BREAKING: Michigan State starter, team captain considering transfer portal entry
In all likelihood, Michigan State football is set to lose a team captain and one of its top defensive players for the remainder of the 2023 season.
On Monday, MSU interim head coach Harlon Barnett said he met with starting defensive tackle Simeon Barrow today and the redshirt junior is considering entering the NCAA transfer portal. While Barrow's name has not yet appeared in the transfer portal, Barnett said he does not expect the redshirt junior to travel with the team for the upcoming road game at Minnesota on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, BTN).
"I think he may be gone," Barnett said of Barrow. "I think he's going to jump in personally and that's what it's going to be. I wish him nothing but the best."
Barnett said he and Barrow have had on-going discussions about this possibility in recent weeks, but did not want to go into detail on what those conversations were like.
"It wasn't like a big shock," Barnett said. "We've been having discussions with him over the last several weeks and he's been up front and honest with us the whole time."
Michigan State chooses team captains on a game-by-game basis, and Barrow has been one of the selections throughout the season for the Spartans. Through seven games this season, the redshirt junior has recorded 19 tackles including 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Barrow has been a starter for Michigan State in each of the last three seasons. He started 10 games in 2021 as a redshirt freshman, missing three games due to injury. In 2022, he started 10 out of 12 games. For his career, Barrow has recorded 93 tackles, 15.5 for loss and 8.5 sacks across 28 career games as a Spartan. Barring approval of a waiver from the NCAA, he has one season on collegiate eligibility remaining.
If Barrow does indeed enter the transfer portal, he would be the third Michigan State player to leave the team since head coach Mel Tucker was fired on Sept. 27, and the fourth Spartan overall to depart. Previous players to leave the team since Tucker was fired include running back Jordon Simmons, long snapper Hank Pepper, defensive back Justin White. Cornerback Terry Roberts left the team prior to the start of the season.
By NCAA rule, the transfer portal opens to any players whose head coach has been fired or takes a new job. After Tucker's ousting, Michigan State players have until Oct. 26 to submit their names to the portal if they intend to do so. A new portal period will open at the conclusion of the season.
Michigan State began the year with a deep crop of defensive tackles to rotate, but that group has been thinned out due to injuries. Redshirt freshman Alex VanSumeren is out for the season, while graduate transfers Jarrett Jackson and Dre Butler have combined to appear in only four games this season. Barrow's departure would mean more snaps for the likes of redshirt sophomore Derrick Harmon, redshirt senior Maverick Hansen and Colorado transfer Jalen Sami. Defensive ends Tunmise Adeleye and Ken Talley could slide in and help the interior defensive line as well.
"We'll use what we have at our disposal," Barnett said. "They'll go in there and grind and fight and do whatever they need to do to help us succeed."
The Spartans have lost each of their last five games, including a 49-0 shellacking at the hands of in-state rival Michigan on Saturday — the worst home lost in the 100-year history of Spartan Stadium. MSU opened as an eight-point underdog in this upcoming weekend's game at Minnesota.
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