Michigan State football reportedly targeting No. 1 WR in transfer portal

Jonathan Smith is getting to work in the transfer portal after a busy spring concluded with the departures of over a dozen new players, including projected starters Simeon Barrow, Jaden Mangham, Derrick Harmon, and Geno VanDeMark. Michigan State football will be looking much different this season.

With those departures comes the need for replacements and that's exactly what Smith has been working on. He's already landed Ed Woods over Alabama since the spring window opened as well as Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams, but he's looking to add some receiver depth as well.

Smith has already reached out to Auburn's Ja'Varrius Johnson and the Spartans made his top schools list but he is also taking a look at the top available wideout in the portal.

According to Hayes Fawcett, Michigan State is one of 20 schools to have reached out to No. 1 transfer receiver Elijhah Badger from Arizona State.

Badger has had over 1,500 receiving yards, 135 catches, and 10 touchdowns in the past two seasons at Arizona State which is impressive when you consider the quarterback situation in 2023 was a bit of a nightmare. He had 65 catches for 713 yards and three touchdowns this past season.

There are some big-time schools like Florida, Michigan, Ole Miss, Washington, Florida State, USC, Texas A&M, Auburn, and Utah also after him, so this won't be an easy recruiting win.

What Smith can hope to bank on is some Pac-12 familiarity as Badger faced the new Michigan State head coach's Oregon State Beavers back in 2022. Also, Badger's former teammate (Ed Woods) is now a Spartan so that could be a potential pull.

We'll see if Smith can pull off some more magic in the portal.