Some former Michigan State basketball players have been on the move this offseason as Tre Holloman hit the transfer portal in hopes of getting a fifth year somewhere else and Gehrig Normand transferred from Santa Clara after just one season.
Holloman is still on the market, awaiting the NCAA’s five-year window vote and potential grandfathering in of the current senior class but Normand just found his new home.
Normand played minimally at Michigan State, averaging 0.6 points in 2.0 minutes per game. He only played in 13 games at Michigan State before transferring to Santa Clara where he missed the entire 2025-26 season with an injury.
The former top-100 recruit just committed to SMU after spending the past month-plus in the transfer portal, playing for former USC head coach Andy Enfield.
6-6 SG Gehrig Normand @GehrigNormand20 is off the board with a verbal commitment to HC Andy Enfield @Coach_Enfield and @SMUBasketball this morning.
— Antonio Curro (@ACNY2LA) May 15, 2026
The Texas native is a former Top 100 prospect nationally with 2-3 years of eligibility remaining.
This feels like a good spot for Normand who heads back home presumably to finish up his college basketball career. When he originally transferred, the word on the street was that he wanted to move closer to home so when he picked Santa Clara, it was a little confusing. This move to SMU makes much more sense for the North Richland Hill, Texas, native.
Michigan State fans loved Normand because of his potential and the fact that he was always the underdog in the loaded 2023 recruiting class.
What could have been.
Gehrig Normand may have finally caught a break
Normand, a four-star in the 2023 class, was supposed to complement a class of Jeremy Fears Jr., Xavier Booker, and Coen Carr as the sharpshooter. Michigan State fans were hoping for more of a Matt McQuaid-type of player but injuries led to him redshirting in 2023-24 and then he just couldn’t crack the rotation in 2024-25.
Transferring to Santa Clara was supposed to be a fresh start but an injury kept him out for the entire season and he hit the portal again.
Three years into his college career with just 13 games played, Normand had to hope that a team a little closer to home would take a chance on him, and SMU did.
Not only is Normand expected to finally be healthy, but he gets to move back home to play college ball for an ACC team that has won 44 games over the past two years and just made the NCAA Tournament’s First Four this past season.
This feels like a great spot for the former Spartan.
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