Michigan State Football: Young offensive line provides plenty of intrigue

The 2020 season is almost here and Michigan State football has plenty of questions to answer, but what does the offensive line look like?

Exciting is one word to describe the lead-up to Michigan State’s 2020 season kickoff on Oct. 24 but another good description would be uncertain.

Michigan State is entering a new era and with that comes new expectations. Gone are the must-win days of the Mark Dantonio era and approaching are the “should win” days of Mel Tucker in year one. Fans have gotten so used to expecting a contender and being let down by seven wins that they might be in for a rude awakening in a rebuilding season.

One facet of Spartan football that had fallen off over the past few years but used to be a staple of strong Dantonio era offenses is offensive line play.

Jim Bollman and Mark Staten had trouble keeping the Spartan offense relevant over the final seasons of the Dantonio era because of a faulty offensive line despite plenty of talent. There was no progression, just regression of starters. No one got better.

Enter, Chris Kapilovic.

The new offensive line coach is considered ‘one of the best in the business’ and arguably the brightest mind on that side of the ball. He was widely considered Tucker’s best offensive hire.

Kapilovic was credited with turning Colorado’s mediocre offensive line around in 2019 and he will do so again in 2020 with an even more talented MSU unit. He has plenty of pieces to work with and I don’t think people realize just how young this group is and how high the ceiling can be.

Intriguing is a word that could be used to describe Michigan State’s young line whether it’s Devontae Dobbs, JD Duplain, Nick Samac, Spencer Brown, Justin Stevens, Dallas Fincher, James Ohonba or Jacob Isaia. All of those guys are redshirt sophomores or younger, proving that the line has solid pieces for the future. All of those guys have enough talent to start.

Don’t even get me started on the veterans like Kevin Jarvis, Matt Allen, AJ Arcuri, Matt Carrick and Luke Campbell. Heck, even Jordan Reid can improve if he opts back in.

This offensive line has the pieces, it just needed the right coaching and it’s getting that with Kapilovic. This will be the biggest area of improvement in 2020.