Michigan State football adds transfer CB Terry Roberts from Iowa (via Miami)
Michigan State football has continued to mine the portal for help in the defensive backfield.
A team spokesman Thursday afternoon confirmed the Spartans added cornerback Terry Roberts, their 17th inbound transfer for the 2023 season.
Roberts played 33 games with four starts at Iowa from 2018-22 before entering the portal after last season with one year of eligibility remaining with the COVID waiver for 2020. He produced 47 tackles, two interceptions and seven pass-breakouts as a Hawkeye.
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The Erie, Pennsylvania, native initially transferred to Miami (Florida) in January before reentering the portal last week. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Roberts played in five games for Iowa last fall with 13 tackles, an interception and three pass breakups before suffering a season-ending lower leg injury in an Oct. 8 game against Illinois.
Roberts was a three-star recruit out of Erie Prep, the same school that produced former MSU players Damion Terry and Delton Williams. He is the 10th defensive back head coach Mel Tucker added to the Spartans’ roster in the past three seasons and the third in this cycle, joining cornerback Semar Melvin (Wisconsin) and safety Armorion Smith (Cincinnati).
In three seasons under Tucker, a former defensive back as a player and a secondary coach in college and pros, MSU has struggled to defend the pass. The Spartans allowed 237.9 yards through the air last season to finish 86th nationally. They were next-to-last at 130th in 2021, giving up 324.8 passing yards per game after ranking 72nd and yielding 239.4 yards in 2020 during Tucker’s pandemic-shortened debut.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football adds transfer CB Terry Roberts from Iowa
