Michigan State Football News: Former Players Updates and COVID-19 Testing

Brian Lewerke

The New England Patriots announced yesterday that former Michigan State Spartans’ quarterback Brian Lewerke was one of nine player cut from the roster. Lewerke was undrafted in the NFL draft this year, but quickly signed a free agent deal with the Patriots. However, approximately three months later he was let go by the organization.

Besides Lewerke, the lousy Patriots also announced Malik Gant (DB), Will Hastings (WR), Adarius Pickett (DB), Sean Riley (WR), J’Mar Smith (QB), Kyahva Tezino (LB), Courtney Wallace (DL), and Isaiah Zuber (WR) were all released as well. For now, former Spartan Brian Hoyer remains as the No. 2 quarterback on the Patriots roster.

Obviously if you are reading this you know who Brian Lewerke is, but I will remind you all the former Spartan spent the last five years in East Lansing, seeing playing time as a redshirt freshman before breaking his leg against that evil team. He started for the following three seasons 2017-19, amassing 8,293 passing yards, and 47 touchdown passes, all while completing just over 57-percent of his passes. Legswerke rushed for 1,255 yards, scored 10 rushing touchdown’s, and also had a touchdown catch.

Cody White

Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Former wide receiver Cody White was waived by the Kansas City Chiefs with a non-football injury designation. White declared for the NFL draft after the season ended despite having eligibility remaining. He went undrafted, but was signed as a free agent by the reigning Super Bowl champs. However, following his first physical with the team over the weekend both he and Auburn Cornerback Javaris Davis were waived after discovering unreported injuries prior to their starting play with the Chiefs.

Over the course of his three seasons with the Spartans, White caught 143 passes for a total of 1,967 yards while scoring 13 touchdowns. He also rushed for another 63 yards on 11 attempts with an additional rushing touchdown.

Hunter Rison

Finally, former Spartan wide receiver Hunter Rison announced on Twitter last night that he has committed to play at Grand Valley State University in Allendale. While I do not personally have any thoughts on Rison’s ongoing career, I cannot honestly say the same for the Lakers as a former Hillsdale Charger myself. Even though the Dale left the GLIAC, I still hate everything about GVSU athletics.

Rison, the son of former MSU star and NFL wide receiver Andre Rison, committed to the Spartans out of Ann Arbor Skyline in the class of 2017. He played in 12 games as a true freshman, amassing 19 catches for 224 yards. He also had three rushing attempts for 11 yards.

Following the 2017 season, Rison announced he was transferring while his dad stated it was because he was not a fit for the MSU offense and should be receiving more playing time. He ended up at Kansas State where he sat out the 2018 season per NCAA transfer rules. However, he was suspended in mid-April 2019 after he was arrested and charged with striking a female with an open hand. He transferred to Fullerton College in California to play as a JuCo for the 2019 season in June and plead guilty to the battery charge in July.

COVID-19 Testing Update

In the latest update on COVID-19 testing, 16 of 122 Michigan State student-athletes have now tested positive for COVID-19, while an additional four staffers have tested positive. The team announced on Friday they would self-quarantine for 14 days following the initial positive tests from last week’s surveillance testing. Overall, that brings total student-athlete positive test count to 23 since the first round of tests were conducted in June. That is out of more than 600 total tests administered to student-athletes thus far.