Everything below is established and safe to build on. Nothing below is a result, because Week 1 has not been played. Where a page in this week’s pack made a claim that later pages should not contradict, it is written down here. Where the universe has not decided something, that is written down too — the second half of this document is as load-bearing as the first.
Program Status · Week 1
Record
0-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten. No game has been played under this staff at any point.
This week’s game
Grambling State at Michigan State. Home opener, first game of the Nick Mansour era.
Kickoff / venue
Noon ET Saturday, Spartan Stadium, East Lansing. Television: Big Ten Network. Radio: Spartan Sports Network.
Gameday detail
Gates open 10 a.m., student gates 10:30, tailgate lots 7 a.m. Forecast sunny, mid-70s.
The opponent
Mid-tier FCS program from the SWAC. Runs the option, runs a lot of it, and is good at it — good, not good-for-FCS. Program and scheme level only — no named coach, no named players, no records.
The week’s stated bar
Not proving anything. Looking normal — clean operation, no self-inflicted chaos.
National poll position
Michigan State is unranked and not among the teams receiving votes.
Decisions Now Public
The full official depth chart of the Mansour era is out. It supersedes every earlier assumption on this page, including the game-week reporting that described the interior line as unnamed and the specialists as blank. Every position now has an order printed against it. Where an earlier version of this ledger recorded an OR, the chart has replaced it.
Quarterback
Leo Hannan starts. Redshirt freshman, first career start, no hedge on the line. Chosen over Alessio Milivojevic on ceiling, not on August performance. The reasoning was explained clearly, which is not the same as everyone agreeing with it. Milivojevic is the No. 2.
Offensive line
Named and official, left to right: LT Ben Murawski, LG Nick Sharpe, C Rustin Young, RG Luka Vincic, RT Conner Moore. No ORs, no shared lines, no blanks at the interior.
Center
Rustin Young — a 6-foot-7 offensive tackle playing center. The single most-discussed line on the chart. Tracked as an open question below; do not treat it as settled either way.
Savoury’s actual position
Jayden Savoury is listed at FB/H-back, not tight end. Redshirt freshman, the mismatch bet, a move piece used detached, inline and in the backfield. The designation is itself the tell — Mansour wrote a job description rather than filling the tight end slot. Describe him as an H-back or a move piece. Not “the starting tight end.”
Tight end
The tight ends are Brennan Paracheck, Eddie Whiting and Carson Gulker, in that order. Separate room from Savoury.
Nickel
Tre Bell moved off the boundary and listed at nickel. In this 4-2-5 that is a third linebacker on early downs and a matchup cover man on passing downs.
Edge, not linebacker
Dion Crawford is an EDGE. Earlier pages filed him with the linebackers; that was wrong. He is listed first in an edge rotation that runs seven deep.
Linebacker
Printed as an ordered room seven deep, Jordan Hall first. Two on the field in base personnel. Still the group the staff trusts most.
Specialists
Named. K Liam Boyd. P Rhys Dakin. Kick returns: Charles Brantley and Andrew Brinson IV. Punt returns: Crishon McCray and Brinson. The earlier line that no placekicker had been named is obsolete and should not be repeated.
Availability
No injuries, no suspensions and no role changes were reported for Week 1. The chart the program released is the chart it intends to play.
Milivojevic this week
Has not spoken publicly since the decision and was not on the Week 1 availability list — his choice, not the program’s. No Week 1 role or package established.
Official Depth Order — Week 1Hard canon
The full roster order as released. Names are exact. Order within each group is the order on the chart. Nothing may be added to this list and no name outside it may be used for a Michigan State player.
QB
Leo Hannan · Alessio Milivojevic
RB
Cam Edwards · Jaziun Patterson · Brandon Tullis · Bryson Williams · Zion Gist
FB / H-back
Jayden Savoury
WR
Crishon McCray · Braylon Collier · KK Smith · Rowan Merlino · Fredrick Moore
TE
Brennan Paracheck · Eddie Whiting · Carson Gulker
OLleft to right
LT Ben Murawski · LG Nick Sharpe · C Rustin Young · RG Luka Vincic · RT Conner Moore
EDGEseven deep
Dion Crawford · Kenny Soares Jr. · Isaac Smith · Kekai Burnett · Anelu Lafaele · Keahnist Thompson · Cal Thrush
DT
Ben Roberts · Derrick Simmons · Eli Coenen · Adam Fontana
LBmost-trusted group
Jordan Hall · Brady Pretzlaff · Cam Stodghill · Chris Piwowarczyk · Caleb Wheatland · Dejae White · Dimari Malone
CB
Caleb Brantely · Andrew Brinson IV · Tyran Chappel · Keshawn Williams
FS
Michael Richard · Deuce Edwards
SS
Nikai Martinez · Devin Vaught · Aveon Grose
KR
Charles Brantley · Andrew Brinson IV
PR
Crishon McCray · Andrew Brinson IV
Two BrantleysNot an error
Charles Brantley (kick returns) and Caleb Brantely (cornerback) are two different real players with near-identical surnames, spelled differently. Both spellings are correct. Do not merge them, do not “fix” one into the other.
