Michigan State football names Practice Squad Players of the Week for Nebraska matchup

On Thursday, as is tradition, Jonathan Smith named the practice squad players of the week before Michigan State football takes on Nebraska. This comes after a bye week, where Jonathan Smith revealed that the preparation for the Cornhuskers started last Thursday.

This means that the five players who impressed Smith had an extra two practices to really leave their mark.

Who stood out on Michigan State football’s practice squad?

The five Spartans being awarded are:

• WR Nick Hardy (Fr.)
• OL Antonio Johnson (Fr.)
• TE Wyatt Hook (RS-Fr.)
• DB George Mullins (Fr.)
• DL Mikeshun Beeler (RS-Fr.)

On offense, two of the final Spartan commits from the 2025 class, Nick Hardy and Antonio Johnson, won the honors amongst their first year with the squad. This is the second time Johnson has received the honor, joining his efforts prior to week three against Youngstown State. Hardy was a preferred walk-on, committing to the Spartans shortly after early signing day last season. It is worth mentioning he has yet to dress for a Spartan home game, but his time may be coming if he continues to impress coaches like he has.

Wyatt Hook redshirted last season, and he receives the accolade for the first time in his career. Hook has been dressed for every home game this season so far, but has yet to make his Spartan debut. He also did not make the travel roster for the last away game, against USC.

Defensively, George Mullins is receiving his first award during his freshman season. The early enrollee has yet to make his debut for Michigan State football, as is the case for most freshman. Additionally, he has yet to dress for a home game. However, as noted with Hardy, impressing the coaches will go a long way towards his cause. It is worth noting that Johnson dressed for his first game after earning a player of the week honor.

Mikeshun Beeler receives the award for the second time this season, joining the honor from week two, prior to Boston College. Beeler also earned this honor once as a freshman. He made his season debut for the Spartans against Youngstown State, but did not make travel roster last game. However, with the news that the staff is weighing the options of having Derrick Simmons take a redshirt year, Beeler is a player that stands to benefit from the decision to hold out the four-star from Frankenmuth. To date, he is the only player to play a snap on offense or defense to not travel with the roster to USC (barring injury). It appears Beeler took that to heart and proved it on the field.

The Spartans will be taking on Nebraska on Saturday at 4 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.