The ‘25 Spartans Offense
Well Troops, we’ve made it to May – solidly into the dead season between whatever happened on the hardcourt a few weeks back and Saturday, August 30th – 114 days away (though not totally dead – we do want to shout out the Spartans Women’s Golf team which finished third in their Regional this week and will head to the NCAA Championships in a couple weekends). Anyways, it’s a perfect time for absurd speculation about the Spartan Football season ahead… well not-completely-absurd speculation.
We’ll break this into three levels each for Offense and Defense:
1. Solid expectations
2. Decent guesses, and
3. WAGs – there will be a good number of these. We’ll definitely welcome your thoughts on any/all of it.
Let’s dig into the Offense (and we’ll cover the defense in the follow-up article)
Solid Expectations (Likely 1st-stringers):
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QB1: Aiden Chiles
WR1: Nick Marsh
These two seem as close to locks as we’ve got.
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For the other two WRs – the competition appears fierce with the top candidates landing in the Decent Guesses section.
Decent Guesses (and not just Lorenzo)
The Starting O-line may be shaping up like this (in order of confidence)
OL1: Stanton Ramil – the very highly rated Left Tackle out of Alabama has grown in the program and continues to mature physically and in his leadership. In his third year (RS-Sophomore) Ramil started the last 7 games of the ‘24 season.
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OL1: Conner Moore – The 6-5 / 309 RS-Junior started the first three games at left guard and the final 13 at left tackle for Montana State who went 15-1 and reached the FCS National Championship Game. Conner was named a second-team Associated Press All-American, first-team All-Big Sky, and allowed one sack all season.
OL1: Matt Gulbin – a Grad Transfer from Wake Forest, Matt Started all 12 games (11 at left guard, one at center), earning an All-ACC honorable mention nod along the way.
OL1: Kristian Phillips – Redshirt Junior, “Big Dooley” was ranked the No. 2 offensive guard in the state of Georgia and the No. 14 OG frosh in the nation by Rivals when he came to State. He started game one last season but was unfortunately lost to injury the rest of 2024. He’s hungry to get back and has the skill to be at the top.
Dale Young-Imagn Images
OL1: Luka Vincic – The 6-5 / 307 RS-Junior transfer from Oregon State played in 10 games, starting two at Center, last season in Corvallis. The Beavers rushed for 190 yards per game last season and Luck did not allow a sack.
or
OL1: Caleb Carter – a Grad Transfer from Western Carolina, Caleb started 11 games for the Catamounts in ‘24, playing every spot across the line.
TE1: Jack Velling – If we’re only picking one Tight End, I think it’s Jack – the now-Senior had 36 catches for 411 yards and one TD for us last season.
Dale Young-Imagn Images
TE2: It feels like Brennan Paracheck (8 catches for 63 yards in ‘24) and Michael Masunas (4 for 37) will get heavy usage as well – especially given the multiple TE sets the Offense runs.
RB1/2 – without being in the room, there’s little we can reasonably determine here with high confidence. A winter conditioning coaches’ interview or two mentioned a few guys, but it’s too easy to read too much into those. I.e. Jace Clarizio has been mentioned as the real-deal despite being a true frosh, though Elijah Tau-Tolliver, a R-Sr transfer from Sacramento State who came up just short of 1000 yards last season, will get a solid look. The Texas Sophomores Makhi Frazier and Brandon Tullis should be in the mix with complementary skills.
QB2: Alessio Milivojevic might have a slight edge over Ryland Jessee, having at least seen the field last season, though he does give up two inches in height to Jessee. Leo Hannan we can guess is nipping at the pair’s heels.
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WR1: Omari Kelly is a Senior Transfer from Auburn by way of Middle Tennessee State. Last year Kelly was All-Conference USA First Team as a wide receiver and earned second team honors as a punt returner with 53 receptions, 869 receiving yards, and 4 touchdowns.
WR1: Rodney Bullard Jr. Bullard, a Grad Transfer from Division II Valdosta State had over 1,000 yards receiving last year and helped the team to the DII Championship game. Rodney might have the slimmest edge on paper over…
WR1/2: Kent State R-Jr Transfer, Chrishon McCray, both he and Bullard look to be burners who’ve helped elevate the level of speed in the room. Technically on 247, McCray’s transfer rating was 0.01 higher. Both should see the field a lot.
A little more uncertainty:
WR2: True freshman and first-team all-state player Braylon Collier had 84 catches for 1,423 yards and 25 touchdowns last season en route to the OH Division IV state championship game.
WR2: Also a true freshman, Charles Taplin out of Red Oak, TX, also brings some good speed to the field. Runs a sub-49s 400m and was part of a 4x100m relay that grabbed 6th in the state’s top division.
OL2: Ashton Lepo – The Redshirt Junior started all 12 games at right tackle for the Green & White last season. That said, the O line left a bit to be desired last year – though his experience at the right tackle spot may keep him running with the 1s.
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OL2: Gavin Broscious played in the first three games (starting vs Maryland and Prairie View A&M), before suffering season-ending injury vs. PVAM.
OL2: Rakeem Johnson you may remember starting as a true freshman at left tackle vs OSU last season.
OL2: 6-4 / 296 Rustin Young out of Honolulu was the other true freshman playing left tackle against Ohio State last season.
WAGs
WR2/3: 6th-year Alante Brown joined the Spartans from Nebraska for the 2023 season but hasn’t yet really caught fire. He’s speedy but injuries – including getting blasted on the opening play of the season, and a couple of drops – have allowed others to outshine him. It’s his last go around, it would be excellent to see him make good on the transfer excitement from when he joined.
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OL2/3: Andrew Dennis is a RS Freshman who also played against OSU. He’d originally enrolled at Illinois but transferred to MSU during the summer before last season.
OL2/3: Cooper Terpstra is a 6-4 / 312 RS-Sophomore who played snaps at Center against OSU and PVAM last season.
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OL2/3: Cole Dellinger was a four-star prospect by Rivals and ESPN coming out of high school. He didn’t see the field last season, though was also facing recovery from major injuries.
OL2/3: Mercer and Charlton Luniewski – The RS-Freshman Twins bring needed size to the line at 6-6 / 309 and 6-5 / 300. Both were well-rated out of Ohio – Mercer being the No. 58 Offensive Tackle per 247sports (Rivals (No. 70), ESPN.com (No. 73)). Charlton played the interior and ranked No. 50 nationally at the position per 247Sports and No. 76 according to ESPN.
OL2/3: Payton Stewart – Though the RS Freshman didn’t see the field last season he was rated the No. 3 player out of Washington and On3 had him as the No. 25 Offensive Tackles in the country (No.78 per 247Sports).
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Overall the offensive depth doesn’t look horrible – though there are quite a few unknowns in the RB room, and plenty of new faces among the WRs and OL who we’ll look to see step up to the level of B1G play. What say you? Which spots do you have the most confidence in and where are you most surprised?
Go Green.