The 2026 NFL Draft kicked off on Thursday night, and if you’re a Michigan State football fan who doesn’t pat close attention to the NFL, you probably had no idea it was even happening this weekend.
The main reason for that is because Michigan State doesn’t exactly have a wealth of NFL talent headed to the draft this weekend. The Spartans haven’t made a bowl game since 2021, and you can imagine what that’s done to the number of legitimate draft prospects in East Lansing.
A lot of the best players have transferred out over the past few years and you really can’t blame them when you look at how the program carried itself from 2022-25.
Guys like Nick Marsh, Alex VanSumeren, Keon Coleman, Payton Thorne, Katin Houser, and Sam Leavitt all transferred out over the past few years and most saw more success after leaving. Heck, even Colton Hood was committed to Mel Tucker and Michigan State at one point in time and now he’s one of the top cornerbacks in the draft. While Johnathan Smith didn’t exactly develop a ton of talent, he did bring in some NFL-caliber players, including a few that could hear their names called this weekend. As for Tucker, he brought in a ton of talent, but development stopped after 2021.
The best option may or may not be a punter.
Will Michigan State have a player drafted this weekend?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: I think we’ll have to wait until late on Day 3 to have a player drafted, but this will be the last draft for the forseeable future in which a pick is even in question.
So who could be drafted? I will day that I fully expect three Spartans to go on Day 3 anywhere between rounds 5-7.
The first is offensive lineman Matt Gulbin. He was one of the best centers in college football last year and he plays with a mean streak. I think he’s going to be an absolute steal on Day 3 and the Wake Forest transfer has “future NFL starter” written all over him.
Next, I’d bet that Ryan Eckley is drafted. The talented punter with a booming leg left a year early to pursue the NFL and I doubt he’d do that unless he had a pretty good idea that he’d be drafted.
The last name that I believe could be drafted is tight end Jack Velling. The Brian Wozniak product didn’t live up to expectations in two years at Michigan State, but a lot of that had to do with the offense looking horrendous most of the time. The potential is there for Velling and I would not be shocked to see a team take a late-round flyer on him.
I see three Spartans going on Day 3.
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