Michigan State Depth Chart Series: Ashton Lepo ready to step forward at right tackle
East Lansing, Mich. – The following is the second in a series of articles projecting Michigan State’s football depth chart, heading into preseason camp. Today, we examine the Spartans’ depth chart at right tackle.
RIGHT TACKLE
1. ASHTON LEPO (6-7, 296, R-Soph., Grand Haven, Mich.).
With two-year starter Spencer Brown having transferred to Oklahoma, Lepo was set to compete with Ethan Boyd for the first-string job at right tackle during the spring. But Boyd encountered personal problems, left the team during spring practice and transferred to Colorado.
Lepo has bided his time and enters the summer as the presumptive first-string at right tackle after spending the spring in that role.
Lepo came to Michigan State as a three-star recruit, ranked No. 21 in Michigan in the On3 Industry Rankings. He redshirted in 2022, and saw action in all 13 games last season, mostly on special teams.
Lepo spent last season as the back-up to Brandon Baldwin at left tackle. Lepo moved to the right side for spring practice.
In 2023, Lepo played 96 snaps at left tackle, including 73 in the final four games.
Lepo played 22 snaps at Indiana and graded out at a team-best 84.3 (“good”) in pass protection against the Hoosiers by Pro Football Focus.
For the year, PFF graded Lepo at 63.8 in pass blocking (“average”) and 54.8 in run blocking (“below average,” on the PFF scale). His pass protection grade ranked No. 4 on the team among offensive linemen with at least 90 snaps, trailing JD Duplain (76.5) and Dallas Fincher (71.2) and Kevin Wigenton (64.3).
Lepo ranked No. 8 on the team in PFF run blocking grade among offensive linemen with at least 90 snaps.
In Lepo’s most extensive action as a Spartan, against Indiana in game 11 on Nov. 18, Lepo made some strides. He showed pretty good foot quickness. He has the building blocks to be solid in pass protection. His kick step and ability to react to counter moves by Indiana’s Lanell Carr was consistently good on Nov. 18 in the middle stages of that game while offering spot relief for Baldwin.
Lepo needs to add more power; defenders don’t budge much when he makes contact with them.
First-year Michigan State offensive line coach Jim Michalczik was very stingy with comments and quotes about individual player development and progress during the spring. In lieu of that, I’ll offer my own observations.
SpartanMag’s unofficial scorecard on Lepo from the Spring Showcase:
Ashton Lepo (66) reps with line mate Jacob Merritt during spring practice. (Photo by Dane Robison for SpartanMag.com).
+ Pretty good in quick game pass protection vs Quindarius Dunnigan on the second play of the second quarter. He moved comfortably to his right, countered back to his left, stayed square, in balance.
+ Good pass pro vs Jalen Thompson on a wide bull rush on third-and-13 in the second quarter. Lepo got out, stayed square, comfortable, was solid with his post foot. (Lepo got rolled up from behind by Tanner Miller, who fell to the ground while trying to occupy Derrick Harmon). Michigan State dodged some bad luck there. You don’t realize how valuable Lepo is until and unless he’s unavailable and you have to dip into reserves.
= Lepo was just okay against Jordan Hall, with Hall playing rush end on second-and-10 in the two-minute defense (with Cal Haladay and Wayne Matthews in the middle). The quarterback’s pass was an incompletion; Lepo wasn’t bad, wasn’t great.
– Lepo’s feet looked a little awkward on a Jordan Hall counter move to the inside on third-and-10 during a two-minute drill late in the first half. Lepo was beaten inside and kind of tackled Hall, while getting chip help from RB Nate Carter.
= Decent pass protection vs Dunnigan on first and 10 in the red zone, on the first play of the fourth quarter. Chiles completed a pass to Montorie Foster on a slant for a gain of 23 to the 1-yard line. Dunnigan tried to threaten the outside and counter with two hands to the inside. Lepo was decent, feet seemed to move a little awkwardly, but he covers ground okay and functioned.
– Lepo appeared to take a false step on third-and-goal at the 1-yard line in allowing defensive tackle D’Quan Douse to penetrate the backfield untouched and hit RB Joseph Martinez for a loss. The play looked like a zone run to the left. All of the linemen went left, except Lepo, who went right. That caused the opening through which Douse penetrated. Douse beat no one physically to make the play.
+ On a pass completion to Carter for 8 yards, Lepo was functional in pass pro against Khris Bogle. On the other side, Brandon Baldwin was functional against Dunnigan. Cornerback Chance Rucker missed a tackle on Carter.
2. CHARLTON LUNIEWSKI (6-5, 289, Fr., Cincinnati Hills Christian).
Stanton Ramil (65) and Charlton Luniewski (75) (Photo by Dane Robison for SpartanMag).
With Michigan State encountering high attrition at the offensive tackle position, Charlton Luniewski, and his brother Mercer Luniewski, were able to get a heap of second-string reps during the spring – which is odd for mid-year freshman enrollees, and somewhat troubling. But the twins looked pretty comfortable and promising for the future, although no offense want to rely on first-year players at the offensive tackle positions.
Luniewski came to Michigan State as a three-star recruit, ranked No. 39 in Ohio in the On3 Industry Rankings.
Luniewski is still somewhat new to football, taking it up as an athlete in 2021. I thought his junior film was just okay, after he and Mercer committed to Michigan State in the summer of 2023. Mercer’s film was better. But Charlton closed the gap on his brother with quality senior film. And by the spring of 2024, both looked like solid, promising true freshmen.
I charted Charlton Luniewski with eight “plus” plays in the Spring Scrimmage, more than any other player.
When re-watching the Spring Showcase, I made a list of players who were better than I realized. The list grew to eight players, including two starters and several reserves of various age groups.
