After 12 scholarship players left the Michigan State football program in the month following the end of the regular season, emigration from East Lansing was curbed.
But a new name appeared in the NCAA's transfer portal on Wednesday: linebacker Ma'a Gaoteote, the top-ranked recruiter in the Spartans' recruiting class in 2021.
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MSU coach Mel Tucker made a big splash in December 2020 when he persuaded Gaoteote to drop his engagement with USC and sign with the Spartans.
As the lone four-star prospect among Tucker's first-party recruits - a group the coach jokingly referred to as his "Zoom babies" - the Las Vegas product was expected to have an immediate effect. But he contributed with just seven tackles as a rookie, while playing 100 snaps on defense and specialty teams in eight games.
The 6-foot-1, 245-pound Gaoteote's future in East Lansing was clouded when the Spartans added a pair of transfer linebackers, UNLV's Jacoby Windmon and Mississippi State's Aaron Brule, last month.
Gaoteote is the 17th scholarship player on Michigan State's list to enter the portal since September.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin. Read more about Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Big Ten newsletter.