East Lansing — Jameel Gardner Jr. is coming home.
Gardner, a grad transfer wide receiver who remained in the portal, pledged to Michigan State after visiting this weekend during the Spartans’ spring showcase on Saturday. The 6-foot Detroiter caught 68 passes for 888 yards the past three seasons, one at Kent State and the past two at Jackson State. Four of those went for touchdowns, two of them last season as part of 32 catches for 483 yards of production.
Michigan State got a good look at its wide receivers Saturday, when redshirt freshman Charles Taplin II, redshirt senior Chrishon McCray and Rodney Bullard Jr. — a possible redshirt senior awaiting an NCAA appeal — repped as the first-teamers. Redshirt freshman Bryson Williams, Michigan transfer Fredrick Moore and redshirt freshman Braylon Collier repped as the second team, with true freshmen Zach Washington and Rai’Shawn Elmore getting in the mix late.
Gardner adds to the mix with a return to close to home. At Cass Tech, he was second-team all-state as a senior and ranked 25th in Michigan according to 247Sports as a three-star prospect. He was a teammate of McCray’s at Kent State, where he started eight games and appeared in all 12 in 2023.
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Cass Tech alum Jameel Gardner Jr. joins Michigan State as transfer
Reporting by Connor Earegood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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