News broke on Saturday night that Michigan State big man Jaxon Kohler was exploring a fifth year of college basketball, and he’d been hearing from several programs already.
Kentucky, Kansas, and BYU had all reached out, showing interest in the Spartan big man, but Jon Rothstein reported that he was also considering a return to East Lansing. A Michigan State return was reportedly “possible” despite the fact that he’s hearing from blue bloods.
Spartan fans don’t want to see Kohler wearing a Jayhawk or Wildcat uniform next season so that would leave Michigan State and BYU as the preferred destinations. Obviously that would be in a perfect world. Actually, in a perfect world, Kohler comes back to Michigan State for a fifth year and leads the Spartans to a national title.
Another team has reportedly entered the mix, however.
Kentucky is expected to contend for an SEC title next season, but so is the team that just reached out to Kohler. Jaxon’s dad, Jeff Kohler, revealed that Alabama had reached out to his son and that they’re expected to have more conversations on Monday.
Alabama has reached out to Jaxon Kohler, according to his dad.
— Roll Tide (@rolltideburner) August 2, 2026
🤔 https://t.co/hDibTJCk1g
In all, it sounds like there are five early contenders for Kohler’s fifth-year services: Kansas, Kentucky, BYU, Alabama, and Michigan State.
It’s hard to say who the early favorite is, but he would make sense at each of those schools.
Will something good finally happen to Michigan State?
It’s been a long-running joke — that’s only been strengthened over the past three years — that nothing good can ever happen to Michigan State. I’ve said it plenty of times as a joke, but it’s becoming slightly more believable after watching Michigan win football and basketball national titles over the past three years.
Sometimes it does feel like nothing good can ever happen for Michigan State but a Kohler fifth year in a Spartan uniform would really crush that running joke, even if just temporarily.
These types of best-case scenarios rarely happen to Michigan State. We have already seen one of those scenarios slip through the cracks as Carson Cooper wasn’t able to secure a fifth year and he ended up signing a two-way deal with the Memphis Grizzlies after the draft.
Kohler coming back to Michigan State for a fifth year, putting up 15 and 10 per game, and being that AJ Granger-type (but more skilled) senior leader en route to a national title would finally put this long-running joke to bed.
Let us dream.
Add us as a preferred source on Google