Michigan State lands former four-star Penn State signee from transfer portal
Michigan State proved what it could do with talented edge rushers from the transfer portal during its season-opening win over Western Michigan.
UNLV transfer Jacoby Windmon had four sacks against the Broncos and earned multiple national and regional 'Defensive Player of the Week' honors with his performance. Florida transfer Khris Bogle and Mississippi State transfer Aaron Brule each recorded sacks as well.
With that success on full display this past Friday, Mel Tucker and his coaching staff went back into the portal and landed another talented edge rusher who could help the Spartans in seasons to come.
Ken Talley, a former four-star 2022 high school prospect who initially signed with Penn State, announced Wednesday on Twitter that he was committing to Michigan State.
Talley originally committed to the Nittany Lions back in September of 2020 and enrolled in the program this past summer, but his time in State College was short lived. Talley entered the transfer portal on Aug. 15, just two weeks before Penn State was set to begin its season at Purdue.
Michigan State became an early favorite to land Talley out of the portal, and that came to fruition this week.
It is currently unclear if the true freshman will be immediately eligible to play for the Spartans, or if he will have to sit out for one season. Recruiting website Blue White Illustrated reported he cannot play this fall because he left PSU too late during preseason camp.
A product of Northeast High School in Philadelphia, Talley was ranked No. 24 among edge rushers and the No. 273 player in the country for the class of 2022, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He was the No. 9 player out from the state of Pennsylvania.
He originally committed to Penn State over Michigan, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
Not many details have surfaced in terms of Talley's reasons for leaving the Nittany Lion program just months after beginning his college career. Penn State head coach James Franklin had little to say when he was asked about the situation back in mid-August.
“I don’t think it’d be appropriate for me to talk about any of these guys in the specifics on why they’re leaving,” Franklin said at the time. “That’s their personal business. We want them to be able to leave and go on and be successful. It didn’t work out for a variety of reasons.”
At Northeast, Talley was a two-time team captain and earned All-American honors as a senior. Talley had 95 tackles, 20 of them for a loss, with 12 sacks and 11 QB hurries last season for Northeast.
Twitter: @mlounsberry_SI
