Michigan State Football: Going through all player “firsts” from Week 3 win

In a widely expected blowout game, Michigan State football did not disappoint. We also got the time to see player firsts, too.

In the new era of college football, people question why programs need “tune-up” games. Michigan State football had the second of those types of games in Week 3, facing off against Prairie View A&M.

Unlike this weekend, when the Spartans travel to Boston College, the question was not if MSU could pull off a victory. Instead, it was “can the Spartans cover the spread of 40.5 points?” Once MSU was up by 27 points by half, a lot of people started tuning to new games or going back to a normal Saturday. Don’t just take my word for it, my parents had came out to the game, and by the middle of the third quarter, my mother went off in search of nachos for a few minutes of game time.

Maybe it’s a byproduct of being that sicko who lost a high school football game by 83 points his sophomore year, but these blowout games stand out to me. I love seeing the players who practice just as hard as the starters getting their day in the sun. These “buy games” are also a salute to the players who are not in the headlines every Saturday. While Charles Brantley may have had two pick-sixes on the same drive this week, we won’t see the headlines of players like Andrew Brinson IV getting his first playing time at corner this week.

So, today, I am here to change that. I’m trying to mark down every player first from this week.

The players and their families live for these moments, too. Just check out the X (formerly Twitter) profiles for Michigan State football parents such as Jeff Pretzlaff (father of Brady), Cal Calcagno (father of Grant), and Mark Merritt (father of Jacob). All of their sons got to see the field for the first time, and they got the opportunity to see their sons’ hard work pay off.

Spartan Shadows presents: A day in the sun, the story of the underdogs

While the hope would’ve been to publish this after the FAU win, the pesky Owls stayed in contention the whole game, resulting in the few highs being Ken Talley recording his first career partial sack, Aidan Chiles with his first rushing touchdown as a Spartan, etc.

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

The first player I would like to highlight is redshirt freshman Caleb Gash. The defensive back was named as a scout team player of the week in each of the first two weeks of the season, and he was rewarded with a chance to play on the kickoff coverage unit to open the game against Prairie View. His first game action was wild, as he got into a bit of a skirmish post-whistle with a few of the PVAMU players.

The second player was a fellow redshirt freshman, that being Aziah Johnson. For the first time in his collegiate career, Johnson caught a touchdown pass. It was a nice one, too. Johnson caught the ball at the 10, held on through contact, and powered into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown reception. Additionally, Johnson caught a 33-yarder later in the contest and led the team in receiving for the first time. The coaches and quarterbacks spoke highly of the Virginian post-game, stating that he had a ton of talent and had done an admirable job in stepping up with fellow receivers Alante Brown and Jaron Glover (who caught his first career touchdown last week) out.

Nick Marsh, in smaller news, recorded his first career carry for eight yards on an end-around. Considering all the highlights around his 194-yard performance against Maryland, this may have been lost in the shuffle. The four-star added a few catches on Saturday, as well, after a scare with an injury.

With MSU up by 27, the bench started clearing from the second the Panthers kicked the ball to open the second half. Justin Denson Jr. was called on in kick return, his first appearance of the season. Denson played a lot of corner and safety during the spring game, and he got back in on that late in the third quarter, replacing Malik Spencer for most of the remaining game.

Offensive linemen get to eat, too

Following a scary injury to Gavin Broscious, Jonathan Smith and Co. starting subbing in the backup linemen, and five of them received their first career snaps as a result.

The first two lineman off the bench who received the most playing time where center Cooper Terpstra, a redshirt freshman, and true freshman Rakeem Johnson. Terpstra joined the team as a walk-on after being a Grand Valley State commit. In his first 24 snaps, he scored out with a 60.0 overall offensive grade via PFF.

Johnson was a player I was quite high on during the recruiting cycle. The Idaho high school player of the year came in at right tackle and scored out with a 62.0 offensive grade. Johnson was also shouted out by the coaches at the end of the game as a player that stood out during practice. Considering the injury situation to the MSU guards, Johnson might be called upon to relieve Dallas Fincher if there is any more concerns on the injury front.

The next lineman to receive his first career snaps was Jake Merritt. If you could not tell by my tweets, I was ecstatic to see Jake get his first career playing time. I was fortunate enough to get to interview him this summer, and you can check it out right here. Jake, a redshirt sophomore and former walk-on, came in at left guard and played in 12 snaps. PFF graded him out at a score of 59.7. Personally, I think that is a bit low since he had a first down run off of the hole he paved and then Tommy Schuster’s touchdown run following him.

