Michigan State is entering its final week of fall camp and Pat Fitzgerald’s first Spartan team isn’t lacking in storylines.
There are still several position battles to sort out, some depth chart spots open, and some star players aiming to live up to the massive hype (Cam Edwards comes to mind). Michigan State is one of the more interesting Power Four teams entering the season probably because no one is expecting the Spartans to do anything in 2026.
Having no expectations isn’t the worst thing in the world for Fitzgerald, but again, he still has some depth chart decisions to make.
Here are my three boldest depth chart projections before the season kicks off.
1. Bryson Williams starts
A player who is flying under the radar a little bit but won’t for much longer is Bryson Williams. The redshirt freshman receiver already has problematic size for defenders at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds. He sounds like a hybrid tight end almost, but he’s athletic and has been included in darn near every highlight video that Michigan State has put out during fall camp.
With his size and athleticism and the fact that no one has stepped up as the team’s second or third receiver behind Chrishon McCray, it’s apparent that he’s going to be the guy to do so.
Williams is going to start this season and jump ahead of guys like Fredrick Moore and KK Smith simply because he’s a highlight waiting to happen. He’s going to become one of Michigan State’s fan favorites this season because he’ll be known for incredible highlights.
Buy stock now.
Note: This is assuming Rod Bullard Jr. isn’t deemed eligible by the opener.
2. Kayd Coffman becomes QB2
This might be the boldest prediction on the list, and that’s because it’s already assumed that FAU transfer Cam Fancher or redshirt freshman Leo Hannan are going to be the backup to Alessio Milivojevic this season. But don’t sleep on the true freshman from East Kentwood.
Fancher doesn’t quite have the arm to be a reliable QB2 and Hannan has potential, but Coffman has all the tools and he was one of my favorite recruits in the 2026 class.
This is just a gut feeling, but Coffman will take over as QB2 and get some run in garbage time by the end of the season.
3. Brady Pretzlaff steals a starting job at some point
All aboard the Brady Pretzlaff hype train before it leaves the station. This is your final warning and there have been several nudges to hop on the hype train but they’ve seemingly been ignored.
Big mistake.
Pretzlaff was praised by Joe Rossi early in fall camp and he said that the redshirt sophomore is further along now than he was before his season-ending injury last year. He also said that Pretzlaff is going to play a ton, but it just depends on where. Honestly, that has to be taken as “he’s basically a starter”.
He’s not quite locked in to a starting job yet and while many believe that will be designated to guys like Cam Stodghill, Dion Crawford, or Caleb Wheatland alongside Jordan Hall, Pretzlaff is going to slide into a starting role at some point this season and never look back.
Pretzlaff is the future at linebacker.
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