Michigan State football loses critical OL piece to transfer portal in Geno VanDeMark

Earlier on Tuesday, Michigan State football learned that a member of its offensive line, Ethan Boyd, had entered his name into the transfer portal. While losing anyone to the portal is never good news, I wouldn't classify Boyd's departure as a defeaning blow.

However, a second Spartan offensive lineman has just followed Boyd's lead and has entered the portal, and this one stings.

Offensive lineman Geno VanDeMark is the latest, and potentially last, Spartan to enter the transfer portal. This news comes as a surprise as VanDeMark was a full participant throughout the spring and waited until the very last day to enter the portal. He also entered his name into the portal after this past season ended, but ultimately decided to stick it out with Jonathan Smith at Michigan State. So why he decided to enter the portal now, I'm not sure.

The biggest reason why this is surprising to me is because VanDeMark was set to see a lot of playing time this year. This past season he played in eight games including six starts, so he was in line to compete for and likely win a spot on the starting offensive line.

Where should Michigan State turn now?

I'm not exactly sure where Smith and his staff turn now. I don't think they need to panic and grab any linemen out of the portal that they can find, but I do think they need to get another guy just to sure up their depth at the position.

Another name to keep an eye on is transfer Andrew Dennis, who was a former Michigan State commit last summer. Dennis however is entering his true freshman season this fall, so he won't be able to be relied upon to play significant downs.

This is a tough loss for Michigan State in the final hours of the transfer portal window.

May 1 marks the end of the window for players to enter the portal, so this news comes at the most inopportune time. But Smith and has staff have more than earned our trust, so let's just wait and see how they react before we get too worried.