Michigan State football RBs coach Keith Bhonapha gives update on RB1 competition

Michigan State assistant head coach Keith Bhonapha looks on during the Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
Michigan State assistant head coach Keith Bhonapha looks on during the Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Entering the 2025 season, there are a few position groups that Michigan State football fans are keeping an eye on, hoping for some massive improvement.

There's the obvious one (the offensive line), there's one with plenty of promise which everyone is expecting improvement from (receiving corps), and there's another that has potential but is wildly unproven (the running backs).

On Thursday, we got a peak into the latter of the three with running backs coach Keith Bhonapha speaking to the media after practice.

Bhonapha gave an update on the running back room as a whole, saying that they didn't target a rusher in the spring portal window because the staff liked what they had, but there's still a lot of work to do, and he's hoping some guys separate themselves from the pack.

The second-year running backs coach gave an update on the competition for the starting job -- which is looking more like a running back by-committee situation -- at this point in camp.

It sounds like there's no clear lead back to this point in fall camp, but the potential is there for guys like Elijah Tau-Tolliver, who's still learning the playbook, as well as Brandon Tullis, who Bhonapha says could be a special player.

I was hoping to hear more on the Jace Clarizio front, but it doesn't seem like he's in that playing group right now because Bhonapha didn't bring him up much in Thursday's media session.

Another guy to keep an eye on is Zion Gist who came in last year as a bigger back and could surprise some people this fall. It feels like Gist, Tullis, and Tau-Tolliver are going to be the three-man rotation heading into the season, but I'd love to see a young guy like Clarizio crack into it and make some noise.

I'm still unsure of how to feel about the running back situation. This team is going to miss Nate Carter who, in my opinion, was limited during his MSU career by horrendous blocking.