Michigan State effectively pulled the plug on the 2023 campaign after just 2 games, firing coach Mel Tucker — and, crucially, voiding his albatross of a contract — over allegations of sexual harassment. (Tucker filed a wrongful termination suit against the university earlier this summer.) With that, a team already saddled with low expectations bottomed out. The Spartans went 2-8 following Tucker’s dismissal, getting outscored by 20 points per game in the process.

The new coach, Jonathan Smith, arrived in December on the heels of a slow but ultimately successful rebuild at his alma mater, Oregon State. Just as important, he brought along his most prized recruit, sophomore QB Aidan Chiles, who enrolled in January with hype intact and no serious competition for the starting job.

No one in East Lansing is expecting an overnight turnaround — or shouldn’t be, anyway; I projected the Spartans to finish 16th in the B1G this season and DraftKings set MSU’s over/under win total at 5. But given how the last administration played out, even the promise of better things to come just over the next hill qualifies as progress.

Spartans at a Glance …

2023 Record: 4-8 (2-7 Big Ten)
Best Player: OL Tanner Miller
Best Pro Prospect: TE Jack Velling
Best Additions: Miller (Oregon State) … Velling (Oregon State) … QB Aidan Chiles (Oregon State)
Best Name: DB Lejond Cavazos
Tenured Vet: LB Cal Haladay (5th year; 35 career starts)
Emerging Dude: Sophomore QB Aidan Chiles

Biggest strength: Beavers to the rescue. In addition to Chiles, Smith brought along a couple of less splashy but more accomplished vets from Oregon State, tight end Jack Velling and center Tanner Miller, who were both second-team All-Pac-12 picks in 2023. They joined a roster that didn’t have a single player voted first-, second-, or third-team All-Big Ten by league coaches.

Nagging concern: Running the dang ball. The Spartans ranked last in the Big Ten and 127th nationally in rushing offense, averaging a pathetic 2.9 yards per carry. They managed a single rushing touchdown in conference play, in a midseason loss at Rutgers. It can’t get much worse, even if the personnel is not obviously much better.

Looming question: Is Aidan Chiles as good as advertised? As a recruit, Chiles was a late riser due in part to a broken wrist in his junior season, and not nearly as hyped by the recruiting sites as classmates Arch Manning, Nico Iamaleava, et al. But he started generating blue-chip-caliber buzz almost as soon as he enrolled at Oregon State, and reinforced it in a handful of cameos last year off the bench, accounting for seven touchdowns with no interceptions in only 100 snaps. The Spartans are not devoid of playmakers — including rising sophomore Antonio Gates Jr., who I’m obligated to mention here under Sportswriters of a Certain Age regulations — and if Chiles is a hit the offense could be one of the conference’s most pleasant surprises.

The schedule: Any realistic shot at bowl eligibility hinges on taking 1 of 2early road tests at Maryland and Boston College. From there, the priority is just getting through a demoralizing midseason stretch against Ohio State, Oregon, Iowa and Michigan healthy and hale enough to take advantage of a much more manageable November.

RELATED: Predicting every Michigan State football game in 2024

The upshot

Jonathan Smith made chicken salad at Oregon State, but he didn’t do it overnight. His first team at OSU finished 2-10, and he didn’t deliver a winning record until Year 4. The portal speeds up that timeline, especially when a QB prospect like Aidan Chiles is part of the same package as his coach. But this remains a classic long-term rebuild.