Spartans land transfer long snapper from James Madison
Chris Solari
Michigan State stronger Tuesday.
Long snapper Kaden Schickel announced on social media his plan to transfer to the Spartans from James Madison. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining after entering the portal Dec. 5.
The 6-foot-2, 192-pound native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, took a redshirt season in 2021 and did not play in 2022 with the Dukes before assuming the starting long snapping duties this season. JMU went 11-2 this season.
Schickel is the sixth player to transfer to MSU for new
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little coach Jonathan Smith. He joins quarterback Aidan Chiles (Oregon State), tight end Jack Velling (Oregon State), linebacker Jordan Turner (Wisconsin), wide receiver TJ Sheffield (Purdue) and defensive end Quindarius Dunnigan (Middle Tennessee State) as inbound transfers who are expected to arrive in January for spring semester.
Long snapper has been a position in flux the past two seasons for MSU.
Hank Pepper, who started all 13 games as a true freshman in 2021, got hurt and missed more than half of the 2022 season and entered the transfer portal this fall after playing in four games. He is heading to Southern California with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Michael Donovan took over for Pepper in 2022 and struggled, then transferred to Miami (Florida). Junior college transfer Drew Wilson and walk-on linebacker Sam Edwards split the snapping duties this season after Pepper left the team before the Spartans’ Sept. 30 loss at Iowa.
Upon arrival at MSU, Schickel will be delivering snaps to two of the best returning specialists in the Big Ten. Punter Ryan Eckley was named second-team All-Big Ten as a redshirt freshman, ranking seventh in the nation and second in the conference at 46.8 yards per punt. And kicker Jonathan Kim, who recently affirmed his plan to return for 2024, was an honorable mention All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media and delivered four field goals of 50 yards or longer. That included a 58-yarder at Iowa that was the longest in Kinnick Stadium history and the fourth-longest in MSU program history.