Football Starting Lineup 2026

Here are my best guesses.

QB- KT. Really looking forward to seeing his development.

RB1 Fluff
RB2 Gayten.

I'm excited about JJ Hill and Cooper Crosby though. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them takes over as RB2

WR- Ayden Williams
WR- SanFrisco
WR- Marquis Johnson
Slot- Anthony Evans

This is a pretty veteran group with juniors and seniors. I think Ayden and SanFrisco really step up this year. And I like all of the freshmen WR's we added especially Cration. This WR group might be the best I've seen in awhile at MSU

TE- Riley Williams
TE- Sam West

We're probably about the same here. I could see Zayion Cotton getting some reps possibly as a freshman.

LT- Brandon Sneh
LG- DJ Chester
C- Canon Boone
RG- Miles McVay
RT- Steen

This group is older than out o-line last year. All of these players are going to be juniors or seniors. This should be a much better group. Chester and McVay came from SEC programs, Sneh graded really well, and we'll see what we get out of Steen.

DE- Will Whitson
DT/NT- Daelyn Evans
DT/NT- Kalvin Dinkins
DE- Trevion Williams/Jayson Jenkins

It will be really good to get Whitson back! Jenkins is a veteran who has SEC experience and Evans has SEC experience as well. Again, this is an older/upperclass group compared to last year and I think Dinkins and Trevion will be better also. I think Ty Warren is going to be a major upgrade over Turner too.

EDGE- Zakari Tillman
EDGE- Amaree Williams

I'm just guessing that Williams gets the starting spot here because I know that Arnett really likes him. I'm curious to see how much muscle Micah Nickerson can add but I suspect he will only play a small amount next year. Love his upside though.


LB- Tyler Lockhart
LB- Jalen Smith

Really talented group of LB's. We also have Gullette too so we have some good depth here as well.

CB- Kelley Jones
CB- Quinton Taylor, Jr.

I think we improved this group. Taylor is much more physical than our other corners on the other side of Jones last year.

DOG- Isaac Smith
S- Jardin Gilbert/Bralan Womack
S- Kendel Dolby/Marcus Williams

Maybe the most improved group on the team. Veteran players except for Womack who can all lay the lumber. Gilbert was a big portal pick up too. I kind of wonder if they will use Isaac as a LB some in place of Smith?

K- Ferrie
P- Pulliam
KR/PR- Zion Ragins

Really solid K/P combo with experience. Ragins is lightning fast and built like a return guy. Hopefully we will do more than just fair catch it every single time.

Writing this out, the one thing that stands out to me is how much older this team is. Sure, we have a couple of younger players like KT and Lockhart here and there and we did add a lot of young talent and guys with multiple years. Here's to a hopefully better team next season!

I like the list. I think the corner spot opposite Kelly may be either the Florida kid or Syracuse they're both built similar to Kelly tall and long arms. A tandem of 6'2 corners is something we've never had. That's what is needed with these bigger WR'S.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Gayten becomes the starting RB over Fluff.

What I like about th OL is the age and experience. But even more than that, I like the depth. That killed us this year imo. On defense, we improved with the staff and the players. This may be the best Arnett defense at MSU. Again, that's all opinion.

At this point, the ball in in KT's hands. Literally. He threw it better in the last game, but can he raise his floor. In order to do that, he needs to see the field faster. My fear is his arm strength is so elite that he has always been able to see it late and still deliver in HS and that won't work at this level. He needs to see the open guy before the break.

I do not expect us to win every game. I do expect we will compete in all of them.

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Originally Posted by bulldawg28

I like the list. I think the corner spot opposite Kelly may be either the Florida kid or Syracuse they're both built similar to Kelly tall and long arms. A tandem of 6'2 corners is something we've never had. That's what is needed with these bigger WR'S.

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Yeah, I watched the game footage, and that guy was blowing up WRs. Most impressed with these guys that are coming in and how active they are in the run game. It's something I felt Kelly J lacks.

I really looking forward to seeing what Arnett can do with this defense. If I am not mistaken, he's never been lower than 5th in the SEC as a DC. I can see him reaching that and maybe better.

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Originally Posted by BlackSailsDawg

Yeah, I watched the game footage, and that guy was blowing up WRs. Most impressed with these guys that are coming in and how active they are in the run game. It's something I felt Kelly J lacks.

I really looking forward to seeing what Arnett can do with this defense. If I am not mistaken, he's never been lower than 5th in the SEC as a DC. I can see him reaching that and maybe better.

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I'm predicting the defense will definitely be in the top 5 of the SEC. Arnett has never had the speed at LB and the elite skillset in the secondary as he does now. He also has LEGITIMATE SEC depth. We're going to be a dangerous team. Lebby may get a raise after this season.

The transfer Qb signing is some Lane Kiffinish move, but I love it.

I know like 6 of those guys total. Hard to keep up these days

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

I know like 6 of those guys total. Hard to keep up these days

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Even harder for me to stay invested. I used to really enjoy watching players and teams grow up.

It'll be easier to handle if and when the team shows us they are capable of winning.

That looks like a new coach in 2027 to me

Looks ok on paper, not great. I don?t think we hit the portal hard enough and really surprised we didn?t have backup plans ready to go on where to spend the Seaton money. I?m still perplexed by this, we had $4M ready to spend on him but didn?t have 2-3 impact players identified to go grab if he passes on us? So we just don?t spend that cash? What are we doing here?

That being said, again look ok on paper not great. My biggest worry is depth we are going to have 4-6 starters go out across the season and our depth kind of sucks currently besides LB and DB.

TE is a major disappointment to me.

Riley Williams is essentially just an extra OL, which is fine in short yardage situations, but he'll provide next to nothing in the pass game. I like Cotton, but he's a freshman. Sam West is okay as a TE2, but he's not THE guy. Skipworth is JAG. Really should've gotten something more proven here.

Edge is also disappointing. Amaree Williams might be good. Who knows? But we're moving guys from other positions to help here. Needed a guy with 5+ sacks that you know you could count on instead of "hoping".

Everywhere else should be upgrades. I'll predict 6-6 right now. Which is kind of ridiculous in year 3, but oh well. He'll do just enough to keep his job and we'll see if taking all these young OL this year pays off in 2027.

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Originally Posted by DEDawg

Looks ok on paper, not great. I don?t think we hit the portal hard enough and really surprised we didn?t have backup plans ready to go on where to spend the Seaton money. I?m still perplexed by this, we had $4M ready to spend on him but didn?t have 2-3 impact players identified to go grab if he passes on us? So we just don?t spend that cash? What are we doing here?

That being said, again look ok on paper not great. My biggest worry is depth we are going to have 4-6 starters go out across the season and our depth kind of sucks currently besides LB and DB.

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We didn't have the money prior to Seaton entering the portal. So Lebby was not sitting on cash and flipping his chicken.

Bottom line is that we have a more talented team for 2026 than we had in 2025. That's progress.

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Originally Posted by BlackSailsDawg

We didn't have the money prior to Seaton entering the portal. So Lebby was not sitting on cash and flipping his chicken.

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So do we have it now, or was it only for Seaton? Why do our "money guys" not trust the coach to use that $4m elsewhere? Can we use it in the spring portal? Again just perplexed at this

There is no more Spring portal. This is it. We can still bring people in but it needs to be soon