Michigan State Football: 3 early breakout candidates for 2021 season

Spring practice is right around the corner for the Spartan football team, which is the perfect opportunity for some players to show what they are capable of.

This basketball season has not been all that fun, so let’s talk some football, shall we?

After a pandemic-shortened season that saw the Spartans go 2-5 in the shortened schedule with a road win against the then-ranked Michigan Wolverines, and a home victory over a top-15 Northwestern team, Mel Tucker showed Spartan fans that he is more than capable of bringing this program back to being a perennial Big Ten contender.

Even in a couple of the losses, it was clear to see that the philosophy and culture that Tucker is establishing in East Lansing has a great chance to work. The defense held a ranked Indiana team scoreless in the second half. They held a 21-10 lead at halftime over a Penn State team that ended the year on a hot streak.

The most impressive part about Tucker’s first year as head coach was that he found success in a thin pool of talent that he had met and started working with just months before. He and his staff got the most out of players like Rocky Lombardi and Connor Heyward, who both looked sharp in MSU’s pair of wins this past season. Lombardi has since transferred to Northern Illinois, while Heyward is in his last season of eligibility in East Lansing.

During the offseason, Tucker reworked the roster, adding a few early enrollees and transfer portal players while allowing some Mark Dantonio recruits to play elsewhere. Now that the team is starting to take shape in the way Tucker envisioned, let’s take a look at some guys who could break out this upcoming season.