Tag: Michigan State

Top-rated 2025 Michigan guard recruit schedules visit to Notre Dame

Will the Irish get him?

[autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] is entering his second season as Notre Dame coach. He’s waiting for the one recruit that really could make an impact. If everything goes right, he might have just found his guy.

Trey McKenney is a four- or five-star recruit depending on which site you look at. According to 247Sports, the Michigan shooting guard is the state’s top-rated player in the 2025 recruiting class. While it’s been known for a while now that he would be visiting the Irish, he finally has set a date with them along with all the other schools he’s visiting:

The fact that McKenney is visiting the Irish last means they’ll have a chance to save the best presentation for last. As of right now, On3 has him most likely to pick Michigan State. A lot can happen over the next few months though, and Irish fans will be anxious to see if it works out for their team.

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Former Michigan State football QB announces retirement from NFL

Former Michigan State football QB announces retirement from NFL

Former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles is set to ride off into the sunset after an 11-year NFL career. In case you didn’t know, Foles is a former Michigan State football recruit who spent one season with the Spartans in 2007 before transferring to Arizona.

Foles will be remembered for his heroics in Super Bowl LII.

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Jaden Mangham says Michigan football is ‘different’ than Michigan State

Jaden Mangham says Michigan football is ‘different’ than Michigan State

Former Michigan State football safety Jaden Mangham, who transferred to rival Michigan this offseason, was on a show with Sam Webb of TheMichiganInsider this week, and for the first time, he talked about the differences in his new home with MSU’s biggest rival.

You can see Mangham’s comments below, presented without comment:

“My experience has been great,” Mangham said. “You know, coming in, I could tell it was different. Like, doing things — the lifts, workouts, just running, seeing how people carried themselves, seeing how people prepare, you know? Seeing that, it was different. There were some guys who did do a little bit of that but, you know, it’s just so much more here.”

“I talk to a lot of the guys — Alex [Orji], Will [Johnson], all of them, Makari [Paige], Colston [Loveland]. I talk to a lot of them just to see how everything’s going, making sure I’m doing good, which I appreciate,” Mangham said. “But, you know, just coming in here, it’s been different and they’ve been helping me a lot. The resources that are here, they’re amazing. So, I’m taking advantage of everything that I have here, using it for my success so I can become an even better player and a better person.”

Michigan safety Makari Paige had this to say about his new teammate:

“Yeah we’ve embraced him with love, for sure,” Paige said. “Convos be like, just joking on Michigan State, for real. Like, yeah, got y’alls butt whooped 49-0 — something like that.”

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Many Oregon State fans do not want Jonathan Smith to succeed at Michigan State

It might surprise people outside Corvallis, but Oregon State fans remain unhappy with Jonathan Smith.

The Pac-12 essentially (if not technically) died this year. Jonathan Smith made an understandable decision to leave the Beavers for Michigan State. Everyone can appreciate why Smith felt the need to leave Corvallis. You might think Oregon State fans would be sympathetic to Smith. Yet, that’s not entirely the case. Some fans get it, but a lot of OSU fans are not going to cheer for Smith at Michigan State in the Big Ten.

John Canzano wrote this at his Substack (subscription required):

Jonathan Smith is a good football coach. I like the guy and understand the professional reasons why he left Oregon State. But I don’t think he handled his exit in Corvallis as smoothly as he could have.

Canzano pointed to a reader comment he received about Smith’s departure:

The comment section of that column is an entertaining and informative read. One reader referenced an episode of the TV show “The Office” in which Dwight Schrute professed his undying loyalty to Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

“Would I ever leave this company?” Schrute said. “Look, I’m all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part of what I’m being paid for here is my loyalty. But if there were somewhere else that valued loyalty more highly, I’m going wherever they value loyalty the most.”

Ain’t it the truth.

We talked about Jonathan Smith and the bitter taste his departure created for Oregon State fans on a podcast we did with Don Smalley and Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire. That podcast is below:

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Michigan State gymnastics releases 2025 schedule

Michigan State gymnastics releases 2025 schedule

Michigan State gymnastics had the best season in program history in 2023-24, when they made it all the way to the NCAA championships after winning the program’s first Big Ten Championship.

Check out what the Spartans have on deck in 2025 as they look to build on the historic campaign a year ago:

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Michigan State a top university according to Forbes

See where MSU ranks in Forbes top 500 list, ranking US colleges:

The popular news outlet Forbes has published their latest Top 500 list, ranking colleges in the United States. In a list compiled by College Basketball Report, fans got a glimpse at where Michigan State landed.

