Veteran Big Ten linebacker realizes dream by transferring to Michigan State

EAST LANSING – The first college prospect camp Jordan Turner participated in was at Michigan State.

The linebacker from Farmington High School posed for a photo with then-coach Mark Dantonio and planned on using it when he committed to the Spartans. It didn’t come together as he hoped.

“They were the first school to recruit me, had been to my school plenty of times, but the last school to offer me,” Turner recalled. “So, whatever that means.”

Nearly five years after picking Wisconsin, Turner is finally living out his dream. He entered the portal in the offseason and transferred to Michigan State for his final season of eligibility.

“I always wanted to be back home, closer to family,” Turner said earlier this month while noting the desire to play for new head coach Jonathan Smith and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Joe Rossi. “When both of them decided to come here, I was like it’s a green light, let’s go.”

Turner, 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds, took a redshirt as a true freshman at Wisconsin in 2020 and then racked up 135 tackles, including 12.5 for a loss, five sacks three interceptions and two forced fumbles in 30 games with 18 starts. He has experience playing at Spartan Stadium but that came in an overtime loss for the Badgers in 2022.

“I always wanted to play here at first, didn’t,” Turner said, “and then hit the portal and had a great opportunity to come back home. … I just wanted to be somewhere where it’s a healthy environment to grow in all phases and through all the recruiting process, it checked every box for me so I knew I was coming here.”

Rossi spent the last five-plus seasons as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Minnesota before Smith lured him away for the same job as his highest-paid assistant. During that time in the now-defunct Big Ten West Division, Rossi saw plenty of crossover film of Turner as an inside linebacker, which obviously factored in the portal interest.

“First thing is he’s a great person, he’s top notch, I love coaching the kid,” Rossi said of Turner. “Two, he works his butt off and three, he’s talented. When you’ve got a guy who’s a really good person, who works really hard, who is really talented, those guys are really fun to coach and he’s been awesome. He’s been great for the room.”

Turner arrived in East Lansing in January as another veteran in an experienced linebackers room. Cal Haladay is back for a fifth year after leading the Spartans in tackles each of the last three seasons and former four-star recruit Jordan Hall took over a starting role as a true freshman last season. Fifth-year senior Darius Snow is attempting to get fully healthy after a career-threatening leg injury in the 2022 opener. Wayne Matthews, who spent the last three years at Old Dominion, joined the program as a winter transfer and Michigan State on Sunday picked up a commitment from former Indiana and Oregon edge rusher Anthony Jones.

“I knew it was going to be a lot of experience in the room,” Turner said of joining the Spartans, “and I was excited just to see what they learn, what I learn, just learning off each other.”

Turner is finishing his college career in the same conference it started but, like everyone else on the roster, is also learning a new defense. The biggest change he faces is the shift from a base 3-4 scheme at Wisconsin to a 4-3 at Michigan State, with the use of a rush-end. Turner is intrigued by his potential fit in with Rossi’s different looks and blitzes.

“As a defense as a whole,” Turner said, “he wants all of us to be able to play fast and play vertical so I like that.”

Turner’s family recently made the drive from Metro Detroit to East Lansing to watch spring practice and was home about 5 p.m. That’s quite a change from the more than 400-mile one-way trek to Madison and Turner appreciates a burden lifted for loved ones. Meanwhile, he’s focused on a final college season at his dream school with a clear goal.

“Win, that’s all I’m trying to do here,” Turner said. “Win, as a team.”