Michigan State football freshman tracker, Week 1: Who played vs. WMU?

Week 1 of the 2025 season is in the books, and that means we can take a look at which Michigan State football freshmen played.

On Friday, Michigan State football took to the field for its first game of the season. Coming into the game, there was an expectation to see as many as seven or eight freshmen get their feet wet against the Western Michigan Broncos to open the year. However, only three wound up seeing the field.

For those freshmen, they are one-for-one in participating in a game during their collegiate careers.

Which freshmen made their debut against the Broncos?

Jack Wills, Long-snapper

Heading into the week, Jack Wills was a player that had received little mention of potentially playing his first career game. If I had been told Wills would play a week ago, I would expect the Spartans to hang 45-plus on the Broncos.

However, a question to Jonathan Smith on Monday started creating some buzz for the freshman. Smith revealed regular long snapper Kaden Schickel was limited in practicing, and that his replacement was Wills instead of Sam Edwards, last season’s PAT snapper after Schickel’s injury.

Wills stepped up to the plate, earning a shoutout from Jonathan Smith during his press conference.

Aydan West, DB

Aydan West saw the field on special teams first, lining up against the gunners on the punt return team. He made an immediate impact, with the freshman making a clutch block to spring Omari Kelly further on a punt return.

That paid off to the tune of action on defense during the fourth quarter. West played 16 snaps on defense on Friday, and the early returns are good. The Maryland native ranked fifth among all Spartans with pass coverage grades on PFF, being ranked at 70.4.

Derrick Simmons, DL

The second freshman to see the field was Derrick Simmons. He had been receiving hype since fall camp began, and in this case, it was all true. Simmons saw the field early and often for Michigan State football. The Frankenmuth native recorded 15 snaps against Western Michigan.

Unfortunately, the freshman did not pop up in the stat sheet. His snap count ranks sixth among all Spartan defensive lineman. In part, he benefited from senior Jalen Satchell being ruled out with an injury.

Who’s next?

The Spartans play again on Saturday, Sept. 6, hosting the Boston College Eagles. It is tough to imagine the Spartans rolling a new freshman into their cast of players currently, outside of the most likely, true freshman running back Jace Clarizio, who missed the home opener with a calf injury.

Other freshmen who have seen some love in camp, but did not play on Friday, are Cal Thrush, Braylon Collier, Jayden Savoury, and Charles Taplin.