Michigan State Football: Shakur Brown is going to be sorely missed in 2021

After a breakout 2020 season, Shakur Brown decided to skip his final year with Michigan State football for the NFL. He’s going to be severely missed.

Mark Dantonio had a successful run at Michigan State for a few reasons. One, he was a no-nonsense coach who expected the most out of his players. Two, the continuity he had with his staff worked for a while. And three, he had a knack for finding diamonds in the rough who were overlooked by some of the big boys in college football.

One of those diamonds was Shakur Brown who committed late to Michigan State’s 2017 class after it looked like he was destined for West Virginia.

The Stockbridge, Ga., native was ranked just the No. 1,149 prospect in the class and 149th-best player in the state of Georgia. He was brought in as an athlete and Dantonio had high hopes for the overlooked three-star prospect. Many saw his potential with his skill-set but through a couple of seasons, he was relatively quiet.

And then he had a solid 2019 campaign, recording 23 tackles, two sacks and an interception with five passes defended. He looked like a sure-fire starter and leader of the defense.

In 2020 under a new coaching staff, Brown flourished. He put up a career-high 25 tackles with five interceptions for 107 return yards and had four pass deflections. He was named an All-American by Pro Football Focus and Walter Camp and was a first-team All-Big Ten selection at cornerback by the coaches and second-team, according to the media.

Brown’s breakout was long overdue and showed that Dantonio had the right vision for the athlete from Georgia. He decided to forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the 2021 NFL Draft.

This is going to hurt Michigan State’s 2021 secondary in a big way while also showing that the Spartans can send defensive backs to the NFL no matter who the head coach is.

Also gone at cornerback from last year’s team will be Julian Barnett, Chris Jackson and Davion Williams. All of those guys would have provided necessary depth with Brown departing but each has found a new home and Michigan State will now be looking at the portal for answers.

Brown was once thought of as a backup option or depth piece but became a focal point of the secondary in 2020 and now he’s going to be sorely missed. Michigan State is going to have a very tough time replacing him and the secondary could take a major hit in 2021 without him.