One of the biggest pressure points on Michigan State’s offense this fall sits right at wide receiver, and Chrishon McCray is the name at the center of it.
McCray is the Spartans’ most established returning target after a 2025 season in which he played in 11 games, made five starts and caught 24 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns. He arrived from Kent State and immediately became the most proven option in a room that lost almost everything around him.
That turnover is hard to miss. Nick Marsh transferred to Indiana, Omari Kelly ran out of eligibility, Jack Velling exhausted his NCAA eligibility and Michael Masunas transferred to Texas. In other words, the bulk of last year’s production is gone, and the Spartans are left trying to sort out who fits where.
Right now, McCray looks like the clear starting slot receiver. He also looked like Alessio Milivojevic’s favorite target in April’s spring game, and he has a real chance to lead Michigan State in receiving this season. That’s why he lands at No. 7 on the ongoing “top 30 players” countdown.
The rest of the receiver group is far less settled. Charles Taplin, KK Smith, Fredrick Moore, Rodney Bullard Jr. and Samson Gash all have a path to starting at X or Z, and Michigan State rotating through that group would not be a surprise. Jameel Gardner Jr., Braylon Collier and Bryson Williams are other names to keep in mind for 2026.
Smith and Moore both bring limited but real experience from elsewhere, with 161 and 160 career receiving yards, respectively. Bullard had 119 yards for the Spartans last season and flashed with a 102-yard game against Minnesota.
Taplin finished 2025 with one catch for eight yards. Gash, a four-star recruit, is the fastest player in the room, but he’s still a true freshman.
That’s what makes McCray so important: he’s the only wideout in the group who has been through regular Power Four playing time. With that comes a heavy burden. He’s going to draw attention from defenses and be asked to carry a major part of MSU’s passing game.
There are reasons to think he can handle it. The arrival of offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan matters here. Sheridan was Alabama’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before taking the MSU job, and he also called plays for the Crimson Tide in 2024.
The Germie Bernard example fits the conversation. Bernard broke out in 2024 under Sheridan, jumping from 29.9 receiving yards per game at Washington in 2023 to 61.1 yards per game at Alabama the next season after following Kalen DeBoer and Sheridan. Pro Football Focus credited Bernard with 367 slot snaps and 354 snaps out wide that year, and he had mostly been a slot receiver at Washington in 2023 and at Michigan State in 2022.
Sheridan’s background with quarterbacks also adds another layer. He has worked with first-round picks Michael Penix Jr. and Ty Simpson, along with future NFL draft picks Jalen Milroe, Joshua Dobbs and Mike White. Quarterbacks coach John McNulty also brings extensive NFL experience.
Michigan State has not had a quarterback drafted since Connor Cook in 2016, and the hope is that Sheridan can help change that. Milivojevic’s timeline as a redshirt sophomore is longer than McCray’s as a fifth-year senior, but his four starts last season gave a glimpse of what the connection can look like.
McCray’s best game of 2025 came with Milivojevic throwing him the ball. In the penultimate game of the season against Iowa, he caught six passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Both scores came in the third quarter, with the first coming on a 45-yard deep ball and the second on a 6-yard contested catch in the corner of the end zone.
His first touchdown of the season, and the only one with Aidan Chiles at quarterback, came against USC. That score came in the first quarter and covered 42 yards. Even though slot receivers usually do most of their damage underneath, McCray has shown he can get behind a defense and turn a play into something explosive.
He’s also done this before. McCray was the leading receiver at Kent State in both 2023 and 2024.
In 2023, he posted 41 catches, 610 receiving yards and four touchdowns. The following season, he finished with 40 catches, 705 yards and nine touchdowns.
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