The eight: Freshman OT Charlton Luniewski; sophomore OG Kristian Phillips; sophomore OG Gavin Broscious; graduate QB Tommy Schuster, graduate D’Quan Douse, junior TE Ademola Faleye, freshman RB Brandon Tullis, freshman walk-on WR Jack Yanachik.
“Better than I realized” is a relative term. I’m not suggesting that Faleye and Yanachik are ready to compete for a role in the two-deep. In their cases, they went from off the radar to players who have a chance to carve out a role some day, maybe in the distant future.
The SpartanMag scorecard on Luniewski from the Spring Showcase:
+ Luniewski was bent back initially by a Jalen Thompson bull rush but recovered and managed to hold his ground. On the other side, left tackle Jacob Merritt was beaten by a Dunnigan shoulder swipe for a sack.
+ Decent job against sophomore defensive end Ken Talley QB Tommy Schuster completed a quick out route in the first quarter.
+ Luniewski got the best of a collision with walk-on defensive tackle Jaxson Wilson on a duo run play, late in the first quarter. Luniewski got maybe a foot of movement on him, better than a stalemate.
+ Luniewski with good, comfortable lateral movement in pass pro vs Bai Jobe during an Alessio Milivojevic short completion late in the first quarter.
+ Good work in pass pro last play of first quarter against Jobe. Jobe made first contact and buckled Luniewski back a little bit with a good long-arm. Then Jobe twisted inside while Jaxson Wilson twisting outside as part of a T/E stunt. Charlton recovered from the long arm, got back in balance quickly, reacted and moved laterally to Wilson, moving to the outside and shut him down. Solid awareness and physical capability on this play by Luniewski, albeit against two fellow rookies.
= Decent contact vs Douse on a duo midway through second quarter. The play went for a TFL when LB Aaron Alexander defeated LT Jacob Merritt, but Lusniewski graded out fine on this play.
+ Luniewski moved well with a quick kick step vs Jalen Thompson late in second quarter on a 13-yard completion to Nick Marsh.
+ Moved well in pass pro, handled James Schott on a pass rush attempt late in the first half.
+ Showed quick feet, and was solid in pass pro, stalemating Avery Dunn on the fourth play of the second half.
+ Solid in pass pro vs Avery Dunn on a play action screen, early in fourth quarter. Quick lateral movement, comfortable on his feet, forceful with a jab, controlled Dunn. Nice job against a veteran player. Luniewski looked like a veteran.
– Allowed Avery Dunn to long-arm him and disengage to tackle RB Chris Williams for no gain with 5:00 left int he game. Dunn was two-gapping on that play. Luniewski didn’t grade out favorably on this one.
– Had a little problem when Avery Dunn offered a head and shoulder fake to the inside, then countered to the outside, with 4:19 left in the game. The pass was a one-read quick completion, from Schuster to TE Jack Nickel. So Luniewski didn’t have to block long, but if it had been an extended read in the pocket, Dunn was in the process of beating him and getting home.
3. ANDREW DENNIS (6-5, 295, Fr., Mt. Pleasant, Mich.)
Dennis committed to Michigan State in the spring of 2023. However, he de-committed in October due to uncertainty in the Spartan football program as a result of the firing of Mel Tucker. Penn State, Utah and Clemson offered Dennis scholarships last fall. Dennis took an official visit to Purdue and signed with Illinois.
Dennis enrolled at mid-year at Illinois and participate in spring practice. In the Illinois spring game, Dennis repped at center with the third string.
Dennis will begin his Michigan State practice career at offensive tackle. He was listed at 6-foot-4 as a senior in high school but is now up to 6-foot-5 and a half.
Like the Luniewski brothers, Dennis looked like be belonged on a college football field, despite essentially being a high school senior.
In pass protection, he comfortably withstood two bull rush attempts by 265-pound walk-on defensive tackle Henry Engle. Dennis was new to the center position and played a with a pad level that was a bit too high.
Dennis gave up a sack and a pressure to true freshman and former three-star recruit Eddie Tuerk. Tuerk caught him leaning when he surprised him with a one-gap rip move for a sack and then surprised him again with a one-gap move for a QB pressure.
Dennis was good against Tuerk or Engle when either tried to two-gap him or bull rush him. He matched size and strength with them with no problem. The one-gap moves caught him as a change-up. He’s learning. And he’s a big hunk of clay to work with.
4. PAYTON STEWART (6-7, 270, Kelso, Wash.)
Stewart is a three-star recruit who is enrolling this month. He was ranked the No. 9 player in Washington and the No. 42 offensive tackle in the country in the On3 Industry Rankings. SpartanMag viewed Stewart as the offensive line signee of the 2024 class with the most work to do in order to get up to a college level of play. Have patience with him.
MID-SUMMER ANALYSIS: Lepo could turn out to be better than Spencer Brown was in 2023, but as of now, Lepo is still an unproven player. Brown wasn’t great, but he had a lot of promising moments, hence Oklahoma’s interest. And hence, we can’t say that Michigan State is better at right tackle than was the case in August of 2023.
But the future is promising, with Lepo having three years of eligibility remaining and the Luniewskis pressing to compete, plus the current recruiting picture.
Depth Chart Projection Series:
SpartanMag’s Projected Michigan State Depth Chart
LEFT TACKLE
Brandon Baldwin, 6-7, 327, Sr., Detroit
Stanton Ramil, 6-7, 312, R-Fr., Alabaster, Ala.
Mercer Luniewski, 6-6, 320, Fr., Cincinnati
Jacob Merritt, 6-6, 286, R-So., Northville, Mich.
RIGHT TACKLE
Ashton Lepo, 6-7, 296, R-Soph., Grand Haven, Mich.
Charlton Luniewski, 6-5, 289, Fr., Cincinnati
Andrew Dennis, 6-5, 295, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
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