EAST LANSING, Mich—Former Michigan State football interior offensive lineman James Ohonba announced his intention to transfer to Louisiana-Lafayette in a Tweet late Thursday. Former Spartan secondary member Michael Dowell also announced late Thursday that he would be reopening his transfer recruitment after he tweeted there were complications with his enrollment at Pittsburgh.

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/ZAYa5TpEgR

— James Ohonba (@JamesOhonba) January 14, 2022

Ohonba, a 6-foot-4, 325-pound offensive guard from Stockbridge, Georgia, announced his intent to transfer away from Michigan State on Dec. 10 via Twitter after four years with the program and with two years of eligibility remaining. In high school, he was a first-team All-State Class AAAAA selection as a junior after helping lead his team to the Elite Eight that season. 

As a recruit, Ohonba was listed as an offensive tackle and rated a three-star by 247Sports. That rating earned him the No. 484 spot nationally within the 2018 recruiting class; Ohonba was also rated as the No. 37 offensive tackle and the No. 51 player from the state of Georgia within the 2018 class. 

He received a total of 17 offers, all from Power Five conference schools including Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Notre Dame, LSU, Michigan, Mississippi State, Arkansas and USC.

In his MSU career, he appeared in 18 overall games, including 11 games in 2021 as a key reserve.

 Ohonba was the 10th of 17 former Spartan football players to announce their intention to transfer away from East Lansing. He also becomes the sixth to enter the portal to announce his new school for the 2022-2023 season after cornerback Kalon Gervin (Kansas), linebacker Chase Kline (EMU), defensive tackle Kyle King (Ball State), defensive lineman Tyson Watson (UMass), and linebacker Cole DeMarzo (Wyoming).