Michigan State football: Jacoby Windmon declares for NFL draft

Jacoby Windmon career

Windmon spent his first three college seasons at UNLV. To say he had a massive impact on their team would be an understatement. In his third season with UNLV, he exploded for 118 tackles, 6.5 sacks, and a forced fumble.

After this remarkable season, he entered the transfer portal and decided to come to East Lansing.

Windmon picked up where he left off in 2022 and had a historic season last year. During the 2022 campaign, Jacoby recorded 49 tackles, 5.5 sacks, an interception, and six forced fumbles. Those six forced fumbles was the most in college football in 2022 and tied for second most in a single season in MSU history.

He also won Big Ten Player of the Week honors three separate times in 2022. He is the only Spartan to ever accomplish that feat and only the sixth Big Ten player. What makes these accomplishments even more impressive is that he did all this in only eight games. He was unfortunately part of the tunnel incident after the 2022 loss to Michigan and was suspended for the rest of the season.

Windmon’s 2023 season was also cut short after he suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2 against Richmond. He tried to play against Washington the following week but was unable to play the rest of the season. In his three games this past season, he recorded 15 tackles and a sack.

Jacoby’s NFL draft status

Many people expected Windmon to come back to Michigan State for another season, so he has not been on any NFL draft boards that I’ve seen. I imagine that will change now after his announcement on Thursday.

NFL teams may question his health after his injury, but I think someone will still give him a shot. You just can’t ignore the productive season he had in 2022, especially considering he only played in eight games. If he played in each game last season, he could have set some MSU and Big Ten records.

Windmon will be a fun player to watch in the NFL. The talent is obviously all there for him, I just hope he gets his chance with a team and takes full advantage of it.