MSU Football: Harlon Barnett updates injury status of Tre Mosley, Maliq Carr, others

Michigan State could be without multiple starters when it hosts Nebraska for the final home game of the 2023 season this Saturday.

On Monday, interim head coach Harlon Barnett gave updates on several players including senior wide receiver Tre Mosley, redshirt junior tight end Maliq Carr, linebacker Darius Snow and quarterback Noah Kim.

Mosley, who was injured after taking a big hit during the Spartan's 27-12 loss to Minnesota this past Saturday, is "day-to-day" and his status for the upcoming game against the Cornhuskers is in doubt, according to Barnett. The interim coach had a similar update on Carr.

"Tre is more day-to-day, I'm not sure. It's going to be tough for him," Barnett said. "And then, Maliq, we're working through the process with him. This injury — day-to-day too — I'm not sure about this week."

Carr did not travel with the Spartans to last weekend's road game at Minnesota, and was listed as 'Out' on the mandatory availability report. There's been some speculation that Carr's absence was more for disciplinary reasons than health-related, but Barnett was not asked about that on Monday.

Barnett shed more light on the status of quarterback Noah Kim, who has not played since losing his starting job to Katin Houser three weeks ago and was listed as 'Out' against Minnesota. 

"I think so. It's still a few weeks off if I had to guess," Barnett said when asked if Kim could return from injury this season. "We want to make sure he's completely healthy. He's a tough guy, man. I can tell you, when he was out there he wasn't being totally honest with us. But, I kind of like guys like that. I like nuts. He's a football player. He was just trying to tough it through, but he was more injured than what he should have been. So, we're going to make sure he's completely healed before we put him back out there."

Finally, Barnett was asked if linebacker Darius Snow could return at some point in 2023, and the interim head coach left that door open.

"Darius could possibly come back," Barnett said. "He's working at it. He's rehabbing."

Snow missed the first two games of the 2023 season while still recovering from the season-ending leg injury he suffered in the 2022 opener vs. Western Michigan. The redshirt junior then returned and played sparingly in four games for the Spartans this season, but has been listed 'Out' over the past two weeks.

For the second consecutive season, the injury bug has not been kind to the Spartans. Michigan State had 15 players 'Out' against Minnesota, including cornerback Charles Brantley, who has not played since Week 3 against Washington. Transfer defensive tackles Jarrett Jackson and Dre Butler, who were expected to provide added depth up front for MSU, have missed most of the year.

In addition to the injuries, Michigan State has suffered a handful of departures from the roster, the latest of which was defensive end Tunmise Adeleye. The transfer from Texas A&M is a former Top 40 overall prospect, the kind of talent the Spartans have struggled to land out of the high school ranks, and was expected to make an impact this season. However, he appeared in just six games for MSU.

"Tunmise — that's just between us. I'll just keep it there between him and I," Barnett said of the nature of Adeleye's departure.

The 30-day transfer portal window that opened to Michigan State players in the wake of former head coach Mel Tucker's firing has now closed. The portal will open again at the conclusion of the 2023 season, but the in-season window closing take a burden off Barnett's shoulders.

"That's a good thing," he said. "Obviously, you can think about it as a coach that some more guys could hop in and all that kind of stuff, but, fortunately we have been blessed that we didn't have a lot of guys hop in there. They're here, so, you know what you're dealing with now. These are guys that want to be here and want to see this thing through. And so, I really appreciate them for it and I told them that even on Saturday before our game. I appreciate everybody that's here and working hard and doing their best to help us succeed."

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