True freshman Charlton Luniewski was the next player to get in on the action, playing in six snaps for the latter half of a touchdown drive. He graded out at 58.9. The former three-star is the twin of Mercer Luniewski, who was not active for the game. Charlton being the second true freshmen off the bench was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. It shows the hard work paying off with his first career snaps.

The last player to get their first snaps from the offensive line was Andrew, or AJ, Dennis. He is a true freshman, and a four-star from the 2024 cycle. After being on the fence during the coaching change, Dennis originally elected to take his talents to Illinois. However, he changed his mind and came back to East Lansing in time for summer practice. The Mount Pleasant native was only able to be in for the kneel down to end the game, but I doubt he minds. That is years of blood, sweat, and tears paying off for one snap. It is the first of many to come.

Also worth mentioning: redshirt freshman tight end Jaxson Wilson was in for one snap, as was wide receiver Grant Calcagno. Both are walk-ons from the last cycle, and they got rewarded for their hard work with a snap at the end of the game. Calcagno was recently named a scout team player of the week for his efforts in preparing the team for their matchup.

Defense shines, and the first-timers add to it

With the game well out of hand, a few more players got to help aid in the Michigan State football shutout of Prairie View. Kekai Burnett and Mikeshun Beeler, both true freshmen on the defensive line, got to play in their first career games on Saturday. Beeler, another Chicago-area native on the defensive interior line, was credited with his first career tackle. Burnett was credited with a tackle by the press box broadcaster but it appears stat-broadcast did not agree that the Hawaiian got a tackle.

The real star was walk-on defensive end Stone Chaney. The true freshman elected to take his talents to walk on with Michigan State football instead of a few of his FBS offers, such as Toledo, and he was a star for those who watched the end of the game. Despite only playing a series or two, the end wound up with 1.5 tackles for loss, the first of his career. Additionally, he tied the team high for the game as Michigan State finished with 10 tackles for loss.

Brady Pretzlaff was another star, as one of his first career snaps resulted in an amazing tackle for loss. Smith was quick to shoutout the true freshman in his post-game press conference, and it was clear to see why. It was also clear to see why Smith chased after Pretzlaff to get him to flip from Minnesota. He will be a star for years to come.

As mentioned in the introduction, Andrew Brinson IV, another true freshman that followed Jonathan Smith to MSU, got his first career action at corner.

A few more offensive firsts

To round out all of the firsts, there are a few more offensive players recording their first statistics to take care of. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Jack Yanachik recorded his first career offensive snaps. Yanachik just played in his first game at Maryland on the kickoff unit, and Saturday he saw the field on offense for the first time.

True freshmen Texan running backs Makhi Frazier and Brandon Tullis each recorded their first career carries, with Tullis going three carries for 13 yards and Frazier recording a touch for five yards. Frazier recently celebrated his birthday the prior Thursday, and I think Michigan State football gave him a solid present. Both players also contributed on special teams against Maryland, so this was the second career game for both. Frazier is also credited with a tackle against PVAMU, his second career tackle.

Tommy Schuster recorded his first snaps as a Spartan on Saturday, and he gave two players their first career catch. Additionally, the former North Dakota transfer had his first touchdown for MSU on a quarterback sneak. He was 8-for-10 for 97 yards.

Schuster slung the ball to Jay Coyne for a 12-yard gain, giving the fullback his first career reception. Coyne has been the closest a gridiron player can get to baseball’s “utility player” with the sophomore spending time at linebacker, on the defensive line, as the hybrid edge rusher role for Joe Rossi, and now, as a fullback. Finally, Coyne is recorded in the stat book. He played his first career game against FAU as a fullback, additionally.

Schuster also passed to Zach Gillespie twice, giving the senior and converted quarterback two catches for 16 yards. The second catch was not easy, either. Gillespie was swarmed by a Panthers defender and held on, setting up a chip shot field goal for Jonathan Kim. Quite the reward for the two-time scout team player of the week.

Speaking of special teams, Tarik Ahmetbasic is the final player to highlight. Ahmetbasic, after warming up by “juggling” a soccer ball as part of his routine pre-game, recorded his first career kickoff for a touchback and also added a PAT for his first career Spartan point.

What does all this mean?

While they are not the same as last week’s heart pounding, last-second win against Maryland, these games do mean a lot to the players. The games against teams like Prairie View A&M will never be a shutout. However, I’ve learned to love these games for the number of firsts that you can witness. This game gives us a glimpse into the future of Michigan State football, as well as rewarding players for their years of hard work to get to this point. On Saturday, it was a day for the underdog, and I’m not referring to a Prairie View A&M upset. The underdogs on our roster finally got their day in the sun.