Michigan State’s Big-Play Receiver Enters His Final Chapter
From a position change at Avon High School to an All-MAC breakthrough at Kent State, Chrishon McCray has built his career on adaptability and explosive playmaking. Now a redshirt senior at Michigan State, he enters 2026 as one of the Spartans’ most experienced returning receivers.
There is a useful way to understand Chrishon McCray’s football career: every major step has required him to become something more.
At Avon High School, he began as a running back before transitioning to wide receiver. At Kent State, he went from a redshirt season to an All-MAC breakthrough. Then, after establishing himself as one of the Mid-American Conference’s most dangerous big-play receivers, he transferred to Michigan State and tested himself against Big Ten competition.
The transitions have never been simple. They have, however, consistently revealed another part of his game.
McCray enters the 2026 season as a redshirt senior wearing No. 13 for Michigan State. The official Spartans roster lists him at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, with Avon, Indiana, remaining his hometown. He transferred from Kent State to Michigan State in January 2025 and has now played in 32 career games, including 22 starts.
The next chapter is potentially his most important.
- Full Name: Chrishon McCray
- Sport: Football
- Position: Wide Receiver
- Height: 5-foot-10
- Weight: 180 pounds
- Birthplace: Avon, Indiana
- School/College: Michigan State University
- Current Team: Michigan State Spartans
- Jersey Number: 13
- Previous School: Kent State University
- Years Active: 2022-present
McCray’s football development at Avon High School was shaped by versatility.
He did not begin his prep career as a receiver. Instead, he played running back before moving to wide receiver as a senior, a change that unlocked an explosive dimension in his game.
His senior season in 2021 was extraordinary. McCray produced more than 1,600 receiving yards and 18 receiving touchdowns, according to Kent State’s official biography, while his career rushing production at Avon exceeded 1,300 yards and included 11 rushing touchdowns. The crucial distinction is that the receiving touchdowns and the 1,300-plus rushing yards came during his senior campaign according to Kent State’s published bio, while Michigan State’s current biography identifies him as an Indiana Football Coaches Association Top-50 all-state first-team selection.
That high-school versatility became an early clue to the type of player McCray would become. He had experience carrying the football, finding open space and attacking defenses from different alignments.
He also excelled in basketball, earning first-team all-league recognition. Publicly available sources do not provide enough verified information about his parents, siblings, childhood mentors or personal influences to responsibly add further detail.
McCray arrived at Kent State in 2022 and made his collegiate debut against Bowling Green. After that redshirt season, he emerged as a major offensive contributor in 2023.
As a redshirt freshman, McCray led Kent State with 41 receptions for 610 yards and four touchdowns. His production earned him first-team All-MAC recognition and established him as one of the Golden Flashes’ most dangerous offensive weapons.
He became even more productive in 2024.
McCray caught 40 passes for 705 yards and nine touchdowns, earning second-team All-MAC honors. Across his two prestigious seasons at Kent State, he totaled 81 receptions for 1,315 yards and 13 touchdowns.
His most memorable performance came against Ball State, when he exploded for 213 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Those touchdowns came on receptions of 24, 63 and 57 yards, the kind of production that helped cement his reputation as a game-changing vertical threat.
By January 2025, Michigan State had seen enough. McCray transferred to East Lansing, joining a Spartans program looking to add explosive ability to its passing attack.
McCray’s defining characteristic is explosiveness.
At 5-foot-10, he is not built like the traditional oversized outside receiver. His effectiveness instead comes from acceleration, separation, route quickness and the ability to turn a completed pass into a much larger gain.
His Kent State production illustrates that perfectly. In two seasons, he averaged more than 16 yards per reception while producing 13 touchdowns. His background as a running back also gives him an understanding of how to attack space after the catch.
That skill set remained visible after his move to Michigan State.
In his Spartan debut against Western Michigan in 2025, McCray caught a 28-yard pass. Against Boston College, he produced three catches for 44 yards and made a spectacular one-handed 23-yard reception. At USC, he caught his first Michigan State touchdown a 42-yard strike from Aidan Chiles.
Those moments reflect why Michigan State continues to view him as an important piece of its offense.
McCray’s college résumé includes two All-MAC selections, a 705-yard receiving season, 16 career receiving touchdowns and more than 1,600 career receiving yards.
Entering 2026, his official Michigan State totals stand at 105 receptions for 1,645 yards and 16 touchdowns. He has also accumulated 226 kickoff-return yards and 42 rushing yards, giving him 1,913 career all-purpose yards.
At Kent State, he finished tied for fifth in school history with 13 touchdown receptions.
McCray’s career has included adversity as well as production.
The biggest early setback came after his 2023 breakout at Kent State, when his season was interrupted. Yet he returned to produce an even larger campaign in 2024.
His next challenge was leaving behind a program where he had become an established star and starting over at Michigan State.
That adjustment required patience. His first Big Ten season did not duplicate his statistical output from Kent State, but he still became a reliable contributor and eventually produced one of his most important performances of the year.
His official Michigan State biography also confirms that he missed the Minnesota game on Nov. 1, 2025, with an injury.
McCray’s first season at Michigan State produced 24 receptions for 330 yards and three touchdowns in 11 games, including six starts according to Michigan State’s 2026 spring position preview.
His breakthrough moment came at Iowa on Nov. 22, 2025.
McCray caught six passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns in the 20-17 loss. His touchdowns covered 45 and five yards, and the performance gave him his best statistical game of the season.
That Iowa performance also carried a significant career milestone: McCray reached 100 career receptions. Importantly, that was a career milestone, not 100 receptions at Michigan State. His first 81 receptions came during his two productive seasons at Kent State, while he entered the Iowa game needing only a handful more to reach 100. Michigan State’s current biography confirms that he finished the season with 105 career catches.
Now, in 2026, McCray returns as a veteran presence in a reshaped receiver room. Michigan State’s spring preview identifies him as a returning starter alongside six other returning receivers, while the program also added transfers and four incoming freshmen.
McCray’s value to Michigan State is not limited to his statistics.
He has already experienced the developmental stages younger receivers are only beginning to encounter: changing positions, redshirting, earning all-conference honors, overcoming setbacks, transferring and adapting to a higher level of competition.
Michigan State enters 2026 without several of its leading 2025 receivers, including Nick Marsh and Omari Kelly. That makes McCray’s experience particularly valuable as the Spartans reshape the position group.
He is also a player who has consistently produced when opportunities arrive. Michigan State notes that McCray has recorded at least one reception in 29 of his 32 career games.
Chrishon McCray’s career has never followed a straight line.
He was a running back who became a receiver. He went from a redshirt season at Kent State to a first-team All-MAC selection, then followed it with a second-team honor. He transferred to Michigan State and learned what it meant to rebuild his role against Big Ten competition.
Now, entering his redshirt-senior season, he brings 105 career receptions, 1,645 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns with him.
But the more revealing statistic may be the number of times he has had to reinvent himself.
At Michigan State, McCray is no longer simply the promising transfer receiver searching for his place. He is the veteran in the room the player who has already experienced the highs, setbacks and adjustments that define a college football career.
And if his past is any indication, another opportunity may be all he needs to make the next play a big one.