Michigan State Football: 3 bold predictions for second half of 2021

The second half of Michigan State football’s 2021 season will kick off on Saturday afternoon with a battle at Indiana. If the Spartans can beat the Hoosiers, they’ll head into Michigan week undefeated and the Wolverines will also likely be 7-0 after getting Northwestern after a bye.

Mel Tucker has been fantastic this season, turning the Spartans around after a 2-5 season in 2020. We’re starting to see how well this staff can coach when they get to actually practice and meet with players — COVID-19 ruined that a year ago.

Michigan State is currently ranked in the top-10 after this scorching-hot start and shockingly in the hunt for the College Football Playoff.

It’s time to get bold ahead of the start of the season’s second half.

3. Jayden Reed, Jalen Nailor each reach 1,000 yards

Who could have guessed that through six games, both Jalen Nailor and Jayden Reed would be on pace to reach 1,000 receiving yards on the season? No Spartan receiver has hit that mark since Aaron Burbridge in 2015 and it’s only fitting that the next time a Michigan State wideout hits 1,000 yards would be in another College Football Playoff run.

Reed leads the team with 492 yards and five touchdowns on 23 catches and he had a pretty comfortable advantage over Nailor before the last two weeks, but “Speedy” has broken out in a big way. In fact, he’s accounted for over 300 yards in the past two games, including a 221-yard performance at Rutgers last week. He now has 23 catches for 490 yards and six scores.

Both guys are putting up big numbers and defenses are having a tough time covering them, especially on deep balls.

I’m going bold here and saying that both of these guys break 1,000 yards in the regular season because, well, they are matchup nightmares for secondaries.