Darius Snow came to Michigan State to “get a degree and play ball.”
He earned his bachelor’s degree in graphic design in May, but playing football was temporarily stripped away in the opening game of the 2022 season. Snow, a linebacker, went down with a season-ending injury against Western Michigan after he and defensive back Chester Kimbrough collided during the game.
“It felt like just a regular hit,” Snow recalled. “And I fell on the ground and I kind of like rolled over … and when I got up, it’s like I got up and I think I went back down and by the time I tried to get back up I couldn’t walk anymore.”
While Snow didn’t disclose the exact injury he sustained, he did mention that his recovery didn’t have a set timetable, unlike most injuries.
“A lot of times there’s like a set point you work toward,” Snow said. “Like, ‘You should be able to play by this point.’ With my injury, there was none. It was, 'If you can, you can, and if you can’t, you can’t.' There was no set goal.”
Snow worked through the adversity and got back on the field just over a year after his injury. He returned against Washington and posted two tackles. Snow also played against Maryland and later recorded three tackles at Iowa.
He discussed how fighting through adversity has affected him.
“I think it’s made me a better man,” Snow said. “Ever since I came to Michigan State, I’ve experienced adversity. Pretty much, basically from a couple weeks (after) I stepped on campus I’ve experienced adversity in some way, something directly affecting me, something inadvertently affecting me. It’s made me a better man. It’s grown me. The experiences that I’ve had here, the highs and lows, has made me more mature.”
Adversity is something that Snow went through individually last season and throughout the offseason. Now, the entire Michigan State team is going through unexpected adversity given the coaching situation. Snow even talked to the team about an acronym that he came across a long time ago and he shared it.
“It’s B.C.E.F.,” Snow said. “And it’s believe, compete, endure and finish. And it goes for life. I felt that was something I should share with the team. I said that at the end of the day, you really can’t accomplish anything if you don’t believe in yourself first. And then when it comes to ball, or really anything … you gotta compete. And then you have to endure at some points in life. You’re going to come across adversity. And you’re going to come across things that don’t go your way, but how can you get through it? And then at the end of the day, you gotta finish. I mentioned that last game we didn’t finish well and that’s how we lost. It all goes together and that’s something that I thought would be nice to share and I think that I got the message across.”
At the time of writing, three players have left the Michigan State program since Mel Tucker’s firing: running back Jordon Simmons, long snapper Hank Pepper and defensive back Justin White . Snow was asked if he was surprised at how few players have left the program at this point in the season.
“I wouldn’t say surprised,” Snow said. “At the end of the day you talk about what’s a 'Spartan Dawg?' You feel me? What is a 'Spartan Dawg?' Well, a 'Spartan Dawg' is resilient no matter what’s going on. We’ve had a lot of adversity obviously on and off the field.”
One of Snow’s other passions besides football is graphic design. One of his end goals is to become a designer for a Premier League club in England.
Snow said if he were to make a design about this season he would create “something similar to a 'Rocky' poster.”
"Rocky" is a fitting analogy given that Snow’s father, Eric Snow, played for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA when Darius was young. He admires his dad and looks to him for advice when needed.
“My Dad’s my idol, in life,” Snow said. “Like, I want to be my Dad. Everything that he’s done is what I want to do. I’ve always asked him, whenever I need advice for anything, he’s the first person I ask … The thing that I’ve gotten the most from him is being a professional about life. The way he goes about things, I go about things very similarly. I’d say that’s the number one thing I’ve taken from him.”