Michigan State’s 2026 season is going to lean hard on a handful of transfer-driven pairings, and the Spartans are banking on those combinations to steady a roster with 62 new players on it.
That’s why so much attention falls on the rush end spot, where NC State transfer Kenny Soares Jr. and returnee Anelu Lafaele could give Michigan State a real jolt off the edge. Soares, who is converting from linebacker, earned the team’s No. 1 jersey after teammates voted him as “The Spartan.”
His career sack total sits at 3.0, but the staff clearly likes what it has seen from him as a rusher. At NC State, he was initially supposed to move to EDGE, only for the Wolfpack to shift him back to linebacker after injuries hit.
Lafaele brings a different kind of intrigue. He transferred in from Wisconsin and played only 68 total defensive snaps in his first year with the program, but he still managed a pair of sacks and a forced fumble. He also would have been Michigan State’s sack leader if injury hadn’t cut his season short in the fifth game against Nebraska.
"That's another guy where you gotta put a rope around him, and you gotta hold that guy back," defensive coordinator Joe Rossi said when I asked about Lafaele this past Monday. "He's been great.
Haven't had a worry. He's going a thousand miles an hour...
I'm excited to have him back. He was flashing, doing some good things for us last year, was injured, kind of a freak thing.
We're happy to have him back."
That edge pairing matters because Michigan State has been searching for answers in the pass rush. The Spartans finished with 22 sacks last season, tied for the third-fewest in the Big Ten, and no one on the roster topped 2.5. The year before, they had only 19 sacks, including a rough six-game stretch without one.
The secondary also gets a major transfer makeover, and the two starting corners are both newcomers through the portal. Charles Brantley is the headliner.
Michigan State brought him back after he left for Miami (FL) following a strong 2024 season, but Brantley appeared in only three games for the Hurricanes. That allowed him to redshirt and re-enter the portal.
Tre Bell gives the Spartans another proven piece. He started eight games at Iowa State last season and picked off two passes, a strong follow-up to three years at FCS Lindenwood when he had never been a full-time starter. That jump says plenty about the work cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat did with him in Ames.
Michigan State’s secondary needed the help. Without Brantley last year - and with starting safety Nikai Martinez out for most of the season - the Spartans gave up 231.3 passing yards per game in 2025, which ranked 92nd in the FBS. By contrast, when Brantley was on the field, along with a workable CB2 in Ed Woods and Martinez, Michigan State’s pass defense finished 46th in the FBS at 206.9 yards per game even with a brutal pass rush in 2024.
That makes the Brantley-Bell pairing especially important in a rebuild. Rossi is looking for the best season yet from Brantley, and Bell’s steady rise gives Michigan State another reason to feel better about the back end.
The backfield has its own transfer duo worth watching. UConn transfer Cam Edwards and Western Kentucky transfer Marvis Parrish could be part of a four-man rotation that also includes Iowa transfer Jaziun Patterson and Brandon Tullis.
Edwards has been the clear RB1 since committing to Michigan State in the winter. His 1,240 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns last year are production no one else in the room can match. Parrish appears to be pushing into the No. 2 role, and he brings a very different résumé.
He was one of the favorite transfer additions during the winter, and he now has four years of eligibility again because of the NCAA’s new 5-in-5 rule. Parrish posted 779 scrimmage yards as a true freshman at Western Kentucky last season, with 576 on the ground and 203 as a receiver.
Pat Fitzgerald pointed to Parrish at the start of fall camp as a player who transformed his body over the offseason. He is listed at 209 pounds on Michigan State’s roster, up from the 196-pound frame he carried at Western Kentucky last year.
In Other News...
Michigan State Has A Real Chance To Reset Everything Under Pat Fitzgerald
Michigan State enters 2026 with a different feel around the program, and Pat Fitzgerald brings the kind of reputation that can change the tone quickly. His teams have long been associated with discipline and structure, and the Spartans will lean on a defense that already has some recognizable pieces in Jordan Hall, Kenny Soares Jr. and Charles Brantley while trying to build enough steadiness on the other side of the ball to matter in the Big Ten race.
There is at least a path here to something better than a typical transition year, with Alessio Milivojevic at quarterback and Cam Edwards part of the offensive foundation. The ceiling is not hard to imagine if the pieces settle in, but the real question is whether Fitzgerald can turn that promise into a group capable of hanging around the league's better teams and making Oregon and Washington feel reachable instead of aspirational. [Read more 🡒]
Pat Fitzgerald Era Puts Michigan State's Breakout Candidates In Focus
Michigan States roster enters Pat Fitzgeralds first season with a different kind of spotlight, one that falls as much on the next wave of contributors as it does on the familiar names. The Spartans have pieces in place from both the returning group and the transfer market, with Alessio Milivojevic expected to handle the quarterback job and Cam Edwards in line to be the lead back after arriving from UConn. Around them, the staff is sorting out how the rest of the offense and defense fit together as the new era takes shape.
What makes the upcoming months especially interesting is how many players could be positioned to take a jump if the pieces click early. Receiver Chrishon McCray and linebacker Jordan Hall are among the established contributors who can help steady things, while Anelu Lafaele is one of the names drawing breakout buzz as Michigan State looks for impact beyond the obvious starters. For a program starting fresh under Fitzgerald, the real intrigue may come from which of those candidates turns promise into production once the season begins. [Read more 🡒]
Mark Dantonios Presence Around Michigan State Says Plenty About This Era
Mark Dantonio has been around Michigan State football enough this offseason to remind people that even in retirement, some voices still carry real weight in East Lansing. The former Spartans coach has been spending time with Pat Fitzgeralds program and recently spoke to the team, a sign that his connection to the school and its football culture remains intact long after his own sideline days ended.
For Fitzgerald, having Dantonio around is more than a ceremonial touchpoint. The relationship between the two is described as respectful and beneficial, with Dantonio offering advice and motivation while backing the current leadership. In a program that has long valued continuity and identity, his presence says plenty about the kind of standards Michigan State still wants around its football operation. [Read more 🡒]