Former Spartans are on the move this offseason, and their former teammates who decided to remain in East Lansing are fully supporting them. That is, except for one situation involving Charles Brantley and Justin Denson Jr.
In case you haven’t heard, Brantley decided to transfer back to Michigan State this week after spending the past season at Miami. He started his career at Michigan State and played from 2021-24 in East Lansing. Brantley was even the hero of the 2021 Michigan win (other than Kenneth Walker III obviously), bringing down the game-sealing interception.
Brantley is back in Michigan, and he’s already immersing himself in the rivalry.
After hearing the news of Denson Jr. visiting Michigan this weekend following a month-long stint in the transfer portal, Brantley took to social media to plead with him not to “do that to yourself”.
@Jetdenson don’t do that to yourself fam 😂ain’t gone like me no more 💯🤐 https://t.co/S4GcoUDpcr
— cinco5™️ (@cbrantley22) January 11, 2026
The “don’t do this to yourself” tells you all you need to know about how much Brantley hates Michigan.
Justin Denson could become MSU’s latest villain
Denson has been in the transfer portal since Dec. 10, so it makes sense that he would want to exhaust all his options, and really give every program a fair shot. He probably didn’t think much of visiting Michigan because the Wolverines just had a transfer receiver commit to Michigan State. Plus, Denson didn’t play a ton in East Lansing.
If Denson was a starter, this would probably be a bigger deal (see: Jaden Mangham), but it’s still a bigger deal to Brantley.
Mangham became a Michigan State villain for transferring to Michigan after saying that he wanted to stick around and be a Spartan just months before leaving. Transferring after committing to the program is one thing (it’s common these days), but leaving for your rival after reaffirming your commitment to that program is unforgivable.
Denson could follow in the footsteps of Mangham who followed in the footsteps of Rayshaun Benny (to a lesser degree) who followed in the footsteps of Drake Harris.
Brantley will be ready for that game either way but seeing Denson on the other sidelines might give him a little extra motivation.