Michigan State’s best RB shows up and generates high portal sales

Note: This is the second part of a series discussing Michigan State’s position groups ahead of fall camp. Today’s position: back race

Jonathan Smith was asked to evaluate a backfield loaded with veterans in late spring training.

“I think Nate Carter is a good player,” the first-year Michigan State coach said in April. “I think that if you learn, watch him, instinctively, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. He’s outstanding.”

Smith selected the Spartans’ best runner last season, and the competition in the room quickly thinned out. Running backs Jalen Berger, Jaren Mangham and Davion Primm all entered the portal after spring practice ended, and that was after Jaelon Barbarin was taken off the roster before spring practice began. Carter is now the only scholarship player at the position returning from last year’s team.

After transferring from UConn, Carter was a workhorse for the Spartans last season but didn’t have much support around him as the offense continued to sink into the abyss. A new team, a new offense and a revamped roster could help him build on the most productive season of his college career while also leading the backfield.

Review 2023:

Former coach Mel Tucker continued to draft running backs from the portal, but couldn’t come close to Kenneth Walker III’s All-American performance in 2021. Carter and Mangham were the transfer additions to a backfield that brought back leading rusher Jalen Berger.

Carter emerged as Michigan State’s starter after fall practice. He rushed for 224 yards and four touchdowns in early-season wins over Central Michigan and Richmond before his performance dipped as the competition got tougher. Carter rushed for over 100 yards just once in his last 10 games and never reached the end zone in any of them.

Running behind a banged-up offensive line with shaky quarterback play and no real game-breaker at receiver, Carter posted career-highs of 185 carries for 798 yards and four touchdowns, along with 22 catches for 103 yards. He was the team’s only running back with more than 30 carries last season.

Berger, a former transfer from Wisconsin, and Mangham, who played at Colorado and South Florida before coming to East Lansing, were both limited by injuries, combining for just 55 carries for 174 yards in 11 games while Jordon Simmons left midseason after Tucker was fired.

With a backfield worn down by injuries and attrition, Michigan State averaged just 89.5 rushing yards per game last season, ranking 125th out of 130 teams in the country and the lowest in program history since 1947. It capped off a 35-yard drop in a season-ending loss to Penn State, the second-worst in program history.

During Tucker’s four-year tenure, the Spartans ranked 122nd, 110th and 125th nationally in the running game. The outlier was Walker, who emerged as arguably the best player, leading the team to 11 wins in 2021.

Personnel composition:

return: Nathan Carter (redshirt junior), Joseph Martinez (fifth-year senior), Chris Williams (redshirt sophomore)

New additions in 2024: Makhi Frazier, Brandon Tullis

Transfer supplement: Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams (sixth year senior)

Gone: Jalen Berger, Jaren Mangham, Davion Primm, Jordon Simmons, Harold Joiner, Jaelon Barbarin

Outlook 2024:

Smith’s pro offense has been successful on the ground in recent years as his alma mater rebuilds. The Beavers have ranked in the top 35 in the nation in the run game in three of the last four seasons, a feat Michigan State has not accomplished once since the 2014 team that broke the program’s offensive records.

After taking over the Spartans, Smith brought with him six assistant coaches from Oregon State, including offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren, offensive line coach/run game coordinator Jim Michalczik and running backs coach Keith Bhonapha. They are tasked with overhauling Michigan State’s running game, which lacked productivity and explosiveness aside from Walker’s individual excellence in 2021.

The Spartans adopted a wide zone blocking scheme in the spring and signed standout transfer center Tanner Miller from Oregon State. After spring practice ended, there was even more turnover on offense, with guard Geno VanDeMark (Alabama) and tackle Ethan Boyd (Colorado) both leaving the club. The backfield is much less crowded now, with Mangham headed to Minnesota, Primm to Morehead State and Berger still looking for a new school.

There is a lot of uncertainty about how Michigan State’s new offensive line will shape up after the loss of experience, but Carter is expected to remain the primary defender as he looks to build on the biggest workload of his career last season.

“It’s going to be growth, not just for the running backs, but for the O-line, making sure we’re both doing our jobs well so we can see those open holes and creases,” Carter said during spring practice. “The amazing thing about the wide zone is you kind of have to take it slow. That’s what Coach KB has done really well with coaching us running backs: making sure we’re really using our eyes in the run game, not just being robots like he says and just running down the field. That’s definitely an area I need to improve in, and I’m excited to see my growth in the wide zone, not just there, but in the other running schemes as we progress in spring ball.”

The Spartans have bolstered their backfield with transfer Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams, who rushed for 1,157 yards and 12 touchdowns last season at UMass and is entering his final year of eligibility. There’s also new talent in the form of Brandon Tullis and Makhi Frazier, two three-star recruits from the 2024 recruiting class. Tullis enrolled early and ran hard in the last spring practice open to the public.

Bhonapha said he typically uses two running backs – sometimes a third – and now has a pair of veterans and two rookies to choose from. An obvious approach to the early lineup would be Carter as the starter, Lynch-Adams as the top backup and either Tullis or Frazier as the bench.

The new-look backfield would clearly benefit from improved quarterback play and the Spartans are starting from scratch, led by Oregon State transfer Aidan Chiles. With the sophomore moving up from backup to starter this season, an effective running game would take some pressure off.