MSU WR Antonio Gates Jr., son of ex-NFL star, enters transfer portal
Two days after the final practice of the spring, Michigan State football could be losing one of its more familiar names and highly regarded prospects.
Antonio Gates Jr. entered the transfer portal Monday; the third-year sophomore went through drills but did not participate in scrimmage activities during Saturday’s “Spartan Spring Showcase” in East Lansing.
Also Monday, two other players entered the portal per a team spokesman: junior running back Davion Primm and sophomore defensive back Sean Brown.
Gates was one of the prizes of former Spartans coach Mel Tucker’s 2022 recruiting class, a fourstar prospect out of Dearborn Fordson who was a Free Press Dream Team selection as a senior with 55 catches for 925 yards and 16 touchdowns.
The 6-foot-2, 194-pound Gates redshirted his first year at MSU then played in all 12 games last season, predominantly on special teams, and finished with five receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown. He went through the drills portion of Saturday’s open practice but did not participate in the hour-long scrimmage.
In some ways, it is history repeating itself. Gates’ father, former NFL superstar tight end Antonio Gates Sr., began his college career playing football for Nick Saban at MSU before transferring first to Eastern Michigan and then to Kent State (coincidentally, Saban’s alma mater) to play basketball before embarking on his NFL career, which featured eight Pro Bowl berths and three All-Pro nods over 16 seasons with the Chargers franchise in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Primm, who will be a fourth-year junior in the fall, played in eight games last season, with 15 snaps on offense and 60 plays on special teams. He had seven carries for 18 yards. Primm played
one game in 2022 as a redshirt freshman on special teams and bounced between running back and defensive back that season.
A Detroit native, the 6-foot, 205-pound Primm was the No. 2 player in Michigan out of Oak Park in the 2021 class according to 247 Sports.
Brown, meanwhile, played seven games as a true freshman last season, with three tackles overall while playing 24 snaps in the secondary and 27 on special teams. The 6-3, 196-pound native of Los Angeles was a three-star prospect out of Simi Valley High.
Smith gets first 2025 recruiting commit
Jonathan Smith went to familiar territory to land Michigan State football’s first pledge for its 2025 class.
The honor goes to Leo Hannan, a quarterback from Servite High in Anaheim, California, who announced his intention to become a Spartan on Monday night. The three-star prospect and Long Beach native chose the Spartans over Colorado
and Virginia as well as several other major conference offers, according to multiple recruiting sites.
According to his MaxPreps profile, Hannan was 197-for-309 passing (63.8%) for 2,429 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions as a junior starter for Servite in 2023. He also ran for 213 yards and six scores.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Hannan is rated the No. 50 quarterback nationally and No. 64 player in California according to 247 Sports' composite rankings. The recruiting site has Hannan as its No. 22 quarterback in the 2025 class.
Smith is familiar with Southern California, having grown up in Pasadena before playing at Oregon State and then launching his coaching career. His expected starting quarterback this fall, Aidan Chiles, also is from Smith’s hometown. Since-departed Katin Houser, who started seven games for MSU last season before transferring to East Carolina in the offseason, also is from Anaheim.