EXCLUSIVE: Spartans 2025 Target ATH Desmond Straughton on Playing Running Back

The three-star recruit is a standout safety, but he is no slouch running the ball.

Michigan State's new football coach Jonathan Smith waves to the crowd during a timeout in the basketball game against Georgia Southern on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA

Roseville High School lays claim to one of the best players in the state -- 2025 athlete Desmond Straughton.

Straughton is a two-way player on the gridiron, hence the classification of "athlete" by recruiting databases. Though he will likely find his home at safety when he reaches the college level, Straughton is a talented running back for the Panthers. Playing both ways at the level Straughton does will add more wear and tear, so the recruit said he is taking measures to prepare.

"Right now, I'm pretty sure I'm the starting running back, and I'll be starting on defense, too," Straughton told Spartan Nation. "I'm doing the small stuff now, stretching every day ... taking ice baths, doing like, hip mobility and stuff, and let's say I do get tired [from playing both ways], we still got, I got trust in my teammates, like, if I do need a play. The second running back ... Damyron Brown, he a really good player. He going into his junior year, I know if I ever need a play we can call him up or Coach [Vernard Snowden] can call him and he gonna make that play."

Straughton's ability as a rusher is not lost on Snowden, to the point where Snowden considers Straughtons position on the field "still a question."

"He's being recruited heavy as a safety -- but I think if we would make Des our primary running back ... [if] he was being recruited as a running back Des would have probably twice as many offers as he has now," Snowden said. "Because that's how talented and gifted this kid is. So we've seen safety, but we made it our business to say 'Hey, he needs to get the football.' Des is a two-time team MVP as a sophomore and as a junior. He got the team MVP and it wasn't just because of him playing safety, it was because whenever he got the ball in his hand, he was just that dynamic.

"I mean, safety is what happened to take off, but, like, he really could have gone on and played big-time [college football] at running back as well."

Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.

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