Former Michigan State kicker finds new home in the AAC

Michigan State hasn‘t had the best special teams over the past few years, but that hasn’t stopped the program from producing NFL kickers and punters left and right.

OK, maybe not so much kickers, but the Spartans have thrived at the punter position for years and they’ve seen their last two get drafted. Bryce Baringer went to the New England Patriots a few years ago and Ryan Eckley was just selected in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.

It’s not often you see back-to-back punters get drafted like Baringer and Eckley did.

The last kicker to leave after exhausting his eligibility was picked up by an NFL team. Jonathan Kim is still fighting for a spot on another 53-man roster this summer.

After Kim left, there was an open battle for the starting job between Martin Connington, Blake Sislo, and Tarik Ahmetbasic that was eventually won by the youngest of the group. Connington, a freshman in 2025, won the job over Ahmetbasic and Sislo and had a really strong season before transferring to Kansas this offseason after Pat Fitzgerald took over.

Ahmetbasic, a local kid from Clinton Township, was poised to compete for the starting job again this spring, but decided to transfer out even after going through spring ball.

On Monday, he picked a new home in the AAC.

This is a name that many fans probably had forgotten, but he was a hometown kicker who battled injuries and missed the entire 2025 season because of them. He apparently didn’t like where he stood with the new staff after they brought in Liam Boyd from the transfer portal and he made the decision that was best for him.

Now he’ll finally get his shot at Memphis.

Michigan State traded an AAC kicker for an AAC kicker

The portal taketh an AAC kicker, the portal also giveth an AAC kicker.

Ahmetbasic is headed to the same conference that Michigan State’s new kicker just came from. Boyd was Charlotte’s starting kicker and leading scorer during the 2025 season. He was 9-for-12 on field goals last season and a perfect 15-for-15 on extra points. I’m assuming he has a decent enough leg or else Ahmetbasic wouldn’t have transferred away from home.

The former Spartan kicker will now head to Memphis where the Spartans have lost some former household names to in the past. Devontae Dobbs and Julian Barnett both signed with Memphis after just one season under Mark Dantonio and before ever playing for Mel Tucker.

Hopefully Ahmetbasic has more success there than Dobbs and Barnett did.

Also, hopefully Michigan State won this trade with the AAC. We’ll revisit the numbers for both kickers at the end of the season.

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