Can't keep up with Michigan State football roster moves? Here's a cheat sheet

EAST LANSING — A few practices into new coach Jonathan Smith’s first spring, Derrick Harmon discussed his foray into the transfer portal a few months earlier, as well as his ultimate return to Michigan State football.

The Detroit native talked about how he wanted to play his home games so his mother could watch. How he and Simeon Barrow — a fellow defensive tackle who had withdrawn from the portal during the season and was getting to know Smith’s new staff — communicated about what Harmon’s visits were like and what was happening with the Spartans. How the two of them identified with offensive linemen Ethan Boyd and Geno VanDeMark, two other portal explorers who instead returned to MSU.

“I feel like this was probably the best fit for me,” Harmon said March 26.

By the end of April, however, all four had re-entered the portal. Last week, three of them settled on their new homes — Boyd to Colorado last Thursday, then Barrow to Miami (Florida) and Harmon to Oregon the next dy.

That’s a long way from home for Harmon, and a long way from the roster Smith inherited in November — and thought he had a month ago.

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In total, 21 players who were on the roster through spring workouts entered the portal soon before or after the April 20 spring showcase. And one of those — wide receiver Antonio Gates Jr. — announced he will remain at MSU.

At least for now. Because who knows what tomorrow might bring — let alone by the Spartans’ Aug. 31 opener against Florida Atlantic, in this era of quasi pay-for-play without contractual obligations to stay put.

“Rosters are always gonna be fluid ... so we'll see how the dust settles here” after spring practices were complete, Smith said less than three weeks ago. “We're always going to be looking to add quality people to our roster, really at all positions.”

In the olden days — y'know, back in the 2010s — departures after spring practice was the norm for player movement. But most who left would have to sit out a year — until the NCAA lifted that restriction going into the 2021 season, a year in which MSU and then-coach Mel Tucker turned college football upside down by renovating the Spartans’ roster with 21 inbound transfers. It was an unprecedented overhaul that resulted in an 11-2 season, Peach Bowl victory and a top-10 finish.

“I think we're the great plagiarists of athletics in football,” Northwestern's then-coach Pat Fitzgerald said in 2021. “So if it works, absolutely people will emulate it.”

Tucker’s experiment laid the foundation for all that has transpired since, with Deion Sanders taking it to the extreme makeover level at Colorado last season. Other programs have followed suit in what ultimately will be as much a part of Tucker’s legacy as his dismissal in disgrace last fall.

He and the Spartans turned college football into a transactional business, furthered by the implementation of the 2021-introduced concept of players monetarily capitalizing on their “Name, Image and Likeness” rights. Wealthy boosters around the country usurped the concept as a de facto payroll for programs. That has created an environment of bidding wars and agents and power brokers negotiating deals outside athletic departments’ purview — at least until they get some control back this fall to begin fostering deals between their athletes and third-party entities, such as “NIL collectives,” that are providing the salaries.

In all, it's a toxic stew left for Smith and his peers to now navigate.

“The landscape creates that, and so we're not the only ones kind of dealing with it,” Smith said in April. “You just try to an create an environment where these guys feel they get an opportunity and they've got a chance to develop and grow. I think we've established that for about four months. I think we got a lot of guys that are feeling optimistic about the approach. But again, in this landscape, everybody's got their individual decisions. And vice versa. I look at it this way — in the next few months, we can add some really good players to our roster.”

With less than five months until the season officially kicks off, there is a good chance Smith’s roster will continue to evolve. But here is an in-the-moment look at where things stand for the Spartans.

Departing

Of those who are outbound, a few were starters for last fall’s 4-8 MSU team that saw Tucker fired during the season and interim coach Harlon Barnett and all but one assistant from that staff depart.

Harmon and Barrow were keys in the middle of the Spartans’ defense, experienced hole-pluggers who have shown the ability to collapse the pocket from the interior of the line. That leaves sixth-year senior Maverick Hansen as the lone remaining defensive tackle with experience at MSU.

