EAST LANSING — Free Press sports writer Chris Solari takes a look at the Michigan State football players who helped or hurt their stock in the Spartans’ 38-7 loss Saturday to No. 3 Ohio State.

Winners

LB Jordan Turner

The senior transfer linebacker put together perhaps his best collegiate games, with his nine tackles one shy of his career-best 10 he had while at Wisconsin in a 2022 game against Iowa. The 6-foot-1, 231-pound Turner generated two of MSU’s three QB hurries and also intercepted his fourth career pass — his first as a Spartan — to set up his team’s only touchdown.

WR Jaron Glover

After missing two weeks with an undisclosed injury suffered in the Spartans’ win at Maryland, Glover returned Saturday and gave QB Aidan Chiles a boost in the passing game. The 6-1, 204-pound junior caught four passes for 53 yards and scored his second touchdown of the season and his collegiate career. Glover took a swing pass from Chiles 12 yards, flashing high-level speed in running away from Davison Igbinosun to the pylon and carrying the OSU cornerback into the end zone for the score.

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Freshmen

With injuries complicating a depth chart still dealing with defections to the portal, MSU called upon true freshman Rakeem Johnson for his first start at left tackle after redshirt freshman Stanton Ramil (who made his first career start at Boston College a week earlier) could not play after going through warmups. Then in the second quarter, the Spartans replaced Johnson briefly to give another true freshman, Rustin Young, a handful of early snaps against the Buckeyes’ starters. Both played together late in the game, with Johnson moving to right guard and Young manning the QB blindside blocking spot again. On defense, with both safety Malik Spencer and nickelback Angelo Grose trying to play through some bumps and bruises from the BC game, the Spartans got true freshman Justin Denson some third-quarter snaps at safety and he made three tackles. Late in the game, defensive coordinator Joe Rossi worked in classmates Andrew Brinson IV at cornerback and Jaylen Thompson in the back end of the secondary.

Losers

TE Jack Velling

A week after being a featured target in the passing game at Boston College, the junior Oregon State transfer again mostly vanished, other than for some big, bad moments. Velling’s only catch was on a 26-yard slant pass from Chiles, but he carried the ball too loosely and got stripped from behind at the OSU 11, and the Buckeyes recovered to end a critical scoring chance. Chiles also threw behind Velling on another pass in the third quarter, then got picked off by Ohio State's Denzel Burke on the final target of Velling, who has been seeing extra attention and bodies around him at almost all times.

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WR Nick Marsh

Marsh only lands on this list because of the play of difference-making Ohio State freshman receiver Jerermiah Smith, who has overshadowed the buzz the MSU frosh created with his 194-yard performance at Maryland before his injury. After missing the Boston College game, Marsh played only one drive but caught two passes for 30 yards and was targeted four times before Chiles fumbled at the OSU 16 to end the possession. Chiles and the Spartans’ offense looked markedly more explosive and comfortable with Marsh on the field, even in a limited capacity. Having him available for longer might have further changed the direction of the first half. “He was cleared to play, did not practice much at all this week,” coach Jonathan Smith said. “So we really didn't know. … When a guy misses that much time, it's a huge ask for him to go out there and run all the reps, especially going off last week. This week, very minimal reps. I think that was the thinking on him.”

Run game

MSU’s offense continues to struggle in the red zone, but it also has yet to figure out how to be productive in the run game with all the turnover on the offensive line. Nate Carter opened the game with a 19-yard burst around right end on the Spartans’ first play of the game, but they managed only 28 yards on 24 carries the rest of the game (which includes four sacks allowed for 19 lost yards). Chiles had three non-sack attempts for just 8 yards, only one of which was a designed run play that picked up all of that. He also was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-1 sneak attempt and had another carry for no yards as the pocket continually collapsed around him quickly.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football: Nick Marsh hurts; other freshmen show promise