AJ Hoggard has cut his list to five possible transfer destinations

Former Michigan State point guard AJ Hoggard’s recruitment is beginning to take shape.

About a month ago, Hoggard decided to enter the transfer portal after an up-and-down four-year career with MSU. Hoggard theoretically could return to Michigan State for a fifth and final season, but both he and Tom Izzo have made it clear that this isn’t really an option.

With Hoggard as a free agent, he is able to make the move to any school he wants to finish out his college career, and he has just released his top five schools in his transfer portal recruitment.

Included in Hoggard’s top five are Florida, Georgia, Vanderbilt, USC, and Washington. Right off the bat, you can see that none of these schools are known for being powers in college basketball, but they are all still Power Four programs and good landing spots for Hoggard.

Hoggard likely wants to go somewhere where he can be a day one starter, and he has that chance at all five of these schools. It obviously isn’t guaranteed that he’ll be the starting point guard, but he’d have a great shot at these schools while he likely wouldn’t have won the starting job at other programs that may have reached out to him.

I know it doesn’t matter where he commits, but I do hope he chooses one of the Big Ten schools. Michigan State plays both USC and Washington once this coming season, so getting to play against Hoggard would be a lot of fun. To take it even a step further, I hope he commits to Washington because they play at the Breslin Center this season.

But regardless of where he plays next year, I hope he’s able to find a lot of success. I know Hoggard never fully became the player we all hoped he’d become at Michigan State, but I have no ill feelings toward him anymore. So wherever he ends up, I’ll be cheering him on and hoping he finds a lot of success. And if we’re lucky enough to watch him play against Michigan State, then I’ll cheer against him as hard as possible for that one game.