In what has seemingly become a year tradition, Jaden Mangham was interviewed by On3's Clayton Sayfie after Michigan's loss to Oklahoma on Saturday, and he was asked about Michigan State, for some reason.
Mangham got his first start with the Wolverines against Oklahoma, and it felt like a good time to get his thoughts on how he felt in his first extended action since his Michigan State days.
Instead, Michigan State was the topic of conversation -- after a ranked road loss, nonetheless.
During the conversation, Mangham talked about his "crazy decision" to leave Michigan State for in-state rival Michigan, and he threw some shade at his former school's NFL prospects as well as some former teammates for not reaching out to him when he hit the portal initially.
"It’s really their choice. If they’re still upset, they can be upset. When I entered the portal, only a couple of them reached out, so how can you be upset at that? Only really a couple of my guys reached out and talked to me about it. But if you’re upset about it and you didn’t reach out to me, I really don’t see how that makes sense for you to be upset. You obviously didn’t care enough when I entered the portal, so…"Jaden Mangham via On3's Clayton Sayfie
Is this a high school relationship or a grown-up decision to leave a program that gave you everything for its hated rival?
Mangham then went on to say the decision had a lot to do with academics and graduating (he still graduated from Michigan State) and he said he felt like it gave him the best path to get to the NFL (he played zero defensive snaps in 2024, via PFF).
Also, entering the portal after saying that you were fully committed to Michigan State and why leave? Those quotes made their rounds on social media after Mangham entered the portal, and even more so when he decided to transfer to Michigan State's biggest rival.
Did he do this out of spite?
Several schools were offering Mangham, and he decided to go with the in-state rival where he played zero defensive snaps in 2024 and got his first start in a losing effort in 2025. Plus, he was an All-Big Ten performer with Michigan State, so he would've made it to the league regardless of where he played college ball.
Mangham went on to say that he didn't listen to any of the outside noise from fans when he transferred. Which is funny because he unleashed his brother on social media to do that for him. He was busy trolling Michigan State fans while his brother was riding the bench in Ann Arbor.
It feels like talking about Michigan State and how salty you are that your former teammates didn't reach out when you went to Michigan and instead called you soft instead of the ranked road loss your team just took in your first start is a wild move.
But, hey, he's totally over it and moved on.