Does anyone still have eligibility left? Michigan State could use all the warm bodies that it can get.
The initial Michigan State vs Northwestern injury report was released on Wednesday and, as expected, the Spartans had over a dozen players mentioned. Unfortunately, it was over a dozen and all of them were listed as “out” already with one “questionable” tag being reserved for Charles Taplin.
Outside of Taplin being questionable, there are 14 (!!) Spartans already ruled out for Saturday’s game against the Wildcats, including some big names like Jordan Hall, Brady Pretzlaff, Tre Bell, Charles Brantley, Caleb Wheatland, Ben Murawski, and obviously Cam Edwards who’s been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Michigan State’s first availability report for Northwestern.
— Stephen Brooks (@StephenM_Brooks) October 15, 2026
Starting LT Ben Murawski is out, that’s a new one. Spartans also rule out both starting CBs, both starting LBs, among others. pic.twitter.com/ouxSaPH0qm
Seeing Bell, Hall, Wheatland, Pretzlaff, and Cam Fancher on the initial injury report isn’t much of a surprise given the fact that they’ve all been banged up this season. Seeing them all ruled “out” on Wednesday’s initial availability report is pretty shocking. The defensive backfield will be missing a couple of guys who’ve started this year, the team’s starting running back is out, and three of the team’s top four linebackers will be missing the Northwestern game.
This means that Michigan State will utilize a bit of a youth movement on Saturday.
Who is “next man up” for Michigan State?
The cornerback and linebacker positions are going to be a real concern against Northwestern and mobile former Spartan quarterback Aidan Chiles.
KJ Deriso, Jeremiah Favorite, and Andrew Brinson IV all saw cornerback snaps last week and they were the only ones who played outside of Brantley and Bell. With Keshawn Williams and Tyran Chappell both out, too, the Spartans are going to be relaying heavily on some young guys who don’t have a ton of experience under their belts.
The same goes for the linebacker spot with Hall, Wheatland, and Pretzlaff all out. Cam Stodghill has been a nice surprise lately and he’ll handle a bulk of the workload along with Dion Crawford. DiMari Malone got some snaps against Illinois and I’d expect more of DeJae White and Adam Shaw, too.
Anyone who’s been clamoring for a youth movement with the season kind of spiraling out of control and nothing to lose after this recent four-game losing streak has to be happy with the fact that the defense will see a ton reps from younger guys. Unfortunately, this is happening due to an absurd amount of injuries.
The margin for error against Northwestern is going to be paper-thin.
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