On Friday evening, Michigan State landed an All-American long-snapper. LeVar Woods has already revamped the special teams in East Lansing with additions of a long-snapper, a transfer punter, a transfer kicker, and now he’s closing in on a return man.
The Spartans have several options already on the roster like Braylon Collier or Bryson Williams, but there are also some running backs who could take over return duties.
Or the Spartans could go with a transfer returner and let the players mentioned above focus on their primary positions. That would be the best-case scenario for Michigan State.
Fortunately, it seems like Woods is as good of a recruiter as he is a special teams coordinator. He’s already focused on their kicking portion of special teams, and now he’s has to find someone to help him win field position battles.
That someone could be Nebraska transfer Kenneth Williams.
The Nebraska running back/kick returner recently visited Michigan State, and now it looks like the Spartans are the favorites to land him in the portal.
Update: Nebraska Transfer KR/RB Kenneth Williams has been Predicted to MSU by Bryan Munson at a confidence percentage of 55.
— Bleed Green MSU (@BleedGreen_MSU) January 17, 2026
Williams was in East Lansing January 10th for an Official Vist. Go Green! pic.twitter.com/bSI9bKdbDr
The last time Michigan State landed a “Kenneth” who plays running back in the transfer portal, it turned out pretty well. While this Kenneth plays a different role than Kenneth Walker III did, he could still have a major impact on the offense by flipping field position.
It’s been a while since Michigan State had a consistent returner
If Michigan State can pull off this recruiting win, it would be the first time in a while that the Spartans had a legitimate return game.
Williams averaged a little over 32 yards per kickoff return in 2025 with the Cornhuskers, earning All-Big Ten second team honors as a returner. He could also play a role on offense, but it looks like he’s being pursued primarily as a return man.
Alante Brown was a solid kick returner for the Spartans, averaging 26.7 yards per return in 2024 and then an astounding 53.5 in 2025, but that was on seven total returns. Those numbers were good, but Brown was just never healthy long enough to have a legit impact on special teams — although his one touchdown in 2025 was electric.
Williams could be the Spartans’ first consistent kick returner since the Mark Dantonio era.