After some transfer portal departures during the offseason from the running back position group, the 2024 Michigan State football team will be leaning on redshirt junior Nate Carter to potentially have a big season for the Spartans' offense. Carter will pair with UMass transfer Kay'ron Lynch Adams to lead MSU's backfield.

On the heels of a 2023 campaign where Carter rushed for 798 yards and four touchdowns, he said at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis on Wednesday that he has confidence in Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren, assistant head coach/co-special teams coordinator/running backs coach Keith Bhonapha and the rest of the offensive staff to allow him to succeed and potentially take the next step in his game during the 2024 season.

"I have a lot of confidence in Coach Smith and his offense," Carter said. "Even this spring, it's been great to just be able to learn a new offense and seeing myself in how I can be successful in this offense has given me a lot of confidence. I think it's giving the team a lot of confidence to see the success we have offensively. And we're going to work real hard in the fall so that we can be able to perform and execute when the season comes around."

A big part in whether the MSU offense can turn in a successful campaign will likely fall in the hands of sophomore transfer quarterback Aidan Chiles, who followed coach Smith to MSU from Oregon State.

Even at just 18 years old, Carter said he loves Chiles' energy and believes he has great potential to help lead the Spartans' offense this season.

"I've seen him be a leader," Carter said. "For someone to be so young and to be 18 years old, but to (also) be so mature to be a leader for our offense is huge. He's a great guy to hang around with. He's a funny, goofy guy. Every time I see him, he has a smile on his face. That's the type of guy you want around your program and that's the type of guy you want to lead your offense."

Carter transferred to Michigan State from Connecticut ahead of the 2023 season. In the offseason, following the coaching staff change, it probably would have been easy for Carter to hit the transfer portal again himself and get a fresh start elsewhere, but his loyalty to the Green and White extends beyond just the football field. He explained why he stayed in East Lansing even with a new regime taking over the program.

"I love Michigan State," Carter said. "I tell people all the time, especially when I talk to high school kids, 'You want to go to a school you would love even if you weren't playing that sport.' For me, Michigan State is that school. I love it here, I love the culture here. I love the family atmosphere here. If I wasn't playing football here, I would want to stay here. I would love for my (future) kids to go here. I just love this school in general, and I stayed not because of the football aspect, but because I love what Michigan State is."

Many MSU players have been asked by the media if the Smith era feels like a "fresh start," as the current players on the roster who played on prior Spartan teams haven't experienced a ton of winning in their careers up to this point.

In that, Carter and his teammates are excited for the new era and are hungry to improve at the same time, but would have that same mentality regardless of if the program would have made a coaching change or not.

"I'd say really every season is a fresh start," Carter noted. "We don't look back at last season and go, 'Oh man,' and kind of just ponder on that. We have to look toward the future, and our goal is to look toward the future. Whether that's with a new coaching staff or with the same coaching staff. Whatever it is, every single year is a new start. So, what can we do this season to grow and be better than what we were last year?"

Carter added that it seems like there is a different feel around the program heading into this season, saying the group is very hungry for success and to get back on the winning track as a program.

"If I could describe the way the team is feeling right now, (it) would be hungry," Carter said. "I feel like we're hungry for more, we're hungry to win, we're hungry to improve, we're hungry to prove people wrong. And that's good for us, because we're able to be hungry — now, what do we do with this appetite? Now, what are we able to do to achieve this hunger that's inside of us? We have to do that by winning games, we have to do that by working hard and grinding each and every day and taking it a day at a time and a game at a time."

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