Michigan State Football: Ranking the position groups heading into 2020

Oct 26, 2019; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Rocky Lombardi (12) and Michigan State Spartans quarterback Brian Lewerke (14) take the field prior to a game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports /

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Michigan State’s center Nick Samac calls out to teammates before a snap during the third quarter on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. 191109 Msu Ill 190a /

5. Offensive Line

There’s not a position group on the team that I’m more head-scratchingly optimistic about than the offensive line and that’s for two reasons: young talent and Chris Kapilovic.

Michigan State’s line has been bad for years, there’s no doubt about that, but the Spartans have plenty of talent on the line and it seemed to have been mismanaged by the previous coaching staff under Jim Bollman and Mark Staten. There’s a reason there was a coaching staff shuffle under Mark Dantonio and those two guys didn’t live up to their end of the bargain in the final couple of seasons.

The line might end up being one of the top groups on the team by the end of the year, so No. 5 might seem low now, but I would not be shocked to see it in the top three.

Just look at the young talent on the roster: JD Duplain, Nick Samac, Devontae Dobbs, Spencer Brown, Dallas Fincher, James Ohonba and Jacob Isaia. And the veteran talent isn’t too shabby either with Matt Allen, Kevin Jarvis, Matt Carrick, Luke Campbell, Blake Bueter, Mustafa Khaleefah and AJ Arcuri.

This unit has the pieces to be in the top half of the conference’s offensive lines and I think Kapilovic will have these guys rolling this year.

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