Key TE will be out for the season for Michigan State football

Michigan State football got some tough bye week news on Friday night in the form of a season-ending injury to a key offensive weapon.

According to his mom's Facebook page, Michael Masunas will miss the rest of the regular season due to a surgery he had on an injured shoulder.

Masunas was one of the surprise breakout candidates during fall camp and started the season playing pretty well as a blocking tight end and he also caught four passes for 37 yards. He played in the Spartans' first four games of the year and had at least one catch in three of them but he had been absent recently due to an injury and now it seems as if he'll miss the rest of the year after having surgery.

This is a pretty big loss because he was slowly becoming one of the surprise rising stars on the team and his rise was welcomed since the tight end position had been quiet for years.

Fortunately, Michigan State has Jack Velling as the starter and Brennan Parachek is a more than capable backup option with a bright future as well. Tyneil Hopper could also step in and compete for snaps if he needs to, but this just means that Masunas will have a medical redshirt season and he could come back in 2025 as a legit starting option at the position along with Parachek -- assuming Velling heads to the NFL.

Either way, it's good that he likely will be granted a medical redshirt (fingers crossed) and we'll have another year of his eligibility in East Lansing.

Tough loss for Michigan State, but luckily this was a position of strength and depth.