East Lansing, Mich. - No program in the country has more clout in the transfer portal for the running back position than Michigan State.
With Kenneth Walker III going from journeyman tailback at Wake Forest to All-American and Walter Camp National Player of the Year in one dynamic season at Michigan State, the Spartans had strong recruiting pull when perusing the portal for another running back in 2022.
Last winter, Michigan State gained transfer commitments from Jalen Berger of Wisconsin and Jarek Broussard of Colorado via the portal in bolstering the Spartan roster for the 2022 season.
Collegefootballnews.com ranked Broussard the No. 3 RB in the portal and Berger No. 6.
Those two will compete with returning scholarship players Elijah Collins, Jordon Simmons, Harold Joiner and Davion Primm for playing time when camp begins in August.
Actually, the competition began during spring practice, and is continuing during summer conditioning, which began on May 31.
“There is no true depth chart right now,” said Michigan State running backs coach Effrem Reed. “I do have an idea how I foresee everything shaking out, but for the time being it’s just about each guy getting better and me putting them in position to maximize what they’ve been weak at in the past and get them balanced out.”
They will be trying to replace one of the best single-season performers in Michigan State history. Walker ranked No. 2 in the FBS and No. 1 the Power Five in rushing yards per game (136.3) and rushing yards (1,636).
BERGER AND BROUSSARD
Berger announced plans to transfer to Michigan State in November, a few weeks after withdrawing from Wisconsin.
Broussard committed to transferring to Michigan State in January.
Berger arrived in time to participate in spring practice at Michigan State. Broussard arrived on campus in May.
They have taken different treks toward preparedness for August camp, but Reed likes the direction of things.
“Berger, when he first got here this spring had been out of shape a little bit, hadn’t done much, had just been working out on his own,” said Reed, who is in his first year as MSU’s running backs coach after serving for two years as an offensive analyst for the Spartans. “The whole key for him was to get in shape, and be able to get himself back to where he was when he left Wisconsin. I think he did a great job of taking each workout, day by day, and getting better, getting in shape, and by the time we hit midway through spring ball, that second scrimmage, he really took off and showed us what he could do and why he was so highly-recruited out of high school.”
Berger (6-1, 205, R-Soph., Newark, N.J.) led Wisconsin in rushing during the COVID-shortened season of 2020, with 301 yards on 60 carries (5.0 yards per attempt) as a true freshman.
He had a career-high 93 yards on 15 carries against Northwestern.
Last fall, he played in only three games for the Badgers. He rushed for 88 yards on 24 carries (3.7 per attempt). He fell in the depth chart and out of the playing group for undisclosed reasons before leaving the team and entering the portal at mid-season.
Berger has been well-received at Michigan State thus far.
“Obviously it’s hard being a transfer, coming in and guys accepting that,” Reed said. “But our team does a great job of understanding and accepting those guys. For him, it was about getting comfortable.
“He’s a really reserved kid. He’s quiet. But once he got comfortable with the room and the guys on the team, and us as coaches and he learned to trust us, I think that helped him to take that next step and help him be more comfortable and relax a little more in the offense.”
His talent became apparent in April.
“He catches the ball really well,” Reed said. “He is able to get skinny in holes and he has really good vision. We have to work on him with pass pro. But for the most part, I think Berger came out really, really, really impressive this spring.”
Broussard (5-9, 185, Jr., Dallas, TX) rushed for 661 yards (4.7 per carry) last year at Colorado.
As a freshman in 2020, he rushed for 895 yards (5.7 per carry) in just five games of the COVID-shortened season.
Broussard was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2020. He rushed for at least 80 yards in all five games, and he rushed for 121 or more yards in four of the five games.
He rushed for 301 yards on 25 carries against Arizona.
“You put on his tape at Colorado, the year he won Pac-12 Player of the Year, it’s pretty impressive,” Reed said. “He makes people miss. He’s hungry. He’s got a dog mentality and he likes to finish runs. That’s something that I value - guys that are smart, tough and physical. And he checks all the boxes.”
Broussard was a redshirt-freshman at Colorado in 2019 during Mel Tucker’s single season as head coach of the Buffaloes.
Broussard signed with Tucker’s predecessor, Mike MacIntyre, in 2018. Broussard redshirted in 2018 while dressing for two games and being listed as injured for the first three games of the season.
Broussard injured his knee in September of 2019 and missed the entire season during Tucker’s year in Boulder.
However, Broussard made an impression on Tucker and offensive coordinator Jay Johnson during their time together, including a productive spring in 2019. He led the team with seven rushes for 32 yards during the first scrimmage of 2019.
Broussard hasn’t been on the practice field in pads in East Lansing yet, but the positive impression has been renewed.
“The first thing was there is not a lot of re-teaching because he played in this offense when Coach Johnson was at Colorado,” Reed said. “He played in this exact offense. A lot of the terminology, he remembered. The pass protection scheme, he remembered. He remembered a lot of the pass concepts as well. That’s been a big factor for him.”
PROVEN COMMODITIES
MSU’s stable of running backs includes four players who have led a college football team in rushing for one season. Collins led Michigan State in rushing in 2019 during Mark Dantonio’s final season with the Spartans when Collins rushed for 988 yards.
Simmons led Michigan State in rushing in 2020 during Tucker’s first year at the helm. Collins rushed for 219 yards (3.9 per carry) as a true freshman in five games.
Reed, Tucker and former running backs coach William Peagler, now at the University of Florida, began seeking a successor to Walker’s contributions before last season ended. That’s when Berger became available.
“Who can be Ken?” Reed said. “You’ve got to realize what Ken did was extremely special. So you have to look for guys that bring different types of things to the room. Broussard is a very quick guy who makes people miss and he’s able to make the explosive plays happen.
“Berg is a guy who you can put a lot of different places, and he can have that same value on the team - whether it’s at receiver, or running back, jet sweeps and all that.
“And you have a guy like Harold Joiner who mastered third down last year. He can come in and do that.
“And you have Jordon and Elijah who can do the same thing in the running game for you.
“And you have a young guy like Davion Primm who had a great spring. He was able to process and pick up things a lot faster than we thought he would.
“That’s the exciting part. You have guys who can do a lot of different things. Now you have to figure out: How do you put each one in position to go into a game and go ahead and make those plays and add that same value.”
Michigan State lost deep reserve Donovan Eaglin to the portal during the spring. He transferred to Alabama A&M.
But Collins, Joiner, Simmons and Primm remained firm with the Spartans despite Berger’s and Broussard’s arrival.
“I think the key is being up front and honest with guys, where they are and what they need to work on,” Reed said. “Everyone in the room knew Ken was a step above everyone last year. You could see the separation. The whole key is guys come and ask you what they could do better. You just have to be honest with them.”
Tucker and his assistant coaches are in the process of creating deep, competitive situations at every position. The Spartans were one of the surprise teams in the country last year, going 11-2, winning the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and finishing ranked No. 8 in the coaches poll and No. 9 in the Associated Press poll.
Reed and the coaches are aware of the growing buzz around the program.
“Coach Tucker has done a great job of assembling the right people and also being in the community and putting himself out there to where people understand that hey, this is Michigan State, we want everyone involved and we are here to go ahead and take this thing to the next step because that’s our goal. We want to win a National Championship. We’re going to try to recruit the best players to do that, put ourselves in position to be successful, recruit hard, recruit relentlessly, nonstop, high velocity at all times.”