Spartans Favoring Transfer Portal, Offer JUCO Product
The Michigan State Spartans continue to try and bolster their defensive roster for the upcoming 2025 season with another offer extended. This time, the Spartans will dip into the transfer portal and seek some junior college talent with prior collegiate experience.
The Spartans sent an offer to sophomore cornerback Shannon Blair Jr. from East Mississippi State Community College, Blair announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday night.
@MSU_Football Offered!!@_CoachKThompson @CoachT_Pope @CoachHam_EMCC pic.twitter.com/49OfYq1A0o
— Shannon Blair (@shannon_blair1) September 19, 2024
Blair was recruited by Spartans cornerbacks coach, Demetrice Martin, who was named to the coaching staff in January of 2024. Martin is an intelligent judge of talent with over 20 years of coaching experience. This offer recognizes the talent and potential that Blair possesses.
In his freshman season, Blair had four interceptions in 13 games, totaling 20 tackles. This year, through just two games, he has nearly reached that season tackle total from a year ago with 12 and 1 tackle for loss.
The Knoxville, Tennessee native has a 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame that would give the Spartans another long and physical cornerback to join the likes of redshirt junior Charles Brantley, junior Nikai Martinez, and redshirt sophomore Aveon Grose.
The Spartans definitely have a blueprint of what type of cornerbacks and safeties they want to bring into the program, and finding ones with multiple years of previous collegiate experience will benefit in multiple ways.
Blair comes from a community college with a laundry list of players who have played professionally. 31 players from East Mississippi State CC have gone on to play some form of professional football, including three-time Super Bowl Champion running back LeGarrette Blount.
Being able to acquire a player from a highly-touted junior college who knows what it takes to play at the highest level is something the Spartans are looking to do more and more under Coach Jonathan Smith.
According to 247Sports, several schools are competing for Blair as he has 16 other offers from strong D-I teams, including Arkansas, Memphis, Liberty, UConn and Toledo, just to name a few.
If the Spartans are able to land the JUCO product after his sophomore season, the secondary will only strengthen and Blair could potentially find himself in a starting role next year at Spartan Stadium.
Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
TOM CAVANAUGH