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Jaden Mangham Transfer Attitude
By Travis Tyler from The Spartan Savants Podcast
Brothers Jaren, a sixth-year senior running back, and Jaden Mangham, a junior safety, both opted to enter the transfer portal when it re-opened a couple of weeks ago following Michigan State’s spring football practices.
Jaren recently decided to remain in the Big Ten and play his final college football season at Minnesota, while Jaden’s potential transfer destinations have caused an uproar throughout the Spartan football community.
According to Matt Zenitz of 247Sports and CBS Sports, the junior has visits lined up with Ohio State. Nebraska, and Michigan, the final of which has much of Spartan Nation irate.
Former Mark Dantonio Era players like Felton Davis III, Tony Lippett, and RJ Shelton, even expressed their thoughts on the situation on social media – showing the Manghams no mercy.
Let’s be clear. In the current state of college football, both players are well within their rights to transfer, and it isn’t necessarily the decision to leave that has us MSU fans and alums upset; it’s the audacity to even consider joining our most hated rival – something that absolutely would not have been tolerated during the Dantonio era.
Furthermore, it’s an indictment on the state of the program following Mel Tucker’s tenure.
When Dantonio arrived in East Lansing in 2007, he set out with a clear agenda. He understood the program’s hatred of its rivals and steered right into it despite a long losing streak, particularly in road games against Michigan.
He indoctrinated that hatred into his players, emphasizing the disrespect and “holier-than-thou” attitude that had consistently emanated from Ann Arbor, and used the recruiting trail to go after players who had a chip on their shoulders after being overlooked by Michigan, Ohio State, and others.
While it took a few years to really take effect, the approach Dantonio used worked brilliantly as his teams quickly reflected his personality and the “us against the world” mentality when it came to its rivals, ushering in one of the greatest periods of MSU football.
Dantonio and his staff produced some of the best teams in Michigan State football history, and even if they had come in the transfer portal era, you can bet none of them would have even considered joining the other side, as evident in the thoughts of his former players above.
It’s part of the Spartan DNA, and Dantonio understood that and embraced it while building his program. Tucker tried to continue to instill that in his players, but there seemed to be a lack of authenticity, and as his tenure continued, the fight that Dantonio built had basically diminished.
Yes, the Spartans went 11-2, beat Michigan, and won the Peach Bowl in 2021, but other than Kenneth Walker, one of the greatest gets in the early portions of the transfer portal era, the players that really seemed to care and fight all joined under Dantonio.
While Walker deservedly gets most of the credit, that team could not have been what it was without guys like Jayden Reed, Jalen Nailor, Xavier Henderson, and Connor Heyward.
This is not an indictment on Mangham. As I said above, he is completely within his rights. However, it is a perfect illustration of how quickly things can change in sports, and how important it is for new head coach Jonathan Smith to put the toughness and grit of the Dantonio Era back into the Spartans and the chip back on the shoulder, particularly when it comes to rivalries.
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