Michigan State football is looking to open the 2025 season strong, and here are five players most likely to open the scoring.
Five short days from now, Michigan State football will kick its 2025 campaign off under the lights against Western Michigan. The Spartans enter year two under Jonathan Smith with 10 returning starters, including quarterback Aidan Chiles, tight end Jack Velling, and wide receiver Nick Marsh.
Naturally, the question facing this talent is this: who opens the scoring? Last season, if I had made an article similar, I guarantee I would have been incorrect. While the first touchdown of the game occurred via an Aidan Chiles rush, it was not the first points of the game. Defensive tackle D’Quan Douse opened the Jonathan Smith era by sacking FAU quarterback Cam Fancher in the end zone.
With my takes just as likely to spoil as anyone else’s before 2024 or this season, here are my five players likely to put Smith’s squad in the score column first on Friday night.
Honorable mentions: Rod Bullard Jr., Chrishon McCray, Jack Velling
These three Spartans all had made my list when this article was a concept, but I could not commit to either slot receiver, with the uncertainty of who WR3 will be for Michigan State football. Even assuming Chrishon McCray is healthy enough to play, I could see the Spartans letting Rod Bullard Jr. eat more if the Kent State transfer is viewed as 90 or 95 percent.
Jack Velling touchdown is a popular pick, especially on the Spartan Shadows Podcast. Just ask Zack Theis how that worked out in 2024. With Velling also nursing his way back from an undisclosed injury, and his lone touchdown coming in the final week of 2024, I settled on giving the Oregon State product an honorable mention slot.
5. Aidan Chiles
Now, this might seem low, if you assume I mean throwing the ball. This slot for an Aidan Chiles rushing touchdown. As mentioned earlier, Chiles opened the offensive scoring for the Smith era.
While this slot is lower than expected, I think a revamped offensive line gives QB1 plenty of time to throw, alongside giving the running game new life. Hopefully that means less “scramble drill” Chiles against a MAC school.
I will leave this open for a Chiles “Philly Special” receiving touchdown, as well. Courtney Hawkins cracked a joke that the California-native is fast enough to be one of his receivers in a recent press conference.
4. Brandon Tullis
Brandon Tullis, the second-year power back, is the other submission I have for a rushing touchdown on Friday night. While Tullis and fellow Texan running back Makhi Frazier appear to have won the battle to be the starting running backs for MSU, the former is the power back of the duo.
Tullis is just shy of 230 pounds, which is up a dozen pounds from his freshman campaign. If the Spartans and Brian Lindgren script a long, methodical drive, Tullis stands to benefit by punching the ball into the end zone and making the band play.
3. Tarik Ahmetbasic or Martin Connington
OK, I admit it, I cheated. I put six names on the list. Jonathan Smith has been mum about who the starting kicker will be, but a field goal to begin the season is certainly foreseeable.
Sources vary on who the starter will be, with some claiming Tarik Ahmetbasic, the walk-on kicker from Clinton Township, Mich., who scored a PAT in 2024. Others say Martin Connington, the scholarship kicker who Jonathan Smith brought with from an Oregon State pledge during the coaching transition. Regardless, slot three is reserved for a kicker.
There is a past history, too. Matt Coghlin opened the 2018 Michigan State football season with a field goal, as did Jonathan Kim in 2023.
2. Omari Kelly
Omari Kelly has been a name drawing a lot of buzz this preseason, with Courtney Hawkins calling him a great compliment to another name on this list. The Middle Tennessee State transfer only found the end zone four times with the Blue Raiders last season, but his health and ability with the football in his hands make him a threat every time he is on the field.
The Spartan receivers around Kelly add a significant boost, and make it more likely for the senior to be in single coverage to expose a defense. A breakaway touchdown is certainly doable, with the Spartans opening their season scoring with a 40-plus yard touchdown twice in the last half-decade (Germie Bernard in 2022 and Jayden Reed in 2020).
1. Nick Marsh
Now, we all knew this was coming. Nick Marsh is the player I think is most likely to open the scoring for Michigan State football this season. The second-year receiver re-wrote all the record books for freshman and true freshman receivers in 2024, and is back with a significantly improved receiving room this year.
Marsh barely saw the field in his first game last year, and that added motivation for the River Rouge High School product, as he decimated Maryland for 194 yards in the second week of the season. This year, the cat is out of the bag, and Western Michigan’s defensive backs all know how No. 6 is a threat for six each time he lines up.
Marsh also has the most size (6-foot-3) of the Spartan receivers, which makes him a likely target for a fade route into the end zone, too. Add in Marsh’s insane catch radius, and good luck to whichever defensive back draws Marsh on Friday night. They’ll need it.