Week 1 availability
No injuries, suspensions or role changes reported.
Tracked Storyline — A Tackle at CenterOpen
Status: open. Next evidence: Saturday. This is a live argument inside the building and it is not to be resolved on any page written before the game.
The decision
Rustin Young, a 6-foot-7 offensive tackle, has been moved inside to center and is the starter there. Centers are usually shorter and more compact for leverage reasons. Six-seven is enormous for the position, and the move gives people pause — that reaction is part of the canon, not a bug in it.
The concernsSpecific, legitimate
Pad level and leverage against a nose tackle playing under him. Snapping mechanics while making line calls, a job he has not done. Getting movement in short yardage from a high stance. Whether the line’s identification calls should be coming from a man who is learning the position.
The case for itEqually real
He is the best athlete on the line. Center is where the most athletic and smartest lineman touches the most snaps and affects the most plays. And Mansour designs jobs for players rather than filling slots — this is that principle applied to the hardest spot to apply it to.
Connects to
The standing canon that the interior offensive line is the least trusted group on the roster. Moving a tackle inside is either the answer to that problem or evidence of how thin the room is. Both readings are available.
Where opinion sits
Some people in the building think it is clever. Some think it is a solution in search of a problem. Nobody knows, because there has been no game. Do not resolve this.
Staff & Who Owns What
Nick MansourHead coach, 28
Football czar — roster, recruiting, NIL, staff, development, portal, identity. Calls both offense and defense. Never played football at any level.
Nick SheridanOffensive coordinator
Owns the quarterback; makes the offense teachable. In the box Saturday — he argued for the sideline so a young quarterback could find him with his eyes, and was told no twice.
Joe RossiDefensive coordinator
Owns the front and runs a closed room. Owns the defensive channel outright while the offense is on the field. Refused to script the defense’s first timeout and was not overruled.
Marcus WhitmanDirector of player personnel
Builds the board. Ties traits to roles and argues against stars the tape doesn’t support.
Sal BrancatoOffensive line
Thirty-one years coaching offensive lines. The in-house skeptic — argued rehearsal week was rehearsing the part that isn’t broken, and keeps score.
Dell WysockiStrength and conditioning
Forty-seven. Has run strength rooms since Mansour was in middle school.
Priya RaghunathanHead athletic trainer
Authority to remove any player is written in as unappealable — any situation, including the quarterback.
Ife AdeyemiDefensive quality control, 26
Sole authority to send a player onto the field — not a position coach, not a coordinator, not the head coach. Mansour wrote himself out of it deliberately.
VlahakisFootball operations
Runs the operations channel. If Rossi needs Mansour mid-possession, one word goes over Ops and Vlahakis says it to his face. The word is “Joe.” First name not established.
PetrakisCoaches’ box
Sends Mansour the same sentence every snap: down, distance, clock, field position, whether or not anyone answers. First name not established.
Headset structure
CH1 offense (Mansour calls; Sheridan never reaches the quarterback directly). CH2 defense (Mansour calls; Rossi transmits). CH3 Ops, carrying no football at all — subs, bodies, injuries, officials. Never run live.
Staff posture
Mansour hands out authority quickly, protects assistants publicly, and won’t win on rank if he can win on merit. Rossi–Mansour friction is private and has never been reported.
Roster Canon
Best player
RB Cam Edwards. Portal addition, Year-1 centerpiece. Nothing about his standing has changed since Week 0.
Most important player
QB Leo Hannan. Redshirt freshman, media-trained and careful at a microphone.
Center
Rustin Young. A 6-foot-7 offensive tackle moved inside to center by Mansour. First career media availability came this week. The move is an open storyline, tracked above.
