A year ago, Charles Brantley decided to leave Michigan State despite having a career year in Jonathan Smith’s first season.
The talented cornerback decided to hit the portal (again) which he had done multiple times in his Michigan State career before withdrawing his name, and after a quiet season at Miami in which he finished with just one tackle in three games and never really cracked the playing rotation, he hit the portal again.
On Wednesday, he decided to return to Michigan State (again).
BREAKING: #MichiganState is bringing back #Miami transfer cornerback Charles Brantley, per Matt Zenitz & Chris Hummer.
— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) January 7, 2026
Brantley was a multi-year starter for MSU before he departed for the Hurricanes. Now, he’s back.
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It’s kind of wild how many times Brantley has been in the transfer portal, but Michigan State fans will welcome him back with open arms if that means he’s going to replicate what he did in 2024 as the nation’s second-best cornerback in terms of passer rating allowed (16.6).
During that breakout season with the Spartans, Brantley had 27 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, and seven pass breakups. He became one of the best cornerbacks in the country, but decided to play elsewhere for his final season.
Unfortunately, his year with Miami didn’t go as planned.
Now, he’s back with the Spartans as Pat Fitzgerald and Joe Rossi are giving him another opportunity, but he’s going to have to earn his reps.
Michigan State is loading up the defensive backfield
I was already impressed with the defensive backfield haul for Fitzgerald and Co. in the transfer portal through the first week of it being open, but now that they’ve added a cornerback with three years of starting experience (in East Lansing) with 104 career tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, five picks, two pick-sixes, and 18 pass breakups, I’m ecstatic.
Oh, and Brantley is already a legend for his heroics that helped seal the Michigan win in 2021 — that one-handed interception lives on in Spartan lore.
Along with Brantley, Fitzgerald has brought in Iowa State cornerback Tre Bell (the portal’s No. 11 CB), Louisiana Tech safety Michael Richard (No. 80 safety), Maine safety Devin Vaught (No. 111 safety), and Houston Christian cornerback Tyran Chappell (No. 114 CB) in the portal.
Don’t let those rankings fool you for the latter three guys, they’ve all been really solid, but they just haven’t played good enough competition to earn respect.
Hank Poteat has some intriguing pieces to work with.