EAST LANSING – With the opening of the transfer portal on April 16, a lot of changes were made to Michigan State’s roster after its Spring Showcase.
MSU head coach Jonathan Smith and his staff have been in the offseason, adding more talent to the Spartan’s roster. MSU added Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams, a senior from the University of Massachusetts. The 5-foot-10 205-pound running back rushed for 1157 yards in his 2023 tenure at Umass while rushing for 12 touchdowns on the year.
With right under five yards a carry, an experienced running back like Lynch-Adams will make an impact on the running back room for MSU, under star running back Nate Carter.
The Spartans immediately followed the three-star running back with more three-star acquisitions. The Spartans closed on North Carolina cornerback Lejond Cavazos, Cincinnati edge rusher Tyler Gillison and Arizona State cornerback Ed Woods.
Cavazos helped out the Tar Heels by adding pressure on receivers as an outside corner. He had nine unassisted tackles on the year, bringing a physical edge to the position. Cavazos will be bringing a similar edge to the new MSU regime with physical play.
With the loss of star linebacker Jacoby Windmon to the NFL, MSU looked to replace him in the transfer portal. To replace him, MSU brought in Gillison who racked up five solo tackles on the year. The 6-foot-4 242-pound rising sophomore has the size and frame to help out a previously struggling Spartan defense.
Woods had a tremendous season for the Sun Devils, helping the team with 27 solo tackles, two forced fumbles and one interception on the year. The three-star prospect out of California was ASU’s best-returning defender while also being one of the top corners in the Pac-12.
With the importance of the transfer portal, Smith and the coaching staff look to bring in as much talent as possible before the upcoming season. With defense being a large issue for MSU, a change on that side of the ball needed to be made.
With the defensive side in mind, MSU sought out and landed four defensive players and one offensive player for the offensive line.
To start the bunch, defensive lineman Jalen Satchell transferred from Old Dominion as a three-star recruit. Satchell played 11 games last season for the Monarchs, racking up 16 tackles as a starter and recorded one sack.
The rising redshirt junior comes into East Lansing adding depth to the roster, with impressive size and agility. At 300 pounds he could bring a spark to the Spartan line.
Inside linebacker Andrew Dennis, an impressive get for the Spartans, comes in as a four-star recruit from Mount Pleasant, Michigan. His commitment flipped from Illinois to MSU because of the program and being closer to home. At 6-foot-5 290 pounds, his commitment to MSU will help the program protect transfer quarterback Aidan Chiles.
With MSU landing six new transfers after the Spring Showcase, MSU closes out the spring months with three new defensive transfers: University of Miami linebacker Marcellius Pulliam, Oregon transfer Ben Roberts and Nebraska transfer Ru’Quan Buckley.
Pulliam, the three-star linebacker, saw 10 games of action as a true senior, finishing the year with one tackle and one interception. Coming out of high school, Pulliam was listed as the 23rd inside linebacker by ESPN.
He recorded 43 tackles, five tackles for loss and four sacks in his senior season. Not seeing much action in a Miami uniform, Pulliam looks to grow and cement his name in a Spartan jersey early on in the season.
Roberts had a very long and successful track record at Oregon, at 6-foot–2 and 310 pounds the redshirt sophomore saw the field four times during the 2023 season, and appeared in five games in 2022. While Roberts collected five total tackles in nine games, he recorded 48 snaps as a freshman with 31 the following season.
Coming out of the Oregon spring game, he finished with two tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack. Looking in peak condition, MSU gained a much-needed tackle to boost its pressure on defense.
MSU continued to add to the defensive line with Buckley. Buckley is a 6-foot-5 295-pound defensive lineman ranked 17th in the state of Michigan.
In Buckley’s first two years at Nebraska, he did not play a game. But in his third year as a Cornhusker, the redshirt freshman played in eight games on the defensive line in 2023, while switching to the offensive line later in the season.
With the roster changing over the last few months for MSU, dynamic players like Maliq Carr and Derrick Harmon have left the organization and new dynamic players are coming in. MSU is stacking up its roster for the first go at the regular season in the Jonathan Smith era.
