ANALYSIS: Dillon Tatum enters transfer portal: What it means and what's next for Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Redshirt-junior safety/nickel back Dillon Tatum announced via social media on Monday that he is entering the transfer portal. Now, the Spartans are moving on without one of its more versatile and experienced defensive back candidates, but signs were pointing in the spring toward the need to establishing more contingency plans at his position. Tatum missed all but one game last year due to a knee injury, and started nine games in 22 career appearances at Michigan State. Last year, he served as a second-string safety on opening night, behind Malik Spencer and Nikai Martinez. Tatum went down with the injury midway through the opening-night victory against Florida Atlantic. Tatum started eight games at cornerback in 2023 in an emergency role. He began that season as a safety but moved to corner due to team injuries. He played 545 snaps in 2023 as a true sophomore and showed promising speed and footwork at an unnatural position in a difficult assignment. Tatum played 118 snaps as a true freshman in 2022. Heading into the spring, SpartanMag projected Tatum to be the starting first-string nickel back for 2025. However, he missed some playing time this spring due to health ailments. It’s unclear whether his inactivity was due to recurring problems related to his 2024 injury. “You can tell with a guy like Dillon Tatum, you can tell that it bothers him that he is missing those reps,” a source told SpartanMag last week. “You can tell he wants to be in the mix, he wants to be out there. But for reasons out of his control, he’s a little banged up right now but he’ll be back.” Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith said at the outset of spring practice that he was looking forward to getting Tatum on the field in a full-go capacity this spring. “No limitations,”  Smith said in late March. “Physically, he’s been moving. And he’s athletic; safety, nickel. Physical player, kind of excited to see him, kind of live tackle.” Smith stopped short of saying that Tatum was the leading candidate for the starting position at nickel, early in the spring. “(It’s) up in the air,” Smith said. “Ade (Willie) is getting some reps over there. D.T. (Tatum) is getting some reps over there. We’ve got a lot of rotation going on in the secondary, so it’s not locked in on a single guy, which we don’t want it to be.” As the spring developed, sources indicated to SpartanMag that Tatum had not nailed down the starting position, due in part to availability issues.  “It’s five guys for that one spot right now,” safeties coach James Adams said last week. (MORE INSIDE SPARTANMAG.COM)