Michigan State football: Jarek Broussard gives Spartans two-headed monster

Michigan State football landed former Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year Jarek Broussard, completing an elite backfield.

On Jan. 13, running back Jarek Broussard announced that he would be leaving the Colorado program and entering the transfer portal. Since then, he was rated on outlets as a top transfer target, some even having him as the fourth-best available player.

Mel Tucker and the Spartans are becoming known for using the portal to help build their roster and when it was announced that Broussard was going to be available, a lot of fans wanted him to come to Michigan State to try and fill the hole left by Kenneth Walker III.

Broussard was pursued heavily by two schools: Michigan State and Oregon. But in the end, he chose to commit to Mel Tucker and the Spartans.

Background insight on Broussard

Jarek is from Dallas and was a three-star running back during his original recruitment in 2018. He did not have a ton of big-name schools offer him but he had schools such as Miami, Illinois, Tulane, TCU, and some other schools on his list. But obviously, he decided to commit to Colorado.

The three-star was so highly rated as a transfer because, in 2020, he won the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year award, rushing for 895 yards and five touchdowns. He probably would have had a 1,000-yard season if it was not for the shortened year due to the pandemic. In 2021, he did not have a spectacular year but still when you watch his tape has some tools that the staff could work with and take his game to the next level. He only rushed for 661 yards and two touchdowns in 11 games in 2021. But with that being said, Colorado is not necessarily known for having a great offensive line or run game for that matter and it finished just 4-8.

Now with Broussard getting out of the Pac-12 and coming into the Big Ten, it will probably be a bit of an adjustment for him. But he is now coming into a better coaching staff with more talent around him which helps take some stress off of his shoulders — unlike Colorado where fans expected him to play like Kenneth Walker III. A combination of Broussard and Jalen Berger could be a very elite duo for the Spartans going forward.

Lastly, Broussard committed to the Buffaloes in 2018 and has been there ever since so he also has some ties to Tucker because of his year in Colorado as the head coach. Tucker probably knows a lot more than a lot of people do about Broussard. This is probably a big factor in why Jarek decided to come to East Lansing over Oregon because he was with Tucker before and of course, the Spartans just had an amazing season — he wants to be a part of what coach Tucker is building here.

It will be exciting to see who else the Spartans grab from the portal and add to this great 2022 class.