Safety Jaden Mangham transfers from Michigan State to Michigan
Jaden Mangham delivered the transfer equivalent of a Friday afternoon news dump bombshell.
The former Michigan State football safety is heading to Michigan football.
Mangham announced via x (formerly Twitter) that he has committed to the Wolverines to play for new head coach Sherrone Moore, adding fuel to a fire stoked in recent weeks by a social media feud between his oldest brother, Jalen, and former Spartans.
The 6-foot-2, 191-pound junior has two years of eligibility remaining. MSU, led by first-year coach Jonathan Smith, plays U-M on Oct. 26 in Ann Arbor.
SPLITTING APART: Michigan State football's Mangham brothers get rare chance to play together, at home
Mangham sat out the Spartans’ open spring practice April 20 while his older brother, running back Jaren Mangham, dressed and went through drills but did not participate in the scrimmage phase. Both entered the portal 10 days later. Jaren Mangham — who began his career at Colorado under Mel Tucker in 2019, transferred to South Florida in 2021 and arrived at MSU last fall as a graduate transfer — announced his transfer to Minnesota on May 7.
The next day, their oldest brother, Jalen, traded terse tweets with several former Spartan players, including Mark Dantonio-era greats Tony Lippett, R.J. Shelton and Felton Davis III. MSU scrubbed both Jaden and Jaren Mangham’s bios from its website after they entered the portal. On Friday evening, a number of current and former players started voicing their disgust on social media about Mangham’s transfer to the Spartans’ biggest rival.
What used to be unheard of, however, is part of a growing trend with the boom of the transfer portal, aided by the Big Ten eliminating its intraconference transfer policy. Former U-M player Ben VanSumeren, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, began his collegiate career as a fullback with the Wolverines before transferring to MSU and moving to linebacker in 2021. And linebacker Semaj Bridgeman, part of Michigan’s national championship roster last season, entered the portal in late April and recently took a visit to MSU per his social media.
Jaden Mangham was a four-star recruit who signed with MSU’s 2022 class under Tucker, who was suspended and fired last season. He was ranked the No. 13 athlete nationally and 311th-best prospect in the 2022 class according to 247 Sports' composite ratings.
Last season, Mangham played in 11 games and logged 53 tackles from his free safety spot. He led the Spartans with four interceptions and added three pass breakups and a fumble recovery. He sat out MSU’s loss at Iowa reportedly due to injury.
As a true freshman in 2022, Mangham played in nine of 12 games and emerged as a starter at safety before getting knocked out of the Spartans’ loss to Ohio State attempting to tackle Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson. Mangham did not play the following week against Wisconsin and finished his first season in East Lansing with 20 tackles.
Jaden Mangham was one of six defensive backs who entered the portal after spring practice, along with Sean Brown, Khary Crump, Marqui Lowery and Eddie Pleasant III. The Spartans bring back multiple starting defensive backs —cornerbacks Charles Brantley and Chance Rucker; safeties Malik Spencer and Dillon Tatum; and nickelback Angelo Grose.
Smith, who was hired in late November to replace Tucker, also has added four transfer defensive backs since the end of spring practice, including safety Nikai Martinez (Central Florida) and cornerback Jeremiah Hughes (LSU) earlier Friday. MSU also is bringing in Ed Woods (Arizona State) and Lejand Cavazos (North Carolina/Ohio State).
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football lands ex-MSU safety Jaden Mangham in transfer portal
