Michigan State football: Luke Newman rated Big Ten’s No. 1 returning OT

New Michigan State football offensive lineman Luke Newman has been rated the No. 1 returning tackle in the Big Ten.

Throughout the last Michigan State football coaching regime, it was expected for the offensive line to make a major jump under the leadership of former offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic. Unfortunately, we never saw the meaningful improvement we expected during his tenure.

New MSU offensive line coach Jim Michalczik joins the program with the expectation that he will build a system for developing a football team’s most important position group. As we’ve seen with the school down the road the last two years, games are won in the trenches.

Michigan State landed a commitment this offseason from transfer offensive lineman Luke Newman from Holy Cross. The Michigan native was recently ranked as the No. 1 returning offensive tackle in the Big Ten for the upcoming year by Pro Football Focus.

Highest Graded Returning Big Ten Offensive Tackles💪 pic.twitter.com/1uwMfUAwAx

— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 30, 2024

Newman was a highly coveted FCS transfer this winter and chose to return to his home state of Michigan. Both of Newman’s parents are Michigan State alumni. The 6-foot-4, 301-pound tackle is a grad transfer after four years at Holy Cross. In 38 games, Newman earned accolades as a multi-time All-American.

Although listed as a tackle, Newman projects into a guard role in East Lansing this upcoming season. Head coach Jonathan Smith and Michalczik plan to pair the elite FCS transfer with Oregon State transfer Tanner Miller.

Between the two transfer offensive linemen, Michigan State football improves on the interior of the offensive line. It should improve the running game for returning running back Nate Carter, UMass transfer Kay’ron Lynch-Adams, and mobile quarterback Aidan Chiles.

Newman brings a ton of experience to MSU’s offensive line along with four years of development at the college level. Linemen tend to take the longest to adjust to college ball. Many need to add weight and then learn to be agile at their new sizes.

It doesn’t surprise me that Newman is ranked so high, I’m mostly curious about how his skills and experience from the FCS level will transfer to the Big Ten.