Four weeks into what has become a forgettable start to the Pat Fitzgerald era, Michigan State is playing like a team that’s going through a massive rebuild.
The Spartans fought hard but ran out of gas against No. 3 Notre Dame on the road and then came back home to get throttled by Nebraksa, so no one really knows what team is going to come out of that tunnel every Saturday. But one thing is for certain: it’s going to be led by two of the nation’s best transfers.
That’s right, even without Cam Edwards healthy, Michigan State is fielding a team that has two of the highest-graded transfers in the country on either side of the ball.
Trent Fraley has been well-documented as one of the top centers in college football through the first month of the year but it’s the defender that’s a little more surprising. Not Kenny Soares Jr., but Eli Coenen has been dubbed one of the biggest September surprises by ESPN who named him to the all-portal team through the first month.
Coenen’s emergence along the defensive line has been a breath of fresh air on the defensive line. He’s getting after the quarterback (nine pressures and three sacks) while also plugging some holes against the run with 12 tackles. He’s been gelling nicely with Soares Jr. and Ben Roberts in the trenches.
Fraley is dominating on the other side of the ball as one grading system’s No. 1 center in the country through the first four weeks of the season.
Between Coenen and Fraley, Michigan State got two of the portal’s biggest steals and they’re turning out to be two of the best transfer additions in the country. Who would’ve thought?
Pat Fitzgerald put together a solid portal class
Although no one’s going to celebrate it after a 2-2 start, Fitzgerald pieced together what’s turning out to be a really good transfer portal class.
On paper before the season, it looked rather underwhelming, but after four weeks? Not too shabby.
Coenen and Fraley are the obvious standouts and before his season-ending injury, Edwards was one of the top running backs in the Big Ten. Then there’s Soares Jr. who has been causing havoc in the trenches, Kheanist Thompson who’s seen extended snaps on the edge, Dion Crawford and Caleb Wheatland who have both been in the regular linebacker rotation, Fred Moore who’s been Alessio Milivojevic’s third-favorite receiving target, Tre Bell who has been the team’s best corner, Devin Vaught and Michael Richard who have looked solid in the secondary, a decent offensive line haul, one of the best kickers in the country in Liam Boyd, and an elite punter (Rhys Dakin) and kick returner (Kenneth Williams).
There’s also Jaz Patterson who’s about to be the team’s RB1 and Marvis Marvis Parrish who will be his backup. Both are strong runners.
How’s that for an “underwhelming” transfer class? If only the rest of the roster was playing as well as some of these transfers.
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