Michigan State names captains for Peach Bowl and 2021 season

The Michigan State football program announced its final set of captains for the 2021 season on Tuesday. It comes a little over a week before the Spartans head to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl matchup against the Pittsburgh Panthers. MSU will have four captains for the New Year’s Six bowl game at the end of the month.

At the beginning of the video above, head coach Mel Tucker notes these captains are not just the captains for the bowl game, but also the captains for the 2021 season, or “for the year,” as Tucker put it.

For the 13th time this season, senior safety Xavier Henderson is one of the Spartans’ captains, and it is no surprise that he will serve in that role for the Peach Bowl or that he is one of the permanent captains for the year. He’s been a massive leader for the Spartans all season long, and is the only player on the team who was voted a team captain for every game in 2021.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Payton Thorne is making his second appearance as a captain this year, and has also stepped up as a leader for the Spartans throughout the year as the team’s signal-caller.

Like Thorne, graduate senior offensive lineman Luke Campbell is making his second appearance as captain as well. Meanwhile, graduate senior defensive end Drew Beesley is making his fourth appearance as a captain, and has the most appearances out of anybody not named Xavier Henderson.

Michigan State heads to Atlanta to take on Pitt in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30. The game will air on ESPN at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.