For the second time in as many years, a former Michigan State star was selected in the first 35 picks of the NFL Draft. This time, Derrick Harmon went No. 21 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Last year, it was Keon Coleman who went No. 33 overall to the Buffalo Bills.
Both guys got their starts at Michigan State before spending one year at a major Power Four program, improving their stock, and getting selected early in the NFL Draft.
These guys getting drafted early while Michigan State flirts with having another Spartan-less draft is just a reminder of what could have been under Mel Tucker and how that era of football produced some elite talent but it just didn't seem like a sustainable way of doing things. He aimed high on the recruiting trail before finishing with some solid Plan B or Plan C guys.
Every now and then, however, he landed a Plan A guy who became a star, and Harmon and Coleman were prime examples of that. Kenneth Walker III, too, fits that description.
Tucker missed on his fair share of top targets over the years and it felt like he was always hosting high four and five-stars and making top-five lists only to finish as the "home away from home but not my home for the next four years" -- looking at you, David Stone.
We saw Tucker strike portal gold ahead of the 2021 season and we all saw how that turned out. He tried to get lightning to strike twice and it backfired as we saw with the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Harmon was one of the better recruits that Tucker landed at Michigan State and he was also a guy who considered returning to East Lansing for his senior year under Jonathan Smith but opted to move across the country, away from home, to play for a contender and a program that gave him the best chance of being drafted early. Would he have still gotten drafted early if he stayed? Maybe, but probably not a first-rounder.
If Tucker actually built on that 2021 season and didn't try to replicate the Walker III magic, we could be talking about the Spartans being a top Big Ten team and a regular producer of elite talent.
Unfortunately, he couldn't help himself. He got paid, made some horrible personal mistakes, and the rest is history.