Michigan State football transfer updates: Which MSU players are entering transfer portal?

With virtually any coaching change comes roster turnover.

When a coach departs or is fired, a team made up largely of players recruited by the coach and his staff is left to decide whether it wants to remain at a school and with a program after such sudden change.

It’s something Michigan State football is experiencing now.

One day after the Spartans’ tumultuous 2023 season ended Friday with a 42-0 loss to Penn State, the university announced it had hired Jonathan Smith away from Oregon State. Smith replaces Mel Tucker, who was fired in late September for cause amid a university investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.

REQUIRED READING: Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith: 'It's been a long time' knowing he would coach Spartans

Smith is a well-regarded coach who rebuilt Oregon State, his alma mater, into one of the Pac-12’s best programs over the past two seasons, but his arrival and the change it will bring – a new head coach, a new coaching staff, a new system and scheme – creates uncertainty for players, who may hope to continue their college careers elsewhere. With NCAA athletes now able to transfer once during their careers without the penalty of having to sit out a year, that movement becomes much more common.

In the days after the season finale and Smith’s hiring, several Spartans players have announced their intention to enter the transfer portal.

Here’s a rundown of who is potentially leaving:

Note: Players have from Dec. 4 to Jan. 2, 2024 to enter their name in the portal during the NCAA’s fall window.

Michigan State 2023 players entering the transfer portal

QB Katin Houser

A redshirt freshman, Houser started the final seven games of the Spartans’ season, with his team going 2-5 over that stretch.

This season, the 6-foot-3 Houser completed 58.6% of his passes for 1,132 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions while averaging 5.9 yards per attempt. What was likely his best game of the season came in a Nov. 18 win at Indiana, when he threw for a career-high 279 yards and three touchdowns, along with two interceptions. The performance earned him Big Ten freshman of the week honors.

Houser was a four-star recruit in the 2022 class, with 247Sports’ composite rankings grading him as the No. 14 quarterback nationally.

QB Sam Leavitt

While Houser was the Spartans’ primary quarterback for the back half of the 2023 season, Leavitt still saw time under center as a true freshman.

Leavitt played the entirety of the fourth quarter of losses to Michigan and Minnesota, as well as two drives against Nebraska and one against Maryland. For the season, Leavitt completed 15 of 23 passes for two touchdowns and two interceptions while averaging six yards per attempt.

The 6-foot-2 Oregon native was a four-star recruit in the 2023 class and, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, was the No. 21 quarterback nationally.

REQUIRED READING: Jonathan Smith's mission for Michigan State football: Renew Mark Dantonio's consistency

OL Spencer Brown

Brown has been Michigan State’s starting right tackle for each of the past two seasons and started 23 of his 32 games in East Lansing.

The 6-foot-6, 315-pound Brown was a fifth-year graduate senior in 2023 and has already earned a degree in advertising management, but he has another year of eligibility remaining as a graduate transfer due to the waiver the NCAA granted athletes whose seasons were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brown, a Canton native and Walled Lake Western graduate, signed with the Spartans in 2019 under then-coach Mark Dantonio.

“I appreciate everybody who helped me become the man I am today since I arrived on campus,” Brown wrote in a post on social media Monday. “I want to thank Coach D for making my dreams come true! Thank you to the coaches, support staff, and my teammates for giving me a once in a lifetime experience! I have no regrets! Lastly, I want to thank the fans; you will always have a special place in my heart!”

LB Darius Snow

Snow – whose father, Eric, was a guard at Michigan State and later in the NBA – saw his final two years with the Spartans ravaged by injuries.

He missed the 2022 season after suffering a leg injury in the season-opener against Western Michigan and was limited to four games this season, missing the final six contests with an unspecified ailment. During those four games, he played 55 snaps and had six tackles.

Snow was part of Dantonio’s final recruiting class in 2020. He spent the early part of his career at Michigan State as a defensive back before switching to linebacker prior to the start of the 2022 season.

Snow posted a highlight video on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Monday with the note “Just a ball player looking for the best opportunity. Wherever that may be.”

OL Kevin Wigenton II

The 2023 season represented a big jump for Wigenton, started six games at guard as a redshirt sophomore. The previous season, Wigenton had logged just 12 offensive snaps, along with 14 special teams plays.

A New Jersey native, Wigenton was a three-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class.

OL Ethan Boyd

A 6-foot-7, 320-pound offensive tackle, Boyd played in every game for Michigan State during the 2023 season, which included three starts.

The East Lansing native and East Lansing High School graduate played primarily on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2022 before moving into a much more prominent role in 2023 on the offensive line. Coming out of high school in 2021, he was the No. 21 prospect in Michigan in his class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Michigan State transfer portal updates: Tracking MSU football players