Former Michigan State special teamer transfers to SEC contender

Transfer portal news is dominating headlines lately, and while the College Football Playoff is rolling on to the title game between Miami and Indiana, Michigan State fans are hoping that Pat Fitzgerald builds a winner as fast as Curt Cignetti did.

Fitzgerald is molding his roster every day to fit the description of a Big Ten contender, and that might mean cutting ties with current players.

With constant roster changes, former Spartans are finding new homes pretty much every day. Some big-name former Spartans have already signed with new teams as Nick Marsh has already been celebrating an Indiana trip to the national title game, Aidan Chiles is at Northwestern already, and Alex VanSumeren just signed with USC.

Michigan State is going to face several former Spartans in Big Ten play next season, along with another (Noah Kim, Eastern Michigan) in non-conference play.

The Spartans won’t face all of their former players next season, but like Marsh and VanSumeren, there will be several who are going to be playing for contenders.

One former player is headed to a rising SEC program that has surprised some people in recent years.

Long-snapper Kaden Schickel is off to Vanderbilt.

Schickel originally played for Cignetti at James Madison in 2023 before transferring to Michigan State and playing eight games in 2024.

Unfortunately, injuries really kept him off the field in 2025.

Several former Michigan State players are on the move

Almost 40 (!!) Spartans have entered the transfer portal since the end of the season, and many have already found new homes.

Two Spartans have opted to withdraw their names from the portal and return to Michigan State next season such as Chrishon McCray and Rustin Young. I doubt we’ll see much more of that, but some former Spartan starters are already signed with new programs.

Marsh is at Indiana, VanSumeren is at USC, Stanton Ramil committed to Auburn, Martin Connington is at Kansas, Aydan West is at Minnesota, Michael Masunas went down to Texas, Chiles is at Northwestern, Kristian Phillips landed at Boston College, and Gavin Broscious is at Iowa State with Evan Boyd.

The team is going to look drastically different next season, but after going 9-15 over the past two seasons, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.