Highly-touted Michigan State OT transfer returns after short portal stint

A few days after Chrishon McCray withdrew his name from the transfer portal to return to Michigan State under Pat Fitzgerald, another huge offensive talent has done the same.

Michigan State has gotten another player to withdraw from the portal and returning to East Lansing for the 2026 season, and he’s a good one.

According to reports, Michigan State is returning former four-star offensive tackle Rustin Young who entered the portal earlier this week.

Four days ago, Young announced that he’d be entering the portal and it somewhat made sense considering Nick Tabacca and Fitzgerald were heavily involved with several transfer linemen.

The Spartans landed guys like Ben Murawski and Nick Sharpe and were in serious discussions with Trent Fraley — he has since committed to MSU.

On top of that, Michigan State has also landed Robert Wright Jr. from Georgia Southern, giving the team some serious depth on the offensive line.

With Young returning, that makes it feel like five new offensive linemen coming in with the 2026 transfer class. Add that to a group that’s also returning Luka Vincic, Conner Moore, and AJ Dennis, and you can see why there’s so much excitement surrounding Tabacca’s group.

Is this the year Michigan State finally has a good OL?

We’ve heard for years that Michigan State’s offensive line was going to be one of the most improved units on the team, but for years we’ve been let down.

Chris Kapilovic started the hype train back in 2020, and after a tough first season, many believed the highly-respected offensive line coach would be able to piece together something impressive. He was in on several major offensive line recruits, but he always seemed to finish second. He never lived up to the hype and eventually wound up at Alabama after Mel Tucker was fired. There, Tide fans are calling for his job.

Then Jim Michalczik was supposed to turn things around. He helped develop some NFL players at Oregon State in the trenches, but he didn’t have the same effect at Michigan State despite adding talent over his two years.

Now, Fitzgerald and Tabacca are working overtime to make sure the trenches are a strength, and they’re off to a heck of a start.

Not only have they brought former four-stars Young and Dennis back, but they’re also returning promising veterans like Vincic and Moore. In the transfer class, Wright brings depth, Fraley was an FCS All-American at center, Murawski is a monster who blocked for the Spartans’ new RB1 (Cam Edwards) at UConn, and Sharpe is a veteran who played for Tabacca before.

This may be the year the offensive line actually lives up to the offseason hype.