Jaden Mangham explains why he didn’t come back to Michigan State football

One of the biggest offseason stories for Michigan State football was the shocking decision by former Spartan defensive back Jaden Mangham to enter the transfer portal and commit to Michigan.

Michigan State fans were rightfully upset by this, but everyone has seemingly moved on, everyone except Mangham.

In early August Mangham spoke about his transition to Michigan and in the process disrespected his former MSU teammates. Fast forward a few weeks and Mangham once again is discussing his transfer portal recruitment.

This time, however, whether he meant to or not, Mangham shed Michigan State and Jonathan Smith in a positive light.

Usually when players enter the portal a return to the school they’re thinking about leaving is an option for them. We’ve even seen that take place with many players here at Michigan State. But that wasn’t the case with Mangham.

According to Mangham, Smith and Michigan State “closed the door on me” and weren’t going to let him return to East Lansing even if he wanted to.

I love this decision from Smith. Would Mangham have been a good addition to the team this year? Most likely. But there’s a difference in my head between thinking about transferring and thinking about transferring to Michigan. And it looks like Smith agrees.

I’m all for players doing what they think is best for their careers, so if that means they have to explore other options before deciding to return to Michigan State then that’s fine with me. But someone thinking about transferring to Michigan is where I draw the line.

Smith is setting a firm standard in the program, a standard that I think will be good for the program. Mark Dantonio made it clear that beating Michigan was his top priority, and that mindset led Michigan State to all the success they found under him. Now it seems like Smith is taking a similar approach, so hopefully, it yields the same results again.