What led Rocky Lombardi back to East Lansing for Michigan State's pro day?

Michigan State wide receiver Tre Mosley was scrolling through his contact list looking for somebody who’d be willing to throw him passes at Michigan State’s pro day, which took place in East Lansing on Wednesday.

After all, the three MSU quarterbacks on scholarship in the 2023 season had all transferred out. One person on Mosley’s contact list stood out and he had no doubts about him: Rocky Lombardi.

“We’ve had a great relationship since I got here in 2018 in the winter,” Mosley said about his former teammate. “We still stay in touch and it was a no-brainer.”

Lombardi spent four years in East Lansing from 2017 through 2020. Mosley was his teammate for two of those seasons. After the 2020 campaign, Lombardi decided to transfer to Northern Illinois, a place where he had success. Lombardi even led the Huskies to a MAC title in 2021.

“Tre and I were actually doing our combine prep, our pro day prep in a similar location," Lombardi said about Mosley. "I had discovered that most of the quarterbacks had transferred out of here. So, I was like, ‘Who’s going to throw to you at pro day?’”

Lombardi is going through the draft process himself now that he is out of college eligibility. By throwing at Michigan State’s pro day, he got some added exposure to the NFL scouts that were in attendance.

On top of throwing at the Michigan State pro day on Wednesday, he participated in Northern Illinois’ pro day last week.

“I had a really good day at my NIU pro day,” Lombardi said. “Tested well, had good numbers and threw the ball well also.”

Lombardi is “really excited” as he continues his process to hopefully get signed or drafted by an NFL franchise.

“I think I have the physical traits and the mind for it,” Lombardi said about a potential NFL future. “It just takes one team."

His decision to transfer wasn’t an easy one. He called East Lansing home for four years. Looking back on his college career, he is happy he made the decision to play for the Huskies.

“I’m happy with my decision, where I went,” Lombardi said about making the move to Northern Illinois. “I was really sad to leave this place (Michigan State) and I’m really glad to be back. I really love East Lansing and the Spartan family and everything that it’s done for me.”

Lombardi arrived in East Lansing a few days prior to pro day to work out with Mosley, who even took him on a tour of the recently renovated football facility: the Tom Izzo Football Building.

“I pulled into East Lansing, like literally right off the interstate, and I was like, ‘It just feels like, it just brings me back home’ because this is where I started my college career and matured so much as a person,” Lombardi added. “So it was a strange mixture of being back but also being home.”

On the other hand, Mosley spent his entire five-year college career with the Spartans. His college career may not have ended how he would’ve preferred.

Mosley played through injury since Week 3 of the 2023 season. He fought through the injury all the way until Week 8, when he re-injured himself and missed the final four games of the season.

Mosley disclosed the injury as an AC sprain on both shoulders.

“The staff thought it would be best for me to just call it time for me to get ready for this next stage of my life,” Mosley said. “Because if I kept playing, I could’ve furthermore injured myself. As much as I didn’t want to, it was the best decision for myself.”

That decision to miss the rest of the season appears to have worked out well for Mosley, given that he was feeling fully healthy for MSU's pro day on Wednesday.

“I think the fact that I stopped playing when I did, it gave me time to get somewhere near 100 percent before I would start training," Mosley explained. "That allowed me to attack training the way I needed to so that I was able to perform today.”

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