Michigan State football: Final remnants of Mel Tucker era fading away

The final remnants of the Mel Tucker era of Michigan State football are fading away with each transfer portal entrant.

The NIL and transfer portal era has really been something for those of us who love recruiting. It’s been tougher to pay attention to high school recruiting because a lot of these guys end up transferring out after a year or two anyways. Michigan State football is feeling the effects of this new era lately.

With the spring portal window opening last week, we expected to see a number of players transferring out, but maybe not the big names we’ve seen.

Guys like Derrick Harmon, Antonio Gates Jr., Andrew Depaepe, and Bai Jobe have all hit the portal and many were expecting them to have large roles this upcoming season. In fact, Harmon was a projected starter and Gates was a guy that Jonathan Smith praised earlier this spring.

The one positive that I can take away from all of these departures is this: the final remnants of the Mel Tucker era are fading away.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to sit here and act like I hated Tucker. I was actually one of his biggest supporters even though I found myself skeptical for the first time following the 2022 season. I thought he’d be able to turn things around. His recruiting and “cool” factor won me over. But that’s all it was. He was a good recruiter and a coach who related to players because he liked cool cars, dressed nice, and smoked cigars. There was little substance behind what he was building, unfortunately.

All of the corny catchphrases like “the deep end” or “keep choppin'” have been wiped away with the new regime coming in. That’s for the best. It’s an era that brought us one fun season and a legendary running back, but really left a black eye on the school with its crashing, burning finish.

And now most of the guys Mel Tucker recruited are moving on.

On Tuesday, it was Harmon, Jack Nickel, Davion Primm, Depaepe, and Jalen Berger. On Wednesday, it was Jobe.

While these losses definitely hurt as some of these guys were starters or in the two-deep, it’s just one step closer from completely moving on from Tucker. The Michigan State football program was set back drastically because of the last two seasons and now we can move forward.

Looking at the departures this offseason, most were Tucker guys:

• Hank Pepper, LS
• Jordon Simmons, RB (committed to Mark Dantonio, but only played for Tucker)
• Keyshawn Blackstock, OT
• Christian Fitzpatrick, WR
• Michael O’Shaughnessy, P
• Katin Houser, QB
• Kevin Wigenton, OG
• Sam Leavitt, QB
• Zion Young, DE
• Tyrell Henry, WR
• Maliq Carr, TE
• Quavian Carter, LB
• Ma’a Gaoteote, LB
• Jaelon Barbarin, RB
• Braden Miller, OT
• Eddie Pleasant, CB
• Marqui Lowery, CB
• Antonio Gates Jr., WR
• Sean Brown, DB
• Davion Primm, RB
• Andrew Depaepe, DE
• Derrick Harmon, DT
• Jalen Berger, RB
• Jack Nickel, TE
• Bai Jobe, DE

That’s 25 Tucker era scholarship players who entered the transfer portal this offseason. That’s a third of the roster. And when you consider that Smith brought in 21 prospects in the 2024 recruiting class along with 12 transfers (currently), that’s almost a flip of half the roster. A good chunk of the guys playing next season will probably be doing so for the first time in the green and white.

While losing some of these guys hurts, just think of it as a fresh start — a reset button. The final remnants of the Tucker era are fading away.