Boyd, an East Lansing High product, entered the portal but returned to the Spartans in December after starting three of his 12 games last season. He appeared to be in line to start at right tackle, particularly when incumbent Spencer Brown transferred to Oklahoma after the season, but he instead will now go play for Sanders (now orchestrating his second straight Buffs reset) in Boulder.

Brown was one of 15 scholarship players and four walk-ons who either transferred out after last season ended or planned to enter the portal, two of whom (running back Jaelon Barbarin and linebacker Ma’a Gaoteote) were not part of MSU’s spring roster. That initial outbound group included all three quarterbacks and top two tight ends from last season.

Running back Jaren Mangham, who transferred to MSU before last season after previous stops at Colorado and South Florida, moved on to his fourth college when he signed with Minnesota on Wednesday. The Detroit native was hurt much of last fall but provided a boost to an abysmal run game and banged-up backfield late. He found himself this spring behind returning starter Nate Carter and early enrollee Brandon Tullis, with another freshman, Makhi Frazier, on the way this summer.

Another young backup offensive tackle, Braden Miller, transferred to California last month after going through spring practices. Highly touted freshman defensive end Bai Jobe also left the program and committed to Kansas on Tuesday.

In limbo

Starting safety Jaden Mangham is the biggest name of this group, a former four-star recruit who followed his older brother into the portal in somewhat of a surprise. The second-team All-Big Ten selection reportedly will visit three other Big Ten schools — Michigan, Ohio State and Rutgers — and MSU has already scrubbed his player bio (and several others) from its website.

Running back Jalen Berger, like Jaren Mangham, was injured last season and found himself pushed down the running back depth chart this spring, to No. 3 behind Tullis despite serving as the Spartans’ starter in 2022. The one-time Wisconsin transfer remains in the portal as of Wednesday.

Like Jobe, defensive end Andrew Depaepe was a highly coveted four-star recruit who redshirted in 2023. He entered the portal April 23, the same day as Harmon.

Other scholarship players who remain in the portal after entering this spring are mostly depth players: defensive backs Sean Brown, Khary Crump, Malcom Jones, Marqui Lowery Jr. and Eddie Pleasant III; running back Davion Primm; and tight end Jack Nickel.

Arrived or incoming

After he was hired, Smith added 10 players from the portal who went through spring practice, including three likely starters who followed him from Oregon State: quarterback Aidan Chiles, center Tanner Miller and tight end Jack Velling.

Two defensive tackle transfers arrived in the winter, D’Quan Douse (Georgia Tech) and Quindarius Dunnigan (Middle Tennessee State), as did two linebackers in Jordan Turner (Wisconsin) and Wayne Matthews III (Old Dominion). Quarterback Tommy Schuster, a starter the past four seasons at North Dakota, likely will back up Chiles. Kaden Schickel (James Madison) is expected to be the new long snapper.

The Spartans have also picked up pledges from seven others since the 15 allowable workouts wrapped up and the portal started to swallow up their roster.

Linebacker Anthony Jones, who originally committed to transfer and play for Smith at Oregon State will arrive from Indiana. MSU will be his third school after beginning his college career at Oregon. Running back Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams also is on his third stop after beginning his career at Rutgers and blossoming last fall at UMass. Cornerback Ed Woods will arrive this summer after starting the past two seasons at Arizona State. He picked MSU over Alabama in this transfer cycle. Defensive end Tyson Gillison on Monday said he will join Smith's program from Cincinnati.

Like Turner, a Farmington product, three other players who left the state to begin their college careers are coming home this summer.

Defensive tackle Ru'Quan Buckley, from suburban Grand Rapids, announced Monday he plans to transfer to MSU from Nebraska. Offensive tackle Luke Newman, a Bloomfield Hills native, is expected to make the move up from FCS-level Holy Cross. And offensive lineman Andrew Dennis, who had been committed to MSU until Tucker's firing, is leaving Illinois, after enrolling in January, to return home with all five years of eligibility left.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football's arriving, departing and in-limbo players