BREAKING: Keon Coleman Makes Final Transfer Decision
Michigan State Football was hit with a shockwave on April 30th when incumbent starting quarterback Payton Thorne and star wide receiver Keon Coleman both entered the transfer portal on the final day of the spring transfer window.
The results of that have now played out to conclusion with Thorne committing to Auburn on May 5th and Coleman announcing his decision to transfer to Florida State today, May 17th. He'll have two season of college eligibility remaining with the Seminoles, but Coleman has already made it clear that he intends to enter the 2024 NFL Draft if all things go well for him in his third college season.
Coleman made the news official on Wednesday on Instagram live, and ended any hope that Michigan State had of retaining what would have been its best player for the 2023 season. After getting his feet wet as a true freshman in 2021, Coleman was a breakout player for the Spartans a year ago when he led the team in receptions (58), receiving yards (798) and receiving touchdowns (7).
There's no two ways about it — the loss of the 6-foot-4, 215-pound freak of an athlete is a massive blow for head coach Mel Tucker and the Spartans ahead of the 2023 season.
While Coleman likely would have been MSU's top receiving target again in 2023, 247Sports' Michigan State insider Justin Thind reported that outside programs began to pitch the wide receiver the idea that his NFL Draft stock would suffer if Thorne held on to the starting quarterback job at MSU. This was just the latest tampering ploy from outside programs to poach Coleman from East Lansing over the previous year or so, but it took root in the rising junior's mind according to Thind's unnamed sources.
Of course, we now know that Coleman's fears were unfounded, as Thorne entered the portal just hours before the wide receiver followed suit. Still, the damage had been done at that point, and once Coleman entered the portal he became the target of various offers and name, image and likeness pitches from programs across the country.
Coleman only took two official visits while in the transfer portal, travelling south to Tallahassee to see what Florida State had to offer, before heading west to check out Ole Miss. Coleman also had a scheduled visits to Texas A&M and Louisville, but cancelled those after his visit to Oxford, Miss. From there it came down to the Seminoles and Rebels, and Coleman ultimately chose Florida State.
With Coleman's official departure, Michigan State will turn to a young crop of receivers to join veteran Tre Mosley to fill two open starting spots and rotational roles. Second-year players Tyrell Henry, Antonio Gates Jr. and Jaron Glover will each battle for increased roles in 2023, while Michigan State also considers veteran options like Christian Fitzpatrick and Montorie Foster.
While the Spartans have been active in the transfer portal this spring, MSU has not had any success landing a wide receiver out of the portal yet.
Michigan State has already missed or passed on several transfer candidates that they had been exploring. Alabama transfer Tyler Harrell has committed to Miami and Grand Valley State transfer Jahdae Walker committed to Texas A&M. Both of these players made visits to East Lansing, but wound up at other programs. There was also some fan-generated buzz surrounding Michigan transfer A.J. Henning, but he elected to continue his career at Northwestern.
One other option could be Nebraska transfer Alante Brown, who visited East Lansing back on April 18. While it appeared the Spartans chose to explore other options after Brown's visit, perhaps Tucker and wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins circle back to Brown now that some of these other options have already selected new homes. Only time will tell where Michigan State turns from here at wide receiver.
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