Spring football across America was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, putting Mel Tucker and his new Michigan State football staff behind the eight ball when it comes to player evaluations. Spring practices and scrimmages are paramount in stacking a football team’s depth chart and doubly so when the program has a new head coach and assistants.

That makes projecting depth charts as we enter the summer a bit more difficult. But that’s no excuse to not do it.

A couple weeks ago I projected the depth chart on the offensive side of the ball and earlier this week I took a crack at the defense.

Today I’ll look at the much less sexy, but always important, specialists. This is an area where only one job is guaranteed as we sit here in May.

Kicker

1. Matt Coghlin (Sr.) or Jack Olsen (Fr.)

Kicker is going to be a very interesting battle this year. For the first time in his career Matt Coghlin will have a true battle to win for his job. Last year Coghlin struggled mightily and there was nobody to really push him. Olsen is an early enrollee and provides another scholarship leg to MSU’s kicking room. Coghlin may have a slight upper hand given his experience and success in the past, but his 2019 season makes this an open competition.