JD PicKell: Transfer portal was 'tough' for Michigan State

The NCAA transfer portal affords teams an opportunity to shore up their rosters, but it also can pull talent away from teams. Get the wrong balance there and you can easily end up a loser in the transfer portal.

Michigan State might just have fallen into that category during the spring window for the transfer portal.

“Michigan State, man, it’s just tough. It’s tough,” On3’s JD PicKell said. “You lost your starting quarterback from a year ago, a two-time team captain. And then you lost your best offensive weapon in Keon Coleman at wide receiver. Payton Thorne obviously went to Auburn. We’ll see where Keon Coleman ends up going.”

Those two made up a significant chunk of Michigan State’s offensive production a year ago.

Thorne was a two-year starter at quarterback, having thrown for 5,919 yards and 46 touchdowns in that span. Meanwhile, Coleman was his top weapon, accounting for 58 catches for 798 yards and seven touchdowns last season.

Both figure to be major contributors at their next stop.

“The tough part for Michigan State is that I don’t think these losses were related,” PicKell said on The Hard Count with JD PicKell. “Like it wasn’t like Keon Coleman and Payton Thorne weren’t happy for the same reasons. We’ve talked about why they left on previous videos, so to give it a quick recap Keon Coleman sounds like testing the market with NIL. Payton Thorne, there’s different layers to why he left, whether it was he wasn’t sure whether he was going to start and there was some really good competition and maybe he wasn’t happy with the competition.”

Michigan State seemed to open up its quarterback competition during spring football practice, with Noah Kim making some serious moves on Thorne.

“Not sure why Payton Thorne transferred,” PicKell said. “I think he transferred to a better situation at Auburn, and now at Michigan State you’re saying, ‘What is going on? Why are these guys transferring out? Also we had an 11-win season the year before and now we won five games, what is going on?'”

During that 11-win season two years ago, head coach Mel Tucker was praised for his use of the transfer portal to bring in a wealth of talent, making the Spartans competitive at a high level.

Last season wasn’t quite so kind.

So where does that leave Michigan State now, having lost two of its best players to the transfer portal?

“I don’t think that the ceiling is coming (down) on a Michigan State, but through the portal it’s tough to say that they weren’t losers this window, losing two pieces like that,” PicKell said. “Tough in East Lansing, tough for Mel Tucker. I think Michigan State is a loser this time around.”