Justin Stevens and Marcel Lewis opt-out of the 2020 season

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Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker/ Photo Credit: Michigan State Athletic Communications

Nathan Stearns, Football Beat Reporter

EAST LANSING- The dominoes keep falling for Michigan State.

Marcel Lewis, a redshirt freshman linebacker, and Justin Stevens became the third and fourth Spartans to opt-out of the 2020 football season. Experienced starters Jacob Panasiuk and Jordan Reed were the first two Spartans to opt-out.

Lewis appeared in three games last season (Rutgers, Maryland, Wake Forest) on special teams, which preserved his redshirt eligibility. He was a three-star recruit out of Chippewa Valley High School in Clinton Township, Michigan. Lewis also helped lead the Big Reds to a 31-30 state championship victory over Clarkston in 2018.  Overall, Lewis was a two-time first-team Associated Press All-State Selection for Division 1-2 and a two-time Detroit Free Press Dream Team honoree.

 

True freshman Justin Stevens announced he would also be sitting out for MSU this season. The 6-foot-5 offensive lineman was rated as the second-best offensive tackle in Ontario, according to ESPN. Stevens, a Mississauga Clarkson Football North alum, was rated as a three-star recruit by 247Sports. According to 247, Stevens is “a tall prospect who has filled in and gotten thicker over his high school years.” Despite being a bit raw, he is categorized as a player who “would need to develop more quickness if he is to play left tackle, but can certainly handle the right side or may even be a guard given his run-blocking.

With Lewis and Stevens, in addition to Reed and Panasiuk opting out, the Spartans’ 2020 roster currently sits at 117 available players.