The 2026 NFL Draft has been tough to watch if you’re a Michigan State football fan. The Spartans didn’t have a single player selected through the first two days, but there were two former players who went in the second round and a third former Mel Tucker commit, too.
Former Spartans receiver Germie Bernard was selected No. 47 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, but two picks before that, his former teammate went.
Zion Young, a former Michigan State defensive end who is infamous for the tunnel incident after that 2022 loss, was selected No. 45 overall by the Baltimore Ravens. The pick was unfortunate for a lot of Michigan State fans as they watched the Detroit Lions trade up to No. 44 to select Michigan’s Derrick Moore which was a good pick, but many wanted Young — including myself.
I watched Young improve drastically over the past two seasons at Missouri and it’s amazing just what these kids can do when they’re surrounding by talent on better teams. Heck, Young on that 2021 Michigan State team would have been a stud.
Still, he had 47 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks in two seasons at Michigan State under Tucker and Harlon Barnett. He opted to transfer before Jonathan Smith’s first season.
That turned out to be the right choice as he broke out for Missouri in 2024, racking up 42 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks to go along with three pass breakups and a scoop-and-score. As a senior in 2025, he improved his stock again, putting up 42 tackles, an astonishing 16.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, and two pass deflections.
This is another one of those “what could have been” players that we’ve seed riddled throughout the 2026 NFL Draft with guys who were once top targets of Tucker or even former players and commits.
At least he was great at identifying talent.
Zion Young follows Derrick Harmon’s footsteps
Last year, Michigan State saw another former defensive lineman go in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. Derrick Harmon, who started his career at MSU before transferring to Oregon, was selected No. 21 overall. He followed in Keon Coleman’s footsteps from the year before who was selected at the beginning of the second round after a year at Florida State.
Now, after two seasons at Missouri, Young improved his draft stock and he became a mid-second-round pick. He probably could have slid into the back-end of the first, but he slid a bit.
Like Harmon, Young had an impressive MSU career before leaving so he likely would have been drafted early regardless, but that just goes to show what these players really thought of the coaching staffs before transferring. They didn’t trust the staff to get them to the NFL.
Now, the league is riddled with former Spartans. Sigh.
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