Pat Fitzgerald continues to work to rebuild Michigan State football's run game, adding C Trent Fraley (son of Lions coach Hank) and RB Cam Edwards.
EAST LANSING – The mission to rebuild Michigan State football’s anemic run game in a hurry before the portal window closes took two big steps for Pat Fitzgerald on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
The Spartans landed a 1,200-plus-yard transfer running back in Cam Edwards from Connecticut and a lower-division All-American center in Trent Fraley from North Dakota State.
Fraley, the son of Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley, was named the Rimington Trophy award winner Tuesday as the best center in the Football Championship Subdivision this season with the Bison.
He started all 29 games the past two seasons for NDSU, including its national championship season a year ago, and according to Pro Football Focus College has allowed just one career sack in 825 pass block snaps. The 6-foot-1, 303-pound native of Pittsburgh suburb Moon Township spent his first two seasons at Marshall before moving to Fargo, and has one year of eligibility remaining.
The Spartans allowed 37 sacks in 2025,12th-most in the 134-team Football Bowl Subdivision. Fraley is the third veteran offensive line pickup from the portal for Fitzgerald. He joins guard Nick Sharpe (South Carolina) and tackle Ben Murawski, who blocked for the Spartans’ new running back Edwards at UConn.
Edwards emerged as the Huskies’ bell cow this season, closing with three straight games with more than 100 yards rushing and finishing with 1,240 yards on 210 carries with 15 touchdowns. In 36 games over his four seasons at Connecticut, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound native of Norwalk, Connecticut, has 2,690 rushing yards and 27 TDs on 480 carries along with 47 catches for 467 yards and four more scores. Edwards was a teammate of former MSU starter Nate Carter in 2022 with the Huskies.
The Spartans finished 109th in the FBS in rushing last season at 122.8 yards per game and have struggled to generate any ground game for closing in on a decade. Outside of finishing 53rd nationally in 2021 with Doak Walker Award winner Kenneth Walker III, MSU has finished outside the FBS top 100 in rushing yards every other year since 2018.
The two-week portal closes Jan. 16.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football adds transfers C Trent Fraley, RB Cam Edwards
Category: General Sports
