5 Michigan State players to watch against Iowa football in 2024

IOWA CITY — Having played against Iowa football just over a year ago, Michigan State is a relatively familiar Big Ten foe for the Hawkeyes.

But the team that Iowa will see on Saturday in East Lansing, Mich., will look much different from the team Iowa defeated last year at Kinnick Stadium.

Michigan State hired Jonathan Smith from Oregon State after firing Mel Tucker last year (and choosing not to promote interim head coach Harlon Barnett). As is often the case with coaching changes, the Spartans saw a major roster rebuild under Smith’s leadership.

The recruiting site On3 tracked 36 player departures via the transfer portal and 24 commitments from the portal. Michigan State’s leaders in passing yards, rushing yards and several defensive statistics through the first half of the 2024 season all are transfers.

Here are five Michigan State players to watch — with a mix of names familiar and not-so-familiar to Big Ten followers — ahead of Saturday’s Iowa-Michigan State game:

DB Charles Brantley

Charles Brantley has been a menace in his fourth season in East Lansing.

Brantley has a team-high three interceptions and five pass breakups through the Spartans’ first six games. He returned one of the interceptions 100 yards — literally from one end zone to the other — for a touchdown against Prairie View A&M.

Brantley missed one game in 2022 and nine games in 2023 with injuries, but he has otherwise started every Michigan State game since the beginning of the 2022 season. He already has more interceptions in the first six games of 2024, though, than in his 21 games (and 15 starts) from 2021-23.

RB Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams

Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams is among Michigan State’s many contributors who arrived ahead of this season via the transfer portal.

Lynch-Adams came to Michigan State after two years at Rutgers and then three years at UMass. His 1,157 rushing yards last season at UMass were 27th-best at the FBS level, and his 96.4 yards per game was 23rd-best.

Fast-forward to 2024, and he has emerged as one of Michigan State’s two primary running backs. He has 338 rushing yards on 67 carries — both are team-highs — which equate to 5.0 yards per carry.

Lynch-Adams opened the Spartan chapter of his collegiate career with 101 rushing yards on nine carries against Florida Atlantic. Since then, he has not exceeded 63 rushing yards in any game. He has been held to 35 or fewer rushing yards in back-to-back games as the Spartans lost to then-No. 3 Ohio State and then-No. 6 Oregon.

RB Nate Carter

Nate Carter was one of the few running backs to surpass the 100-yard mark last year against Iowa’s stout defense. He had 108 yards on 20 carries in the Spartans’ 26-16 loss to the Hawkeyes.

The only other running back to do so was Tennessee’s Dylan Simpson, who had 133 yards on 20 carries in the Citrus Bowl.

Carter, while taking a slight back seat in production to Lynch-Adams, still has been a factor for Michigan State in 2024. He has 245 yards so far this season while averaging 4.2 yards per carry. That included a 60-yard touchdown run against Prairie View A&M.

LB Jordan Turner

Jordan Turner has made an immediate impact after transferring from Wisconsin.

The 6-foot-1 linebacker has 6.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, two quarterback hurries and one interception this season. All but the last metric are team-highs. He also leads the team with 37 total tackles (while no other Spartan has more than 30).

Turner appeared in 11 games for Wisconsin last year and started seven times. He had 61 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.

He was an all-Big Ten honorable mention in 2022 after recording 68 total tackles and five tackles for loss. He also was the defensive MVP in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl that year.

QB Aidan Chiles

Aidan Chiles followed Smith from Oregon State to Michigan State and has experienced mixed results in his first season in the Big Ten.

The Long Beach, Calif., native has completed 56.6 percent of his passes while throwing five touchdowns and eight interceptions. Michigan State’s 31-10 loss to then-No. 6 Oregon was just his second game without an interception. (The other was against Prairie View A&M.)

His best game as a Spartan was likely Michigan State’s Week 2 win over Maryland, when he went 24-of-38 for 363 yards while throwing three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Chiles has not gotten many favors from the offensive line ahead of him. He has taken 13 sacks so far this season. The only Big Ten offensive lines to allow more sacks are Illinois, UCLA and Minnesota.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.