Tag: Ma’a Gaoteote

Michigan State football LB withdraws name from transfer portal

A key piece to Michigan State’s defense has withdrawn his name from the transfer portal:

It appears that Ma’a Geoteote has made the decision to withdraw his name from the transfer portal and return to East Lansing. Gaoteote was the highest-rated prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, Tucker’s first during his tenure at Michigan State.

Gaoteote was the lone composite 4-star in the 2021 class, ranking as the No. 161 overall player in the nation, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

Gaoteote appeared in 8 games during his true freshman season, mainly on special teams, but also got some work late in the year at the linebacker position. He collected 7 tackles, 1 pass defend and 1 forced fumble while on the field this year.

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Michigan State football true freshman LB Ma’a Gaoteote enters NCAA transfer portal

Michigan State true freshman LB Ma’a Gaoteote enters NCAA transfer portal

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It definitely has not been uncommon to see Michigan State football players come and go via the NCAA transfer portal since Mel Tucker took over at MSU, but this one does come as a bit of a surprise. On Wednesday, Michigan State true freshman linebacker Ma’a Gaoteote entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Gaoteote was MSU’s top recruit of the 2021 recruiting class and his brother currently plays for Ohio State. Gaoteote could still return to MSU, entering the portal just allows players to have conversations with other schools.

This move is likely related to MSU bringing in a few veteran transfers at the linebacker position that could postpone Gaoteote’s ability to become a regular starter.

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4-star LB Ma’a Gaoteote flips commitment from USC to Michigan State Football

Big news out of Signing Day as 4-star outside linebacker Ma’a Gaoteote flipped his commitment to Michigan State.

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There have been rumors about this for weeks now, and on Wednesday, those rumors were realized. During the early period of National Signing Day, as multiple recruits officially submitted their National Letters of Intent to Michigan State Football, a bomb was dropped when 4-star linebacker Ma’a Gaoteote flipped his commitment from USC to the Spartans.

Gaoteote, who is from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, was committed to the Trojans since Feb. 2018 before Tucker and his staff flipped him on Wednesday. Gaoteote is the No. 155 player in the country by the 247Sports rankings and their No. 11 ranked outside linebacker overall by the composite rankings.

This is a huge land for the Spartans, who will also be trying to land his brother Palaie out of the transfer portal. Palaie played at USC before entering the transfer portal this year.

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