PHOTO: David Santiago was added to improve Michigan State’s pass rush.

By TOM SHANAHAN

I caught up with David Santiago — interrupting his Sunday watching NFL games — with a couple of questions before he arrives at Michigan State next week as a transfer from Air Force.

Here are a few thoughts from Santiago, who has three years eligibility remaining, to supplement the original story I posted last week (see below).

A primary Michigan State need was improving its pass rush. Santiago recorded 3.5 sacks in 10 games as a redshirt freshman in 2024. So, it’s obvious why the Spartans targeted the 6-foot-4, 235-pounder. But what about the pressure of expectations on him to help improve the pass rush?

“It does add a little pressure for me, but I welcome it,” Santiago said. “I’m excited about my opportunity.”

By opportunity, that includes moving up to Michigan State as a Power Four conference school. Air Force is a Group of Five school in the Mountain West Conference.

“I think a lot of us are underrecruited, so I do put that chip on my shoulder,” Santiago said. “I want to prove to the world what I can do.”

The transfer portal has become such a normal part of recruiting that websites now rank players who enter the portal similar to how they were ranked as high school prospects. Santiago was a three-star prospect coming out of Millbrook High in Raleigh, N.C., and rated a three-star transfer portal prospect after a strong season at Air Force. He was sixth on the team with 37 tackles and a forced fumble.

I also asked him about is reputation among past teammates as a leader.

“I think a lot of it has to do with you communicating with your teammates, and you can help get the best out of them,” he said. “Ever since I was playing Little League baseball, I’ve demanded a lot of my teammates and tried get a lot out of them.”

Santiago said he committed after his visit to campus last week. The players were home for the holiday break, but Santiago did have the opportunity meet with Chad Wilt, the rush ends/co-special teams coordinator, and coaches and staff members.

“I loved coach Wilt and all the facilities,” Santiago said. “It seemed like a really good fit. It’s big-time football. It was a hard opportunity to turn down.”

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A journalism rule is to use your local knowledge. David Santiago is new to Michigan State as a rush end transfer from Air Force, but he played high school football near my home as a transplanted Yankee.

So, I had to write about him joining my alma mater. Small world.

Santiago was a tight end and defensive end/outside linebacker at Millbrook, a Raleigh high school that is a traditional state power in North Carolina. I enjoy staying connected to my newspaper roots with freelance football features the News & Observer assigns me on the Triangle’s top high school athletes. As a result, I watched Santiago on both sides of the ball while working on stories that profiled Millbrook quarterback Mason Fortune.

Fortune was a three-year starter whose career overlapped Santiago’s junior season in 2021 and senior year in 2022. The latter was a season Millbrook advanced to the large-school state semifinals.

“David is a big guy,” Fortune told me on his holiday break. “I can tell you we had a thing where if I threw him a back-shoulder pass, they couldn’t stop it.”

That, of course, doesn’t explain to Michigan State fans what to expect out of a 6-foot-3, 235-pound rush end. But it does demonstrate his teammates counted on him, and he delivered.

Santiago is coming off a redshirt freshman year at Air Force. Fortune was a true freshman last fall at Catawba College, a Division II school near Charlotte, where he moved into the starting line-up the final three games. Fortune threw for 10,000 yards in his career and was one of three Mr. North Carolina finalists in 2022 when Michigan freshman quarterback Jadyn Davis of Charlotte Providence Day was the winner.

“David was the kind of player who lifted everybody up,” Fortune said. “My first year as a starter he took me under his wing to help me through it. He’s always been a leader.”

Fortune recalled one play that highlighted Santiago as a relentless competitor. It took place In the state semifinal game against New Bern, the eventual 2022 state champion.

“He fumbled to give up the ball, but the very next drive on defense he forced a fumble that got the ball back,” Fortune said. “He never gives up. When things go wrong, he lifts up everybody.”

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith added Santiago on Monday to his reshaped roster through the transfer portal. The Spartans need to improve their pass rush, and Santiago finished 2024 for the Falcons with 3.5 sacks in 10 games. He was sixth on the team with 38 tackles.

Santiago originally committed to Charlotte before a coaching changed led him to enrolling at Air Force. Players at the military academies, Air Force, Army and Navy, can leave after the first two years without penalty. Once they return for their junior year they are committed to the next two years of school and five years of service as an officer upon graduation.

PHOTO: David Santiago played tight end and defensive end/outside linebacker in high school.

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Of Michigan State’s 12 transfer portal additions, Santiago is one of five from Group of Five schools. Four others are from Power 5 schools (counting Luke Vincic at Oregon State, which was a Pac-12 member when he enrolled and played) and three from Football Championship Subdivision members.

The Triangle is a rapidly growing economic area with increasing college football talent in both numbers and elite quality.

When I watched Santiago play, he was one of the guys you wondered he wasn’t drawing more recruiting interest. You noticed the quickness, size and savvy play. You wondered what it was the college coaches saw — or didn’t see — to judge how he rated in the recruiting game.

For players who felt they were underrecruited or developed at their first school, the Power 4 coaches now have a second go-around to evaluate ability and judge if they can play at the next level.

“I think David is a great addition for Michigan State, especially as a pass rusher,” Fortune said. “He’s a great person, great leader and amazing player. He was versatile for us at the star position — a linebacker and defensive end. I think he can do at Michigan State what he did at Air Force.”

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Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter and frequent contributor to Spartanamag.com. His new book on Michigan State leading college football integration is, “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” His first book was “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.”

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055

Below are links to click on to purchase my books focused.

My books tell the true story of college football integration in the 1960s and address the myths and fiction that allowed a false narrative surrounding the 1970 USC-Alabama game to usurp the credit from the true pioneers. As I said when I spoke at the National Sports Media Association book festival, no two books provide an accurate portrayal more than RAYE OF LIGHT and THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

I’ll put my facts up against anybody, anytime, anywhere. Watch here.

Click here for my story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and Segregation awarded first place by the Football Writers Association of America. I tell untold stories on Michigan State’s leading role and the true pioneers of college football integration. Click here to read the summary as a first-place story.

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Click here to purchase The Right Thing To Do

THE RIGHT THING TO DO

The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s

Foreword by Ruffin McNeill

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Click here to purchase Raye of Light.

RAYE OF LIGHT

Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the 1ntegration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans

Foreword by Tony Dungy

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Click here to purchase my children’s book, Bubba’s Dad, Duffy and College Football’s Underground Railroad

The book for now is only a Kindle version on Amazon. Print and audio platforms available soon.

Tags: Alabama, Bear Bryant, Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State

Tags: Jimmy Raye, Michigan State, North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame