The Michigan State football<\/a> offensive line depth was a concern coming into the year. That concern became an emergency in the first four games.<\/span><\/p>\n Redshirt sophomore Kristian \u2018Big Dooley\u2019 Phillips won the right guard spot in fall camp but went down with a season-ending injury against FAU. Fellow sophomore <\/span>Gavin Broscious was the next man up. He played great on the road against Maryland and then proceeded to go down with a season-ending injury against Prairie View A&M.<\/span><\/p>\n At this point, the staff had to get creative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n They decided to slide left tackle Brandon Baldwin over to guard and start redshirt freshman Stanton Ramil at tackle. <\/span>Then Ramil went down with an undisclosed injury. <\/span>Where does the offensive line go from there?<\/span><\/p>\n Enter true freshman offensive lineman Rakeem Johnson from the great potato state of Idaho.<\/p>\n Instead of moving Baldwin back to tackle, Michigan State offensive line coach Jim Michalczik chose to keep him at guard and give the true freshman the nod at left tackle. <\/span><\/p>\n Here was MSU\u2019s starting offensive line against Ohio State:<\/span><\/p>\n RT: Ashton Lepo Why is this significant?<\/em><\/p>\n To put things in perspective for you, this staff thinks so highly of Johnson that they chose to take the true freshman who had been on campus for four months out of his natural position and start him against the No. 3 team in the country so he could face projected NFL first-round draft picks Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau.<\/span><\/p>\n Oh yeah, and he stood his ground.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t believe me? Let\u2019s ask Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith:<\/p>\n Smith on freshmen playing against OSU: "(Justin) Denson's going to be playing." Thought he played well against the Buckeyes.<\/p>\n "Like how Rakeem (Johnson) and Rustin (Young) battled out there against a really good defensive line."<\/p>\n — SpartanMag.com (@TheSpartanMag) September 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n<\/span>RG: Brandon Baldwin
\n<\/span>C: Tanner Miller
\n<\/span>LG: Luke Newman
\n<\/span>LT: Rakeem Johnson<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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