Michigan State Football: This is an important year for Kalon Gervin

As the 2020 season wrapped up, Kalon Gervin had to be glad to use what he learned as a starter moving forward into his upperclassmen years. He always had the talent to be one of the top defensive backs in the Big Ten but hadn’t pieced it all together yet.

Gervin showed flashes in Michigan State football’s 2020 season, finishing with 22 tackles, four pass breakups, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown against Northwestern. It was a start.

But even Mel Tucker knew he’d have to bolster his secondary, especially at cornerback, after he watched Davion Williams, Chris Jackson, Julian Barnett, and Shakur Brown all depart. The first three entered the transfer portal and Brown went to the NFL draft a year early and somehow went unselected only to be picked up by the Steelers.

The cornerback position was set up to be one of the weakest on the team because it lost essentially all of its depth.

So Tucker went out and hit the portal hard, landing Kendell Brooks (DII), Khary Crump (Arizona), Marqui Lowery (Louisville), Chester Kimbrough (Florida), and then Ronald Williams (Alabama).

A position with no depth became one of the deepest and most talented on the roster and now Tucker has a decision to make concerning his starters. Will he go with Gervin and one of Kimbrough and Williams or will he go with the latter two and have Kalon come off the bench?

Gervin needs to fight for his starting job back and the additions of the five transfers actually might help his growth.

The 2021 season is crucial for Gervin’s development

As stated earlier, Gervin has the pieces to be a very good cornerback for Michigan State, but he hasn’t even come close to his potential yet. In order to reach that, he’s going to have to prove he’s a better option than a couple of talented SEC transfers.

While he might still be a backup to start the year, he could show consistency throughout the year and slide into a starting role, and continue to grow.

If he’s going to make that jump to the next level, he’s going to have to prove himself in 2021 and show that he can maintain a prominent role in a deep cornerback room.

This season is the most important of his career.