Michigan State football: Bai Jobe transfer is a painful one

Losing Bai Jobe to the transfer portal is probably the second-most painful loss for Michigan State football this spring.

Another day, another crop of Michigan State football players in the transfer portal.

After losing Andrew Depaepe, Derrick Harmon, Jack Nickel, Davion Primm, and Jalen Berger to the transfer portal on Tuesday, the Spartans got some more bad news on Wednesday. This time, it came in the form of former top-50 defensive end Bai Jobe.

Michigan State second-year edge rusher Bai Jobe has entered the transfer portal, @mzenitz and I have learned for @247Sports.

He ranked as the No. 55 overall player in the 2023 class.https://t.co/vDfsemSH5V pic.twitter.com/0cojmakuue

— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) April 24, 2024

While most of the losses to this point have been manageable, this one hurts.

Jobe was one of the prized commits in Mel Tucker’s 2023 recruiting class and everyone had high hopes for him in the green and white. He played sparingly in a lost season and was expected to take that next step this spring, but all was quiet on the Jobe front. Fast forward to Wednesday, just four days after the Spring Showcase, and Jobe is in the portal along with fellow 2023 defensive line classmate Andrew Depaepe.

If we’re being honest, most of these portal entrants have been expected and didn’t “hurt” because the writing was already on the wall. But the loss of Jobe is a painful one. He could have been one of the key pieces of a defensive resurgence and he had all the talent to be special.

If I’m ranking the most painful portal entrants so far this spring, Harmon is probably No. 1 followed by Jobe and then Simeon Barrow. The defensive line has taken a massive hit since Tucker left and the guys he recruited are all at new spots. Add in Zion Young and Depaepe leaving and this group is a ghost town. There’s a reason Jonathan Smith is working hard on some portal defensive linemen.

In the transfer portal era, Michigan State football could look drastically different every year. That’s now the nature of college football.