Move piece
Jayden Savoury, FB/H-back, redshirt freshman. Not a conventional tight end and not “the starting tight end.” Used detached, inline and in the backfield. Not a guaranteed star; the staff has said publicly he is not a finished blocker.
Linebacker room
Jordan Hall, Brady Pretzlaff, Cam Stodghill, Chris Piwowarczyk, Caleb Wheatland, Dejae White, Dimari Malone. Most-trusted group, athletic and deep, clearest floor. Coverage is unproven and Week 1 will not test it. Dion Crawford is not in this room — he is an edge.
Edge room
Seven deep, Dion Crawford first, then Kenny Soares Jr., Isaac Smith, Kekai Burnett, Anelu Lafaele, Keahnist Thompson, Cal Thrush.
Young receiver
Braylon Collier. Will play, and is listed second in the receiver order behind Crishon McCray.
Walk-on
Chris Piwowarczyk, redshirt sophomore SAM. Fourth in the linebacker order, expected on special teams. Mansour was in the same high school class as his sister. Texture only.
Least-trusted unit
Interior offensive line. Inherited, not built. Now fully named — Sharpe, Young, Vincic — which changes what is unknown about it, not how much is unknown about it.
Recruiting Board — Offers Only
Recruiting begins this week. Everything established so far is an offer. Nothing else has happened.
National offers out
The No. 1 overall player, a five-star tight end from Maryland. The No. 3 player, a corner out of Missouri. The No. 14 player, another corner, from North Carolina. A center from California also recruited by USC, Texas, Oregon and Notre Dame.
In-state offers
A quarterback from Flushing, fifteen minutes from where Mansour grew up. An edge from Walled Lake. A guard from Cass Tech. The fan base has identified these three as the real test.
Legacy offer
A wide receiver from Arkansas whose father, Troy Leon, played receiver at Michigan State in the 1990s. The son’s name has not been established.
Board philosophy
The first document built on a prospect is a job description, not a grade. If the staff can’t write the job, it doesn’t offer. Roughly one in nine calls back, and the staff accepts public nos.
Strategy
Repair Michigan first, Midwest second, national only where traits fit. Heavy portal reliance Years 1–3, tipping toward high school development once the roster stabilizes. NIL posture is retention over spectacle.
Industry read
Rivals consider the board bold and free, and are watching whether Michigan State can hold anybody in the last six weeks of a cycle. In-state high school coaches are on record as unconvinced.
Not yet happened
No visits. No commitments. No decommitments. No silent commits. No top-5s or top-3s. No narrowing. No decision dates. No crystal balls. No “trending.” No NIL figures. This ledger records each the week it actually occurs, and not before.
National Context — Locked
Week 0 result
Miami beat Notre Dame 42-6 in kickoff weekend.
Big Ten in Week 0
USC was the only Big Ten team to play, and USC won.
The poll
The Top 25 does not update after Week 0. The preseason poll is still the current poll. Notre Dame remains No. 3 despite the loss. First update comes after Week 1.
Preseason Top 25
1 Ohio State, 2 Oregon, 3 Notre Dame, 4 Georgia, 5 Indiana, 6 Miami, 7 Texas, 8 Texas A&M, 9 Ole Miss, 10 Oklahoma, then LSU, BYU, Alabama, Michigan, USC, Texas Tech, Penn State, Iowa, Utah, Tennessee, Houston, SMU, Washington, Louisville, Florida.
Heisman watch
1 Jeremiah Smith (WR, Ohio State), 2 Dante Moore (QB, Oregon), 3 Arch Manning (QB, Texas), 4 Julian Sayin (QB, Ohio State).
Week 0 players of the week
Defensive: Virginia LB Kam Robinson, two forced fumbles and two recoveries. Offensive: TCU QB Jaden Craig, the Harvard transfer, 21-of-27, 310 yards, four passing TDs, 50 rushing.
Week 1 marquee
No. 24 Louisville at No. 9 Ole Miss, and No. 22 SMU at Florida State.
MSU’s national standing
A curiosity and a subplot, not a lead. National audiences understand Michigan State as the weird one in the week.
New Named People — Week 1First appearances
Everyone introduced across this week’s pack, with role. Do not reassign these names or duplicate the first names.
Sal Brancato
MSU offensive line coach, 31 years in the job.
Dell Wysocki
MSU strength and conditioning, 47.
Priya Raghunathan
MSU head athletic trainer. Unappealable removal authority.
Ife Adeyemi
Defensive quality control, 26. Sole substitution authority.
