush. The Spartans haven’t been strong there for a few years, though they did tie for 10th in the Big Ten with 16 sacks during conference play last season. There’s some reason for optimism if rush ends Kenny Soares Jr. and Anelu Lafaele, defensive end Keahnist Thompson, and linebackers Jordan Hall, Caleb Wheatland, and Dion Crawford can help create more pressure.
If that happens, Michigan State’s secondary has a chance to make plays. The projected starting defensive backs - Charles Brantley, Tre Bell, Michael Richard, Nikai Martinez, and Devin Vaught - give Rossi some ball-hawk options. Bell is the only one in that group who hasn’t already had a three-interception season, and he still picked off two passes last year at Iowa State.
Takeaways are the other number Michigan State has to improve. Last season’s team finished with just nine, tied for the sixth-fewest in the country. With a secondary that has playmaking ability, Rossi may be more willing to gamble a bit more this year in hopes of changing that.
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