Michigan State football lands Tennessee LB transfer Quavaris Crouch from portal
A day after six players left Michigan State’s football program, the portal produced for Mel Tucker in a big way.
Linebacker Quavaris Crouch, who announced in January he planned to leave Tennessee after starting 10 games last season as a sophomore, posted a photoshopped image of himself in a Spartans uniform on Instagram with the caption, “Kickin it up north!! #gospartans #big10.” He also changed his bio to read “Michigan State University” after Crouch was spotted at Spartan Stadium during MSU’s spring game Saturday, and Tucker retweeted Crouch’s Twitter post.
The 6-foot-2, 235-pound product of Harding High in Charlotte, North Carolina, was a four-star prospect and the No. 1 player in his state in the 2019 recruiting class according to 247Sports.com's composite rankings.
[ Michigan State's roster turnover not the exception, just playing by the rules ]
In two years with the Volunteers, Crouch played in 23 games with 11 starts, making 85 tackles. Last season, he had 57 stops but entered the portal days after Tennessee fired Jeremy Pruitt after going 3-7 against only Southeastern Conference opponents.
Crouch can play immediately and will have three years of eligibility remaining thanks to the NCAA’s COVID-19 waivers for the 2020 season.
Linebacker remained a big priority for Tucker after losing Antjuan Simmons to the NFL draft and three others who went into the portal. Crouch watched Saturday as MSU used Noah Harvey, Cal Haladay, Devin Hightower and three walkons as the only six dressed linebackers, with Chase Kline sitting out the final spring practice.
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Brown is the third linebacker to announce his transfer to MSU from a Football Bowl Subdivision school, along with Itayvion Brown (Minnesota) and Ben VanSumeren (Michigan), and the Spartans’ 15th player added from the portal in the offseason.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football lands Tennessee LB transfer Quavaris Crouch
