Michigan State football player calls Jaden Mangham 'soft' after committing to Michigan

It seems a bit harsh, but when you take a step back and look at the situation, you see that Mangham decided to leave Michigan State where he was going to start under Jonathan Smith and a much-improved coaching staff for rival Michigan. That just doesn’t happen in this rivalry much.

While we’ve seen Semaj Bridgeman take a visit to Michigan State and Ben VanSumeren transfer to the Spartans, those were not projected starters nor were they on Michigan’s two-deep. They were both fighting for a spot on the depth chart and they felt like Michigan State may offer them that. Bridgeman has not committed to the Spartans, but you get the idea.

We have never seen a starter from either Michigan or Michigan State transfer to their rival. It’s just an insane move.

What makes it even worse is that Michigan wanted to throw Mangham’s former teammates in jail or have them kicked out of school following the tunnel incident. That hate in the rivalry should’ve been enough to drive him far away from Ann Arbor. But instead, he’s headed to Michigan where he might start next season for a Big Ten title contender.

Talley has a point here. Mangham ran from the grind of rebuilding a program to join a hated rival that just had success.

This is the college football equivalent of Kevin Durant losing to the Golden State Warriors and then immediately joining them so he could compete for a title instead of grinding it out in Oklahoma City.

Don’t expect Michigan State football players to be lovey-dovey with Mangham next year when the two teams meet up.