Michigan State football: Kenny Willekes gets tryout with Lions

Former Michigan State football star Kenny Willekes is reportedly trying out for the Detroit Lions this week.

It is pretty common for NFL teams to host tryouts throughout the season, especially as injuries start to mount. If you’ve been following the NFL, you’ll know that the Detroit Lions have already been hit with the injury bug pretty hard. With that comes a lot of tryouts to try the fill the spots of those injured player. One former Michigan State football player got the call and had a tryout with the Lions on Sept. 19.

Kenny Willekes tries out for the Detroit Lions

That’s right, former Spartan Kenny Willekes tried out for a spot on the Detroit Lions. I haven’t seen any information about how the tryout went, but the thought of him playing for the Lions is super exciting. I know not all Michigan State fans are Lions fans, but I think it’s safe to assume the majority are. Imagine being able to watch a former Spartan play for your favorite NFL team. That sounds pretty exciting to me.

Just ask Michigan fans who are also Lions fans. They get to watch former Wolverine Aiden Hutchinson dominate each week in Detroit. I would love nothing more than to have that opportunity with a former Michigan State player.

Kenny Willekes career notes

Willekes played for Michigan State from 2016-2019. He only appeared in one game in 2016, but saw significant playing time in each game his final three years. Throughout his career, he totaled 229 tackles with 51 being tackles for loss. He also collected 26 sacks and four forced fumbles. He even scored one defensive touchdown off a fumble recovery during the 2019 season as well.

Michigan State never had a dominant season during his time in East Lansing, but we had some great defenses while he was here. I would argue that if we had a slightly above average offense, we would’ve been seriously contending for Big Ten Championships during his time in East Lansing.

That’s how good these defenses were that Willekes was on.

Kenny was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL draft. However, he unfortunately is yet to see much playing time in the NFL, as he only appeared in six games for the Vikings. Even in such a small amount of games, Willekes still made an impact on the field. He accumulated 18 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Not bad if you ask me.

There’s no telling if the Lions will sign him or not. It’s very difficult to work your way back into the NFL, but I hope Willekes is able to get it done. Selfishly I hope he ends up with Detroit, but I’ll be just as happy for him no matter where he ends up.