EAST LANSING - Before there was transfer portal, there were football players like Michigan State tight end Matt Seybert.
Players who sat in their dorms or apartments at mid-majors and lower division schools and believed they could thrive at a higher level of collegiate football.
Players who had a dream and had the courage to act on those dreams despite the risks.
Seybert was one of those players in 2015.
After a pretty strong three-sport prep career at Traverse City St. Francis, the 6-foot-4, 252-pound Seybert, who missed his senior year with a broken foot, still earned a full football scholarship to the University of Buffalo.
But that wasn’t enough.
Seybert, a childhood friend and high school teammate of former Spartan Byron Bullough, felt there was something more. So he did something most players in his position would view as crazy.
He walked away from a full ride scholarship to pursue his long sought-after belief that he could play at a major Division I school - Michigan State.
“I guess you’re pretty much right with me saying I’m bigger than this (when I was Buffalo),’’ said Seybert, who will also finish his final season at Michigan State on scholarship. “In my mind, I was just laying in bed and really just stressing out because every night I would think, I really want to play in the Power 5 and I always wanted to play at Michigan State.
“I was at Buffalo and I was like, ‘I just don’t think this enough,’ that this wasn’t truly my dream and I’ve always been about chasing my dream so I just had to chase it and I took the risk. I had to do it for my own mental state so I could know that I wouldn’t regret it down the road. I just knew that even if I didn’t make it until my last year that it would totally be worth it.’’
That risk seems to be finally paying off in his last year of collegiate eligibility and he’s making it - his best.
Through hard work, perseverance and a never-say-die attitude, Seybert is realizing his dream through four games to the tune of eight receptions for 90 yards and two touchdowns - both of which came during a breakthrough performance at Northwestern last weekend.
“The main thing that comes to mind is just not quitting,’’ Seybert said. “You just can’t give up. Never quit. And when you’re down and out you just have to focus on getting better.’’
While he can smile about his achievements, Seybert admits the road to his recent success wasn’t always paved with the highest optimism.
“(Although) my main thing is never give up, never quit, I had some down days where I said, ‘Dang, I don’t know if it’s going to work, I don’t know if this decision was worth it,’” he said. “But I realized that being here is so much more special than playing at a smaller school in the MAC. Nothing against those guys, I have total respect for them but being here and running out of the tunnel and not even playing a snap, it’s still a heck of an experience. You got that adrenaline running through you . . but yea, I definitely had my down days but never quit, never quit.’’
Seybert was initially granted a scholarship last spring. Then he had the scholarship renewed this week. He is reaching his goals, after enduring a difficult transition, sitting out a year after transferring, moving from tight end to defensive end in 2018, and back to tight end in 2019. And while he earned the nickname Mr. Reliable from his teammates because he rarely drops passes, the bulk of his playing time had come on special teams.
“Maybe like my first one or two years here, I wasn’t quite real with myself,’’ he said. “You’ve got to be real with yourself and where you’re at. Like what are you not good at? What’s wrong with me, my athleticism? What do I need to work on? Because once you can fix your weakest points, you can become a better football player. Once I was real with myself, I really improved this last year or so.’’
It wasn’t until this season, his last, that he emerged as a target in the passing game.
After catching the first two receptions of his career against Tulsa, he ripped off a 48-yard reception among two more catches against Arizona State and cemented his arrival with a career-high four catches and two touchdowns against Northwestern.
“I can run,’’ he said with a laugh. “I may not look like the most athletic guy walking down the street but when I get the ball in my hands and a little adrenaline running through me, I think I can run pretty fast.’’
Senior captain and starting quarterback Brian Lewerke, who admitted Seybert is fast-becoming another favored option in MSU’s passing game, said the senior tight end’s story goes far beyond his breakout day against the Wildcats.
“He came from a place where he was going to school for free and then he wanted to walk on and play bigger football, and I can totally respect that,’’ Lewerke said. “Coming in here, it was like, ‘Okay, yeah, maybe he’s going to play but we’ll see.’ But he’s easily been the most improved player, other than Kenny (Willekes), of course, probably that I’ve seen since my five years of being here. He’s got great hands, he works hard every day and he’s never complaining, just trying to do everything he can to make this team better.
“He kind of defines what are team is, hard working, maybe being the typical underdog and having to work your way up to get where you want. So, he kind of embodies all of that.’’
Seybert’s pursuit of that dream and his latest success is not something that surprised Bullough.
“Matt Seybert has always been a guy who has prided himself on his work ethic and toughness. I remember him telling me last year, ‘My thing is, if you truly just do not give up, eventually you will see success,’” Bullough said. “We have definitely seen that come into fruition so far in this 2019 season for him. He took a chance on leaving Buffalo because for as long as I can remember him, he always dreamed of playing college football at the highest level. The hours and hours of work that he has put in over so many years is paying off in a big way for him this year and there is more to come.’’
Dantonio believed in Seybert’s “Never Quit” dream, and encouraged it.
“Last year he moved to defensive end and he thought he would play a little bit more there,” Mark Dantonio said. “It probably didn’t happen the way he wanted it to so there was some discussion on what he should do in his senior year here and I said, ‘Hey, hang in. Move back to tight end and hang in. You played (36 snaps) in ’17, I feel like you can get involved in the process.’ And he has.
“He has played very well here. He played very well at Northwestern. He’s a serious-minded guy. He is going to work extremely hard and he is earning everything he gets.”
Seybert wants to make sure that his story serves as an inspiration for anyone questioning whether they, too, should pursue what may seem like an impossible dream.
“The first thing that comes to my mind, obviously you hear it all the time, and it’s a cliché: Follow your dreams,” he said. “You have to chase them, man. Be a dream chaser. Chase it because it’s going to be worth it. You don’t look back in the end and say, ‘What if I did, what if I didn’t do this?’ And once you do it, never quit, no matter how down you get. A year ago, it wasn’t looking very good but you also have to embrace your teammates because when your spirits are down, they’re going to keep you up.’’