Michigan State football: Jonathan Smith comments on transferring to rival schools

Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith opened up over the weekend about players transferring to rival schools.

The biggest news out of the spring transfer portal wasn’t the sheer number of players who left the Michigan State football program – it was the player swap between Michigan State and Michigan involving Spartan safety Jaden Mangham and Wolverine linebacker Samaj Bridgeman.

At the National College Showcase camp at Wayne State this past Thursday, Jonathan Smith alluded to seeing transfers between rivals become a bit more common. According to the new head coach of MSU, the landscape of the sport has changed so much that he expects to see transfers to rivals happen more frequently.

Still rare, but we’ll see it ‘every once in a while’.

Historically speaking, this isn’t the first time players have transferred between the two schools. Back in 2020, Ben VanSumeren made the jump from Ann Arbor to East Lansing for a better shot at seeing the field. VanSumeren, a linebacker and fullback for the Wolverines, joined the 2021 squad that ultimately won the Peach Bowl on the back of Wake Forest running back transfer Kenneth Walker.

Michigan State and Michigan isn’t the only rivalry that’s seen movement. Rivalries between Georgia-Florida and UCLA-USC have also seen players transfer to the enemy in the new era of the portal.

When news broke of Mangham transferring to Michigan just a couple weeks ago, it nearly broke Paul Bunyan Twitter. Each player garnered different reactions since both players were in different situations. Makes sense, right? But that’s not how Michigan saw it.

Mangham, a multi-year starter and assumed leader of the MSU defense, left at midnight of the spring portal window after taking up all the first-team reps during the spring. Bridgeman was a freshman on Michigan’s 2023 national title team and played exactly zero snaps. His motivation to leave was for a better opportunity to play. The same could not be said for Mangham.

I would hate to see in-state rivalries diminish with the changing landscape of college football. The discourse and anticipation of these games are part of why we love the sport. With that said, some transfers between rivals make sense (Bridgeman) and others are straight up perplexing (Mangham).

Regardless, I think Smith will truly begin to understand the Michigan-Michigan State football rivalry once he coaches his first game against the school down the road on Oct. 26.