Key Michigan State football DL starter has entered the transfer portal

The transfer portal in college football officially opened on Tuesday and Michigan State football has had a few of their players enter the portal so far. However, nobody with any amount of significant playing time had entered the portal yet, so the Spartans had been very fortunate so far.

It, however, was just a matter of time until an experienced player did hit the portal, and that happened on Thursday morning with a starter on the defensive line.

Simeon Barrow Jr. is the latest Spartan to enter their neam into the transfer portal on Thursday. Barrow's departure for Michigan State is extremely significant just due to the amount of playing time and the contributions he has made on the field for MSU in his career.

He has played his entire career at Michigan State, and is coming off a strong season with 36 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and one forced fumble. During his entire career, he has accumulated 110 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. Those numbers are not easy to replace.

But the thing that makes this the most disappointing is that he would have been a sure-fire starter for Michigan State this. Barrow has 30 career starts for MSU and he has also been a two-time selection to the All-Big Ten honorable mention team as well.

As much as it is sad to see Barrow enter the portal, I will say that a return to East Lansing for him isn't out of the question. According to 247Sport's Corey Robinson, this is now the fourth time Barrow has entered the portal in his career. Each time MSU was able to convince him to come back, so hopefuly they can do the same again.

Regardless of his final decision, I still wish Barrow the best of luck wherever he ends up. I hope Jonathan Smith is able to convince him so stay, but if he doesn't then I hope he is able to find success elsewhere.