:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68922958/1303204418.5.jpg)
Tomorrow’s game against the Michigan Wolverines will mark what in traditional years was “Senior Day” for the Michigan State Spartans. In what was anything but a traditional year, perhaps it is fate that the team’s only senior this year is what would generally be considered “non-traditional.”
Joshua Langford is the only senior on the squad, and he is a fifth-year player who participated in senior day festivities last season. Following two seasons of injuries that kept him off the court, he enters tomorrow’s game as a graduate senior who was unsure a year ago whether he would even be here today.
“It’s unbelievable just to be able to be playing again,” Langford said. “Obviously, it might not be ideal the position I’m in, but at the end of the day I’m back playing and I have a second chance at playing the game that I love. So, regardless of the circumstances, I’m just going to give 110 percent because there was a point in my life I didn’t know if I would be able to put a jersey back on.”
This year has seen him back in a big way, as Langford has been averaging 27.9 minutes per game on the season. Down the final gauntlet of games the last few weeks, it seems like he is almost never on the bench resting. However, he and Tom Izzo wouldn’t have it any other way.
“They say God only gives you what you can handle. I’m not sure many guys could have done it (like Langford) and I’m not sure anybody’s done it my career here,” Izzo said. “So I’d say he ranks right on top, to be honest.”
Will Langford be back next season under the extra NCAA eligibility offered due to COVID-19? Izzo said the door isn’t fully closed on that happening yet. Either way, while traditional “Senior Day” traditions may not look the same this weekend, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Langford kiss the logo at center court tomorrow, and good luck keeping those eyes dry when he does.