One of Michigan State's top offensive playmakers from the 2023 season will continue his career elsewhere, and now we officially know why.
On Monday, former Spartan tight end Maliq Carr committed to Houston out of the transfer portal. About an hour and a half after announcing his commitment to the Cougars, Carr explained to the MSU fanbase why he was no longer a Spartan in a since-deleted tweet.
After Carr deleted the tweet above, he replace it with the following:
According to Carr's original tweet, it appears new Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith, tight end coach Brian Wozniak and the rest of the new coaching staff was not interested in keeping the redshirt junior in East Lansing. This confirms recent speculation claiming this was the reason Carr entered the transfer portal back on Dec. 9, just 11 days after Smith was formally announced as the 26th head coach of Michigan State football.
Carr, who began his career at Purdue before transferring to MSU ahead of the 2021 season, will have one season of eligibility remaining at Houston. In three seasons as a Spartan, the 6-foot-6, 260-pounder totaled 54 receptions for 696 yards and five touchdowns.
Under the previous coaching regime, Carr butted heads with former tight end coach Ted Gilmore in 2021 and 2022. However, Gilmore told reporters on Aug. 22 of this year that the redshirt junior was finally embracing his full role as a tight end, including a willingness to block in the run game and add the necessary weight to play the position in the Big Ten Conference.
“I think that got his attention, like ‘This is what you’re going to have to do. You’re going to have to do it all, and you have to embrace that,” Gilmore said in August.
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