Michigan State was incredibly busy with in the winter transfer portal window at the wide receiver position. MSU’s only returning wide receivers with a catch last season are star sophomore Nick Marsh and sixth-year senior Alante Brown. Everyone else either graduated or left via the portal.

As a result, the Spartans added four players at the position over the winter All four provide something, whether that be big-play ability, speed, youth or otherwise. That means that Michigan State’s new-look receiving corps’ potential has become substantial.

MSU also had two freshmen who enrolled early at the wide receiver position and are currently participating in spring practices: three-star prospects Braylon Collier and Charles Taplin.

“Each one of these guys have their special, own, individual talent,” MSU wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins said Tuesday. “The one thing with building a receiver room is — I kind of look at it like a basketball team. You want to have a point guard, you want to have a shooting guard, you need a power forward, you need a center. So we needed different pieces to kind of balance the room out and that’s what we went out and did.”

One big thing about the group is that many of the transfers have the potential to stick around for at least two years. Michigan State starting quarterback Aidan Chiles has two years of eligibility remaining if he wants it, Marsh has to play two more seasons of college football before he is eligible to enter the NFL Draft, and three of MSU’s four portal additions have multiple seasons of eligibility left, as well.

After a disappointing 5-7 season in 2024, that growing bond could be one piece in the coaching staff’s plan to get Michigan State football back to where they imagine it should be.

“Nobody wanted to be home in December (after missing a bowl game),” Hawkins said. “It was great to be with our families, but not really.”

Perhaps the most heralded new wide receiver for MSU is former Kent State wideout Chrishon McCray. One of the guys that still has two more years to burn, McCray caught 40 passes for 705 yards in 2024 despite being on the worst team in the FBS and one of the sole focuses for opposing defenses.

The Golden Flashes scored just 21 offensive touchdowns last season. Nine of them were McCray’s.

“I’m definitely looking forward to having the ball spread,” McCray said. “I think being around a group of receivers that’s really talented as we are, it ultimately makes everyone better around us. Iron sharpens iron in our room — we compete.”