Michigan State Football: 3 hot takes from impressive win at Northwestern

1. Kenneth Walker III is MSU’s best running back since Le’Veon

Let me preface this by saying that this is no disrespect to Jeremy Langford because he’s one of my all-time favorite players at Michigan State and he’s one of the best in school history, but Kenneth Walker III is just that good.

The Wake Forest transfer had himself one heck of a debut at Michigan State, rushing for 264 yards and four touchdowns on 23 carries.

Normally, I’d temper my expectations and follow up a game like this with “well, it was just one game” but Walker III just has that it factor. The 264 yards was no fluke. He broke off big runs because of great offensive line play and excellent patience. He was willing to wait for holes to open up, showed speed, cuts on a dime, and strength. He finished as college football’s top Week 1 rusher and was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

Sometimes it takes a few games for a new player to get adjusted to his new team, but not Walker III. He had the game of his career and it was probably because he wasn’t splitting carries like he did at Wake Forest. All he needed was the bulk of the carries.

I don’t see this performance as a massive outlier. I think that he has all the tools to be the best running back Michigan State has seen in a decade.