Michigan State’s tight ends group, much like its offense as a whole, endured a considerable amount of changes this offseason. With the Spartans set to begin fall camp for the 2023 season this week, it will be interesting to see who steps up in the room.
As Spartans Illustrated continues to break down each of MSU's positional groups ahead of the start of the 2023 regular season, which for the Spartans, begins on Sept. 1 versus Central Michigan, we look into a position corps that has remained relatively quiet for the past few seasons: tight ends.
At the Big Ten Media Days event in Indianapolis last week, head coach Mel Tucker hinted toward the tight ends being more involved in the passing game in 2023. The Spartans added several players at the position from the transfer portal during the offseason.
"We have quite a few tight ends," Tucker said. "We added like three tight ends to our roster (through the transfer portal this offseason) and all those guys are receiving threats (in the passing game) as well. Tight end is a big part of our offense — we don't have a scheme where a tight end is not on the field.
"We look at Maliq Carr, we saw what he could do a year ago. (We have) Tyneil Hopper coming in from Boise (State), Jaylan Franklin coming in from Wisconsin and Ademola Faleye coming in from Norfolk (State), he's 6-foot-7, 245 (pounds). Those are talented guys that had good springs and they can help us in the passing game as well. So, we're not gonna leave it up to one guy, we're gonna play complementary football and everybody is just gonna to do their job."
Let's discuss the tight ends a little bit further.
State of Affairs
MSU graduated its leading receiver at the tight end position in 2022 as Daniel Barker had 21 receptions for 239 yards and two touchdowns in his final college season after transferring from Illinois. Tyler Hunt, who had 15 receptions for 98 yards, also finished his collegiate career after the 2022 season.
Now, that leaves redshirt junior Maliq Carr as the sole returning Spartan tight end with a reception at the collegiate level, coming off of a season where he eclipsed just over 200 yards on 16 catches, along with two touchdowns.
Couple that with losing last year’s leading receiver Keon Coleman (who transferred to Florida State) and 2021's leading receiver Jayden Reed (via the Green Bay Packers’ second-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft), along with two-year starting quarterback/MSU’s single-season passing touchdown record holder Payton Thorne, who made the move to Auburn, and the 2023 offense is going to look much different. MSU will inevitably have a first-year starting quarterback (likely either Noah Kim or Katin Houser) and limited playing experience at wide receiver.
Obviously, it was expected that the Spartans would have to rework aspects of their offense to account for Kenneth Walker III’s departure after the 2021 seasons, which spoke volumes in 2022. But heading into 2023, this season’s changes appear to more wide-sweeping already.
Carr is the only proven pass-catcher at the tight end spot as he is primed for his first stint in a feature role — if he earns it.
MSU also returns a pair of redshirt freshmen in Michael Masunas and Jack Nickel, but neither saw game action in 2022. Redshirt seniors Jackson Morse and Evan Morris also return. Morris, a former kicker, has appeared in 18 career games and his name was mentioned throughout the spring on more than one occasion. Morse has not yet seen game action.
But given the lack of experience in the tight ends room and under center, one would think Carr will garner the vast majority of targets at the position, and possibly even overall, in a role that should see him break 300 yards on the season. While that doesn’t appear too daunting, it’s a feat that hasn’t been done at MSU since Josiah Price last did it in 2016. Of course, for Carr — or any tight end on the roster — blocking prowess will also determine playing time.
Getting Familiar with Newcomers
Michigan State saw a solid influx of players at the position having brought in three transfers and one true freshman. All four players enrolled at MSU in January and participated in spring practice.
The Spartans’ sole incoming freshman tight end is Brennan Parachek, a four-star prospect out of the 2023 class, enrolled early after his senior season at Dexter High School last fall. He will have a chance to contribute right away, if he earns it, but does have several upperclassmen ahead of him, so it will be interesting to see if Parachek can see the field as a true freshman.
Tyneil Hopper, coming in from Boise State as a graduate transfer, also poses a legitimate case to earn a lot of reps in his final year of eligibility. Hopper recorded 22 catches for 259 yards and two touchdowns in 45 career games for the Broncos, and takes pride in his blocking.
Additionally, Ademola Faleye comes in from Norfolk State, while Jaylan Franklin joins running back Jalen Berger in their Wisconsin-MSU transfer pipeline.
Faleye recorded nine catches for 93 yards (10.3 yards per catch) and two touchdowns in 20 games at Norfolk State. Franklin had two career catches for 40 yards.
"MSU has always been one of my dream schools, so I’m extremely excited to be able to be closer to home and to have coaches and staff who know of me and where I come from," Franklin told Spartans Illustrated just after he publicly committed last December.
Tucker believes all of the transfer can contribute in the passing game if needed.
What to Watch For
Carr is a matchup problem for opponents and has a chance to have a breakout year in 2023. Standing 6-foot-5 at 255 pounds, his frame and athleticism should present a distinct challenge for opposing defenses’ second levels, a notion on display especially in MSU’s win over Wisconsin last season; Carr weaved through the secondary for 72 yards on the Spartans' longest offensive play all season.
Opposing defensive coordinators should respect Carr's ability after the catch. The former Purdue Boilermaker’s dual-sport ability came to fruition when he joined the MSU basketball roster after the Peach Bowl late in 2021. Once thought of as a factor in his decision to transfer to MSU, Carr’s basketball aspirations halted after the 2021-22 season as he did not join Tom Izzo's squad for the 2022-2023 campaign. Again, for Carr and the rest of the tight ends, blocking in the run game will be just as important to earn snaps.
The question is, outside of Carr, who is primed to step up? Last season, Hunt (372) and Barker (353) actually garnered slightly more offensive snaps than Carr (321) in a near-three-way split between the group, so there are opportunities to be had between a slew of transfers, young returners and a raw-talented freshman.
Tucker has spoken at length about the increased depth and competition throughout the whole roster. That appears to be true at tight end as well. Look for Carr, Hopper, Franklin, Faleye, Morse, Morris, Masunas, Nickel and even Parachek to all battle each other for playing time, with a few of those names likely to contribute in games offensively.
