Tight End
- Trenton Gillison
- Matt Dotson or Adam Berghorst
- Connor Heyward or Parks Gissinger
Gillison is the obvious choice to enter the season as a starter. MSU will be using more single tight end sets than in year’s prior so if he can get the job done in year three, he’ll be on the field a lot. We saw flashes of his ability in 2019, most notably in the Pinstripe Bowl where the former four-star recruit had four catches for 88 yards, both career highs. Behind him it’s tough for me to envision Matt Dotson fully recovering from his torn Achilles to make much of an impact. He’ll be less of an athlete than in year’s past due to the injury. An underreported story from 2019 is that Adam Berghorst’s redshirt was burned seemingly on accident. Berghorst transitioned from defensive end to tight end halfway through the season and appeared in the final five games of the season. He played just one snap against Illinois and two against Michigan. He played a season-high 28 snaps in the Pinstripe Bowl. I listed Connor Heyward here too, because I think his best fit is as an H-back/fullback/tight end hybrid who does some blocking and is a good receiving back. Gissinger has played relatively few snaps on offense thus far in his career.