Michigan State football: Realistic post-spring expectations for 2024

Spring ball is in the books and the transfer window is closed so what are the updated expectations for Michigan State football?

The Spring Showcase marked the end of Michigan State football action until August. The Spartans closed spring ball on a sour note, losing guys like Simeon Barrow, Jaden Mangham, Geno VanDeMark, and Derrick Harmon to the transfer portal.

Those tough losses were followed up by much-needed portal acquisitions like Ed Woods, Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams, Andrew Dennis, Marcellius Pulliam, Jalen Satchell, Ru’Quan Buckley, Tyler Gillison, Lejond Cavazos, Ben Roberts, Nikai Martinez, Jeremiah Hughes, and Semaj Bridgeman. It’s been impressive to see Jonathan Smith hit the portal hard to address major needs in his first offseason with Michigan State.

Prior to spring ball, expectations were set for the Spartans to flirt with a bowl game and now that the roster has changed even more, what should we expect for Michigan State in 2024?

Vegas has dropped the over/under for wins for the Spartans to 4.5 which is a little surprising, but they did lose four starters from last year’s team to the portal and even more depth pieces. But they did add a handful of transfers who will likely start and be some of the best players on the team in 2024. Overall, the portal was a net positive for Michigan State and the roster got better after spring ball, in my opinion.

Before spring started, I would’ve said Michigan State looked like a 5-7 or 6-6 team, at best. It could flirt with seven wins, but that would require the Spartans to win every 50/50 toss-up game.

Now that we’ve gotten a look at the team during the Spring Showcase (namely Nick Marsh and Aidan Chiles), it feels like this team is going to be much better than originally anticipated. The team looked well-coached and focused on getting better.

So what’s a realistic expectation for 2024 now that spring ball is over? Looking at the schedule, I’d say a 3-1 start is likely. The Spartans will beat Florida Atlantic and Prairie View A&M and split Boston College and Maryland road games. They’ll lose the next two against Ohio State and at Oregon before a bye. MSU will come out of the bye to beat Iowa before losing at Michigan and beating Indiana before another bye. Sitting at 5-4, Michigan State will close out the year with a 2-1 mark against Illinois, Purdue, and Rutgers. Heck, it could even go 3-0.

Realistically, this team should go 7-5, especially after seeing all the impactful transfer additions (No. 11 transfer class in the nation) and Marsh and Chiles performing well during the spring game.

Michigan State football will be relevant again in 2024.