Michigan State was ranked as the No. 23 overall school in the United States, and falls as the No. 11 school in the Big Ten.

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Report: Former Wisconsin RB Jalen Berger on the move to another Big Ten program

Report: Former Wisconsin RB Jalen Berger on the move to another Big Ten program

Former Wisconsin and Michigan State running back Jalen Berger is projected to transfer to UCLA, according to a report from 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

Berger played the last two seasons at Michigan State after beginning his career with the Wisconsin Badgers. He re-entered the transfer portal back in April and is now reportedly close to finding a destination.

Related: Where Wisconsin lands in USA TODAY Sports’ 2024 Big Ten football preseason poll

The former four-star recruit has recorded 1,165 rushing yards over his four-year college career. His most productive season came in 2022 at Michigan State when he took 148 carries for 683 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

Berger is best known in Wisconsin circles as the former heir apparent to All-American RB Jonathan Taylor when he left for the NFL after the 2019 season. The former four-star recruit flashed that potential in limited action in 2020 with 301 rushing yards on 5.0 yards per carry. He was dismissed from the program early during the 2021 season, however, and ended up landing at Michigan State.

Zenitz projects Berger to join a UCLA program that is in the midst of transition as it moves to the Big Ten. Longtime head coach Chip Kelly took the vacant offensive coordinator position at Ohio State this offseason, leading the Bruins to hire program legend and former running backs coach DeShaun Foster as their next head coach.

The Bruins’ roster is in somewhat of a rebuild after Kelly and ace defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn left after the 2023 season. It would present Berger with an opportunity to play, something that is sure to be atop his list of desires for his final two seasons of eligibility.

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Big Ten primer — Michigan State’s greatest football moment

Michigan State had an amazing run of success from 1950 through 1955.

The USC Trojans are about to enter the Big Ten, a reality which will be affirmed at Big Ten media days this week. Michigan State becomes a conference neighbor for USC. If we were to ask which moment is Michigan State’s greatest, it’s not easy to pick the ultimate Spartan football memory.

First things first: The most famous moment in Michigan State history is easy to point to. The 1966 10-10 tie with Notre Dame is by far the most-discussed, written-about event in MSU football annals. Yet, that was not a happy moment for the Spartans or their fans. Notre Dame played conservatively, knowing that a tie would give the Irish the national championship. Michigan State did not lose a game that season and finished No. 2, but the Notre Dame game was not the happiest moment of that season — anything but.

Michigan State did win the national title in the 1965 season, but the championship lost some of its luster when the Spartans were stunned by UCLA in the 1966 Rose Bowl.

Michigan State beat USC in the 1988 Rose Bowl, but that was not one of MSU’s very best teams. The 1965 and 1966 teams are uniformly regarded as better all-time squads.

The 2013 MSU team won the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. Those were very special moments for the program. The 2015 team made the College Football Playoff, but then got crushed 38-0 by Alabama in the semifinals at the Cotton Bowl.

The greatest Michigan State football moment might be less a single episode in time and more of a collection of years. Michigan State went unbeaten in 1951 and 1952 under coach Biggie Munn. In 1952, the Spartans won their first national championship, but they didn’t get to play in the Rose Bowl that year because they weren’t yet in the Big Ten — that didn’t happen until 1953. In 1953, Michigan State earned a Rose Bowl berth and won its first Granddaddy.

From 1950 through 1955, Michigan State lost no more than one game in five of those six seasons. MSU had two unbeaten, untied seasons, a national title, and two Rose Bowl wins. The 1951-1953 run produced the unbeaten seasons, the first national title, and a Rose Bowl victory. Pick your moment from those seasons.

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Michigan State and Nike extend contract through 2027

Michigan State and Nike have extended their contract for another three years

Michigan State’s uniforms have been known to sport the Nike swoosh, with the company having a relationship with the university. That relationship is set to continue for at least three more years.

The new contract, courtesy of Stephen Brooks of 247Sports, the new deal going through 2027, states that Nike will pay Michigan State a base of $700,000 per year.

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Former MSU Football OL J.D. Duplain drafted by Michigan Panthers in UFL draft

J.D. Duplain drafted by Michigan Panthers in UFL draft

The Michigan Panthers are becoming the unofficial home of Spartans in the UFL, with names like Brian Lewerke, Jarrett Horst, Rocky Lombardi, and now, J.D. Duplain all suiting up in Ford Field for some UFL action.

The former Michigan State football offensive lineman was selected with the Panthers’ ninth pick of the 2024 UFL College Draft.

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