Change has been the headline for the Michigan State Football team this past off-season. Following a disappointing 5-7 year in 2022, many areas of the roster and coaching staff visibly needed adjustment. A number of transfers and graduates left the program, leaving a hole to allow new faces to step up and command the team going forward. 

The group with the most change over the summer comes at wide receiver. The Spartans two best offensive playmakers departed from the team in the months following the conclusion of last season. Wide receiver Jayden Reed, a 2021 All American, was selected with the 50th pick in this year’s NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. A few weeks later, wide receiver Keon Coleman announced his decision to enter the transfer portal after posting the best numbers of his career as the leading receiver on the offense. 

With key pieces not returning to the roster, a new sense of leadership throughout the locker room is required to restore that hole. Redshirt senior wide receiver Tre Mosley is returning for his fifth and final season, and is shaping up to be the new top option at wideout. Mosley has embraced his authority and knows how important guidance is for success on the field. 

“Older guys who taught me some ways—them leaving, I just have to naturally gravitate to this (leader) position, which I have no issue doing,” Mosley said. “I’m continuing to learn and grow everyday so that I can still become a better leader.”

Getting the team together in a newly finished locker room has also benefited the bonding of the team according to Mosley. The space was under construction in the off-season before finally being completed in Aug. Now, players are utilizing the space both before and after practices as a place to relax and bond—something that was far more rare in previous seasons. 

Multiple spots are still wide open for receivers to fight for leading up to Friday and further into the year. A name that has been gaining traction throughout camp is senior wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr. With a resume of just four career starts in previous years, Wide Receivers’ Coach Courtney Hawkins acknowledged how much Foster has improved as both an athlete and person. 

“He has elevated his game,” Hawkins said. “He is playing with great confidence. He’s been here, this is year four for him, so he understands the offense inside and out. He has stepped up and taken a leadership role in our room, and also a leadership role on the team. We’ve challenged him to get comfortable being uncomfortable, and he’s done a good job of that.”

Hawkins knows he has a room that is hungry to work as hard as they can—regardless of reputation. This season, the Spartans are bringing in three new athletes at the receiver position competing for regulatory playing time, in the likes of redshirt junior wide receiver Sebastian Brown, and freshman wide receivers Jaelen Smith and Aziah Johnson.

Brown has game experience, and understands how gritty the competition gets. He is a “workaholic,” according to Hawkins, and his current knowledge of the college pace will be useful in game situations. Hawkins also mentioned Both Smith and Johnson are still learning the playbook and are getting accustomed to training camp, but are becoming great playmakers who are eager to learn to do the right things at all times. 

Perhaps the most important question still to be determined for the upcoming season is who will be starting under center in week 1. Redshirt junior quarterback Noah Kim and redshirt freshman quarterback Katin Houser have been essentially battling to earn the starting nod against the Chippewas, however neither player has been given the reins quite yet. 

For Mosley though, he isn’t shaken by the circumstances. Kim and Houser may be in a competition, but they are still teammates and encourage each other during the process. The same goes for the receiving group. 

“We see that, and we do the same thing within our room,” Mosley said. “We are competing with each other as well but at the same time we can help each other out because at the end of the day, we’re only as good as the worst person in our room.”