Michigan State football: Transfer WR TJ Sheffield decommits

Michigan State football lost a transfer wide receiver this week as TJ Sheffield decommitted after coming over from Purdue.

Jonathan Smith has had an excellent few months with Michigan State football since taking over as head coach. He has made countless impressive moves from saving the 2024 recruiting class to doing extremely well in the transfer portal. However, for all the good that’s happened to the program, they were bound to receive some negative news eventually.

And that came in the form of a transfer decommitting from the program.

NEWS: Former Purdue transfer WR TJ Sheffield has de-committed from Michigan State👀

He originally committed to the Spartans back in December, but did not officially enroll. Sheffield has 118 catches for 1,209 yards and 11 TDs in his career.https://t.co/tv12C7uzTe pic.twitter.com/Yu9ddPOhqI

— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal_) March 14, 2024

TJ Sheffield was one of the first transfers to commit to Smith and Michigan State football after he took over the program. Sheffield is a wide receiver who transferred from Purdue and committed to MSU on Dec. 18. This was a huge get for the Spartans out of the portal as he was a plus receiver during his time as a Boilermaker.

During his time at Purdue, he recorded 114 receptions for 1,186 yards and 11 touchdowns. Sheffield has also been in college for five years so he would have been a great veteran presence in the locker room for the year he could have spent at MSU.

There’s no indication as to why Sheffield decided to leave the program. It does come at a very strange time as the spring semester is halfway done at this point. Usually guys wait until the semester ends before transferring as he won’t be able to join a new team until the summer now. He never officially enrolled at Michigan State, though.

I don’t think there’s a need to panic after losing Sheffield. Michigan State always has a solid wide receiver room. I also have complete faith in wide receiver coach Courtney Hawkins and trust he will continue to develop great receivers.

Smith could decide to use the portal again later this offseason once spring ball ends. Adding another veteran receiver to the group like Sheffield may not be a bad idea. But the wide receiver room is healthy and they have some talented freshmen coming in, so either way, Smith and Hawkins decide to handle this loss is fine with me.