But the unit that saw action against Michigan — comprised of Cironi, sophomore left guard Joel Foreman, senior center Joel Nitchman, senior right guard Brendon Moss and junior right tackle D.J. Young — appears to be the unit that will take the Spartans forward for the remainder of the season.

“Any time you have your offensive line solidified in terms of who’s playing where and that they’re healthy, obviously you’re going to get better play,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said. “I think that’s what’s helping us.”

Moss also has started all five games, the first two coming at right tackle before moving to right guard. Young has taken over at right tackle since.

“Moss will now be playing in his third game at right guard so he’s getting more accustomed to being in there, same with D.J.,” Dantonio said.

Nitchman injured his knee in the season opener against Montana State and did not play against Central Michigan and Notre Dame. He returned against Wisconsin and played left guard in place of Foreman, who was injured during the Notre Dame game.

It now appears the musical chairs is over.

“It’s a great feeling,” Nitchman said of having a regular line. “I give a lot of credit to the guys who stepped in and battled earlier this year, they did a great job. At the same time, it’s a really great thing to have the first string back and whole.”

Young, a former defensive lineman who transferred to MSU from Bowling Green, said he still is grasping it all with it being his first year playing at the Big Ten level.

“We’re progressing,” Young said of the line. “We’re making positives. We called a lot more running plays than usual to let people know that we’re still here; we’re still ready to bang it out.”

After struggling to run the ball all season, the Spartans exploded for 197 yards against U-M.

“It was a tremendous boost,” Young said.

“Something was clicking.”

Sims on the move?

Dantonio said freshman tight end Dion Sims is on the “Chris Gamble method of introduction,” referring to the former Ohio State player who played both wide receiver and cornerback while Dantonio was Ohio State’s defensive coordinator.

It started with five minutes at practice one week, 10 the next, 15 the following and then 20, Dantonio said of Gamble’s transition. Now, Sims is trying it at the tight end and defensive end positions.

With MSU so deep at tight end — currently junior Charlie Gantt and sophomore Brian Lithicum are ahead of Sims on the depth chart — there can be time to experiment with Sims.

“We’ll see if we can teach him a little something and see if he can get on the field,” Dantonio said. “He’s an excellent football player. We have a good group of tight ends. A position of depth has been tight end for us, so I just want to make sure that he’s playing significantly on this football team on the offense and if he has an opportunity maybe on the defense in special situations.”

It isn’t the first time Dantonio has moved a tight end to defensive end, as Kellen Davis played some at defensive end during his senior season in 2007.

“We’ll see if it works or not, but it’s always fun to try,” Dantonio said.