Michigan State writer weighs in on Jaden Mangham’s transfer to U-M – Were sour grapes involved?
One of the cycle’s more intriguing transfer portal additions came in the form of former Michigan State Spartans safety Jaden Mangham flipping sides of the rivalry and joining the Michigan Wolverines. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining, which could add some multi-year juice to the in-state feud.
Standing at 6-2, 185 pounds, Mangham is a Beverly Hills, Michigan native who attended Groves High School. He played in 20 games with 12 starts at safety in his Michigan State career, recording 73 total tackles with four interceptions, three passes defended and one fumble recovery. Mangham’s play last season earned him honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition.
He had interest from other Big Ten programs, such as Ohio State and Nebraska, before pledging to the Wolverines over the weekend.
But what would lead an in-state player with a history in the rivalry to jump to the other side? It may have had to do with some bad blood with new coaching staff in East Lansing that revolved around how his brother, running back Jaren Mangham, was treated before entering the portal and committing to Minnesota.
“His brother was on the team and transferred,” Spartan Mag’s Kenny Jordan told The Wolverine this weekend. “They had been active looking in the portal post-spring game at some positions they needed to upgrade. Running back [was one of them] and his brother wasn’t a huge fan of that. As far as I was told, his brother was told that he was not going to be on the team, but they would honor his scholarship. to finish up school.
“Supposedly, Jaden wasn’t told that. He was told by another teammate and not by the coaches about that situation. So he was upset with that. And then it just kind of snowballed from there, I guess. He obviously would have been a starter here post-spring ball. But, he also didn’t play in the Spring game either, so I don’t know if those conversations were happening before or what. He waited right until the end of the transfer portal window.”
Mangham totaled 53 tackles, 4 interceptions and 7 pass breakups for the Spartans last season. Pro Football Focus graded him a 69.6 overall on the year with a 64.8 coverage grade, 82.7 as a run defender, 66.2 as a tackler and 54.8 as a pass rusher.
Jordan said that Mangham can tend to get a bit overaggressive at times, but that he also has a knack for coming up with big plays. One of the emphases with the Michigan staff might be preaching discipline as part of the team’s safety rotation, led by Makari Paige and Quinten Johnson. He is expected to compete for time alongside them and former Tennesee/Louisville safety Wesley Walker, who committed the same day as Mangham out of the transfer portal.
“He’s kind of a loose cannon,” Jordan said. “He tries to lay the boom a lot. He’s a little small and he’s pretty skinny, but he does hit hard. He comes flying in a lot, and that makes him miss a lot of tackles. He has good ball skills and he really played really well against Nebraska. That was probably his best game last year.
“There was a media day in the spring while they were still practicing where he was talking about how when the new staff got to Michigan State, one of the first things they told him was about taking plays off and the number of times that he’d taken plays off in the past season, so I would probably say that was probably his biggest thing. It’s really just about finding consistency and not taking plays off.”
There is no question Mangham would have been one of MSU’s better players this year, but the situation in East Lansing appears to have devolved to a point where it was best to sever ties as head coach Jonathan Smith undoes the wrongs of the Mel Tucker era.
“I try not to look at some of the stuff, but I saw some people saying that Mangham was the best player by far at Michigan State and stuff like that,” Jordan said. “He was a starter and a decent player. There’s some other guys I feel like that are just as good or potentially better.
“But like I said, he would have started here and everything. So you can’t really say a whole lot. But in a situation like that, it’s probably best for both sides to just move on.”
Regardless, the rivalry has another intriguing plot thread as both programs head into new eras under Smith and Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, both in their first years. MSU received a former Michigan player in linebacker Semaj Bridgeman the same day Mangham committed to the Wolverines, so there are players flipping both ways.
“Both guys in the long run are probably doing what’s best for them,” Jordan said. “There’s probably a little bit of shade going both ways, but I don’t know.”
The Wolverines and Spartans renew their rivalry on Oct. 26 in Ann Arbor.
The post Michigan State writer weighs in on Jaden Mangham’s transfer to U-M – Were sour grapes involved? appeared first on On3.
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