RB Nathan Carter among Michigan State transfers to watch at spring scrimmage on Saturday
East Lansing, Mich. – As Michigan State football players and coaches gear up for the the annual spring scrimmage on Saturday, fans have reason to be equally eager for a chance to view new Spartans who will be in action for the first time.
There are 22 newcomers to the program this spring, whether that’s mid-year transfer portal players coming from different colleges, or mid-year freshman enrollees coming from the high school ranks ready for their first taste of college football. Many of them will be in uniform for the first time at Michigan State for the spring scrimmage at 2 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
“Everyone is going to want to see some of the newcomers that are healthy and available to practice,” head coach Mel Tucker said at Monday’s press conference. “They haven’t seen them before in the green and white, whether they are freshmen or they are transfers.”
Of the newcomers, 14 are transfers. It’s unclear how many are fully part of the 85-man scholarship roster, but several are expected to be called upon to provide roles in the fall.
“I think seeing these new guys is going to be interesting to a lot of fans, and see how some of them are going to help our football team this season,” Tucker said.
Running backs Nathan Carter (a transfer from UConn) and Jaren Mangham (from South Florida) are challenging returning starter Jalen Berger for first-string status.
Sources tell SpartanMag that Carter and Mangham have been impressive in the first two scrimmages of the spring at Michigan State.
Carter averaged 6.2 yards on 65 carries (405 yards) for UConn last year before being lost for the season to a shoulder injury after four games.
Carter has been healthy and active this spring.
“I like him,” Tucker said. “He has a really good burst through the hole. He runs hard. He is very impressive in the weight room. He looks the part. He is very humble and very hard-working.”
Kenneth Walker III became the standard for Spartan fans when he transferred to Michigan State from Wake Forest in 2021 and became an All-American. But find that amount of good fortune at the running back position every year is not realistic. However, Carter has played to good reviews on the practice field, and Spartan fans have seen photos of him on the internet from workouts with apparent tree trunks for legs.
And he’s a team player.
“He does an excellent job in special teams with what we ask him to do,” Tucker said.
Michigan State has three new defensive line transfers on the roster this spring, plus a fourth who joined the team last September in defensive end Ken Talley (from Penn State).
Talley was joined this spring by DE/DT Tunmise Adeleye (Texas A&M), DT Jarrett Jackson (Florida State) and DE DeAndre Butler (of Liberty).
It remains to be seen how much those players contribute in 2023 compared to outgoing d-line transfers such as DE Jeff Pietrowski (Wisconsin), Deshaun Mallory (Arizona State), Michael Fletcher (Appalachian State), Chase Carter (Incarnate Word) and Jalen Hunt (Houston).
Adeleye, who was a national Top 50 player in the 2021 On3 Industry Rankings, offers the most intrigue.
“He brings something a little different for us because he is a big end,” Tucker said. “I think he walked in (to MSU) at like 280, which we need to be able to win at the point of attack and we need to be able to have mismatches on tight ends in that C-gap area to play a four-down defense.”
Adeleye had 30-plus offers from some of the top college football programs in the country such as Alabama, Ohio State and USC before ultimately choosing to play in his home-state for Texas A&M.
Adeleye redshirted in 2021 before having a season-ending injury early in 2022. Adeleye is hungry for a new beginning at Michigan State, and the Spartans need productivity from him immediately.
Jackson (6-6, 300, 6-Sr., Riviera Beach, Fla.) comes into the program trying to help beef up the defensive front for new defensive line coach, Diron Reynolds.
“He has really good size,” Tucker said. “In our out-of-season conditioning program he showed a lot of leadership.”
Jackson had trouble establishing himself as a standout in his previous two stops at Florida State and Louisville. He started one game last year for the Seminoles, and had one start in 2021.
He played in one game for FSU in 2020 and did not see action at Louisville in 2019.
As a true freshman at Louisville in 2018, he appeared in 10 games and had 16 tackles.
The 2023 season will mark his last shot in college football. He is showing veteran leadership in the locker room, but he is not expected to participate on the field this weekend.
“He has been a little banged up, so we haven’t been able to get the type of work out of him that we would like,” Tucker said. “But he has the size and he has shown to have the intangibles that we are looking for. He will be a strong addition for us.”
Other transfers to keep an eye on this weekend include tight ends Tyneil Hopper (of Boise State) and Jaylan Franklin (of Wisconsin). Franklin had a solid day at Saturday’s scrimmage.
Talley practiced with the Spartans last fall but was not eligible to play because he enrolled outside of the transfer portal period. Don’t be surprised if the 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive end makes some noise on Saturday.
(SpartanMag Publisher Jim Comparoni contributed to this report).
The post RB Nathan Carter among Michigan State transfers to watch at spring scrimmage on Saturday appeared first on On3.