Vlahakis
Football operations; runs the Ops channel. Surname only.
Petrakis
Coaches’ box; situation reports to Mansour every snap. Surname only.
Rustin Young
Starting center — a 6-foot-7 offensive tackle moved inside. The only player on this list; everyone else here is staff, media, family, community or campus.
Dave Pellerin
Host, 100.9 The Mitt — the surname of “Dave.”
Toby Lindgren
Reporter, WILX 10, Lansing.
Deirdre Ashmore
Reporter, 1240 WJIM, Lansing.
Wes Duchene
Reporter, FOX 47 News, Lansing.
Yolande Savoury
Jayden Savoury’s mother. Family home outside Toledo.
Yvette Bell
Tre Bell’s mother. Got the position-change call in April.
Walt Kreiger
MSU equipment staff, 21 years, four head coaches outlasted.
Gus Nieves
MSU equipment operation, 26 years. Separate person from Kreiger.
Kendra Boonstra
MSU ticket operation, six years. She is 27.
Kwame Boateng
Senior in the video operation. Mansour is the only head coach he has worked for.
Lou Dabrowski
Longtime season-ticket holder, Okemos.
Rita Kalogeras
Restaurant owner on Michigan Avenue, 19 years.
Sasha Pruitt
MSU alum, class of 2015. Quit her relationship with the team in 2024.
Peter Aldrich
Donor and collective figure, 63, Grand Rapids. No established relation to anyone else on this list.
Owen Marchetti
Michigan high school head coach, 19 years at one school. Not buying it yet.
Wendell Boyce
Macomb County high school head coach, 19 years. Unimpressed by pitches.
Troy Leon
Former MSU receiver, 1990s. Father of an offered receiver from Arkansas.
Tunde Balogun
Student. Runs the “spartan fc” group chat, which has existed since 2023.
Halle Sirota
Junior, advertising. Runs a nineteen-person group chat.
Grace Vollmer
Junior. Keeps the color-coded tailgate spreadsheet. Two people quit it.
Sadie Lindqvist
Sophomore. Bought a jersey with a number nobody on the roster wears and is wearing it anyway.
Emeka Duru
Freshman in Case Hall. Going with eight people from his floor.
Imani Ferrell
Senior. Has been to every home game since she arrived. The one her friends ask things.
Jasmine Toussaint
Grad student from Baton Rouge. Grew up on SWAC football; knows what Grambling is.
Desmond Pryor
Junior. Claims not to care, then recites the gate times and admits he has a shirt.
Theo Brandt
Junior trombone, Spartan Marching Band.
Wendy Nakamura
Senior, Spartan Marching Band section leader.
Radio callers
Ron in Charlotte, Angie in Grand Ledge, Wendell in DeWitt, Gary in Owosso, Mark in Haslett by text. One-offs.
Kowalski Heating & Cooling
Recurring sponsor of 100.9 The Mitt. A business, not a person.
Open Threads — Carried from Week 0
QB development arcLive
Decision public, Hannan starts. Whether upside beats stability is a season-long question.
Interior offensive lineUnresolved, now named
Sharpe, Young and Vincic are the three. The worry is no longer about who plays; it is about whether the combination holds. Grambling is unlikely to expose it.
Rustin Young at centerOpen · next evidence Saturday
A 6-foot-7 tackle snapping the ball and making the calls. Pad level, snap mechanics, short-yardage movement, and who owns the identification calls, against best athlete on the line, most snaps touched, and a coach who designs jobs for players. Tied directly to the least-trusted-unit thread. Unresolved by design.
Michigan trust-repairPosture changed, behavior unproven
The board’s altitude is new. In-state coaches remain openly skeptical.
Notre Dame measuring stickComplicated
42-6 and a poll that hasn’t moved. Week 3 now measures something unstable.
Can MSU look normalThis week’s whole question
Operation, substitutions, penalties, special teams.
Staff trustHealthy friction, visible
Brancato pushed back on the record and was answered without being overruled by rank. Rossi held his line on the first timeout.
Fan trust economyNew thread
Renewals, families, long-tenured staff, people who quit caring. The ask is a downside bet with “fine” as the upside.
The marching bandNew thread
Nine months as the national joke attached to their coach. Nervous about their own show, not the team.
Operating structureNever tested
One caller, two units, three channels, one substitution authority.
The Record is the in-universe continuity desk of this Michigan State dynasty simulation. Every person and quote on this page is invented.