EXCLUSIVE: Roseville Coach Vernard Snowden Talks Developing Players, MSU Target Desmond Straughton
The Michigan State Spartans are recruiting the state of Michigan hard under Coach Jonathan Smith.
One of the places the Spartans seem to come back to is Roseville High School.
Roseville coach Vernard Snowden has been at the helm since 2019. Since then, he has turned Roseville into a winning program and a hotbed for talent.
Snowden spoke with Spartan Nation about his program's player development.
"We take pride in development," Snowden said. "The offseason is very, very important to us. We develop our leaders, we develop physically. We've had over the past five years some great trainers to come in who've trained professional athletes. ... We take pride in developing [the players] football-wise and teaching the game of football, life, everything.
"In the five years we've been there we've done some really, really good things -- winning the first state playoff game. Now it's normal for us. We've won two district championships in three years, been to the regionals twice. And then, of course, the dudes we've put in college ... playing [in the] Big Ten as well as the [Mid-American Conference]."
One of the best players to come out of the Snowden Era has been Desmond Straughton.
Straughton is a three-star athlete in the 2025 recruiting class, per 247Sports. He is the No. 6 player in Michigan and the No. 18 athlete overall.
Straughton plays both offense and defense -- he primarily plays safety, but he also gets carries as a running back.
It did not take long for Straughton to establish himself with Roseville's coaching staff.
"I did not think he was ready for varsity as a freshman," Snowden said. "But my defensive coaches were all in like, 'No Coach, he's going to be able to play.' At that time, we had Tyrell Henry, who's at Wisconsin [now], my son Amare Snowden, who's at Wisconsin -- both of them was our defensive backfield. We had another kid that went to play Division III.
"I'm like, 'We didn't need [Desmond]', but we figured out mid-season that he was that good [...] to not just play -- start. He was on our first team that made the regional finals [...] as a [freshman]. His work ethic, and just his attention to detail, as he got better throughout the course of the year, [I] was definitely by that time I'm like 'Okay, I get it, this kid is not just going to be good this year, he's going to be a special individual."
Snowden cited the work of his coaching staff as a big part of Straughton's development. One coach who played a key role was former Northern Illinois safety Mycial Allen, who started for two seasons with the Huskies.
"[Allen] took Des up under his wing his freshman and sophomore year and developed Des into a pretty dang good safety," Snowden said.
Snowden talked about Straughton's work ethic -- meeting with the right coaches to develop his game, running track to develop his speed.
"All that combined is why Des is so special now," Snowden said.
Snowden believes the best is yet to come for his senior safety.
"His athletic ability alone and his work ethic alone is going to take him to places and heights that has been unseen and untapped," he said. "I think a lot of coaches are going to miss and opportunity on Des ... I think some colleges going to look up in a couple years and be like, 'Wow I remember when Coach Snowden told me about that kid.' ... [Desmond] doesn't have a ceiling.
"We gonna end up seeing him on Sundays."
247Sports has Michigan State as one of the favorites to land Straughton.
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