When it rains, it pours. And if raining was a handful of recruits entering the portal before Wednesday, Michigan State football is currently experiencing a hurricane.
The Spartans have lost well over a dozen players to the transfer portal on Wednesday afternoon, and some position groups have been hit harder than others. The receiver room as well as the tight end position have been ravaged, but the offensive line isn’t too far behind.
In fact, the Spartans have lost Justin Bell, Kristian Phillips, Cole Dellinger, and a couple of freshmen on Wednesday alone.
Redshirt freshmen twins Mercer and Charlton Luniewski have reportedly entered the transfer portal, making it now five offensive linemen to enter the portal in the same day.
Michigan State OL Mercer and Charlton Luniewski are entering the transfer portal, their rep @IamClint_C tells @On3sports.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) December 31, 2025
The redshirt freshmen have three years of eligibility remaining. Mercer is a 6-foot-6, 320-pound OL and Charlton is 6-foot-5, 307 pounds.… pic.twitter.com/GHmgjggAt9
The Luniewski twins were recruited by Mel Tucker and committed the summer before he was fired, and decided to stick around under Jonathan Smith. The pair of three-stars from the 2024 class decided to keep their commitment and play for the new head coach from Oregon State, but after Pat Fitzgerald was hired, they decided it was time to move on.
It also helped that they hadn’t really cracked the regular playing rotation on a pretty mediocre offensive line.
While this won’t hurt the Spartans a ton in 2026, it will affect the depth which puts a lot more pressure on Fitzgerald and new offensive line coach Nick Tabacca to find more in the transfer portal.
Michigan State’s offensive line could use a shake-up
Honestly, I’m not too mad about the losses that Michigan State suffered on Wednesday on the offensive line. The group was one of the most disappointing position groups on a 4-8 team, and it’s probably worth hitting the reset button on.
Sure, I’d love to see Tabacca and Fitzgerald retain guys like Rustin Young, Conner Moore, Stanton Ramil, and Luka Vincic after AJ Dennis already announced his return.
Losing players from arguably the worst position group on the team can only help, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Fitzgerald go immediately working on the portal on Jan. 2 for some replacements — Dylan Senda, anyone?
Fitzgerald has his work cut out for him.