Michigan State is reportedly targeting a center who was part of Hunter Dickinson’s and Mady Sissoko’s recruiting class in 2020.
Yes, that’s how dire things have seemingly gotten at the center spot. The Spartans missed out on a couple of their top targets with Aiden Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu committing to Indiana and a backup option also transferred to the Big Ten as Luke McEldon chose Northwestern.
Down Carson Cooper (for now) and Jaxon Kohler in the post, Michigan State could use a center in the transfer portal so Jesse McColloch and Ethan Taylor aren’t thrown to the wolves. While I do think that McColloch has the talent to be a 20 minutes-per-game type of big man, I don’t think he’s quite there yet. I’d like to see him play as a consistent role player before making him the starting center.
Tom Izzo must agree because he’s been connected to several center transfers over the past week, and another new name just popped up in connection to the Spartans on Thursday.
According to reports, Michigan State is one of the team expressing interest in 6-foot-11 Washington center transfer Franck Kepnang who started his career at Oregon back in 2020. He’s been at Washington since the 2022-23 season and has played just two full-ish seasons in his collegiate career (six years) and he still missed six games this past year.
In his sixth year in 2025-26, Kepnang averaged 6.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks which makes him the lead returning shot blocker Big Ten with Aday Mara likely headed to the NBA.
Franck Kepnang played well against Michigan State
Kepnang did play against the Spartans this past season, posting 13 points, five rebounds, and two blocks.
Here’s how he did against other ranked teams this season:
- at No. 9 Illinois: 4 points, 2 rebounds in 18 minutes
- at No. 7 Nebraska: 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block in 15 minutes
- vs. No. 4 Michigan: 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks in 27 minutes
- at No. 5 Purdue: 10 points, 10 rebounds in 27 minutes
- at No. 24 USC: 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks in 28 minutes
Although his Huskies went just 1-5 in these games, he didn’t have a ton of help and the numbers prove that he can at least hang on the defensive end. He can get you 6-10 points and 6-10 rebounds against ranked opponents, but can he stay healthy?
If Izzo feels good about getting Carson Cooper back, this target would make sense, but if he’s looking for his starting center, I think Charlotte’s Anton Bonke would be a better option.
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