EAST LANSING— On Friday, former Florida cornerback Chester Kimbrough became the seventh overall transfer that Mel Tucker has managed to acquire since December of 2020.

Kimbrough, who will have three seasons of eligibility remaining, is the first major secondary addition from the portal for the Spartans. He spent the last two years as a backup cornerback at Florida, where he recorded 15 career tackles and three pass deflections in two seasons. 

Although Kimbrough will be a junior in the fall of 2021, the NCAA did not count the 2020 season towards a player’s available eligibility.  It is also expected that the NCAA will approve a one-time waiver exception, which will permit all transfer portal players to be immediately eligible for the 2021 season, regardless of class.

Kimbrough originally attended Warren Eason High School, which is located in New Orleans. He was rated as a three-star recruit by 247Sports, as well as the No. 19 overall player in Louisiana within the 2019 recruiting class. Despite committing to Florida in August of 2018, Kimbrough was offered by schools such as Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, LSU, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas and Missouri, among others. 

Kimbrough is a massive addition for a rather inexperienced Spartan cornerback room. With the departure of starting cornerback Shakur Brown, the only corners with any playing experience are redshirt sophomore Kalon Gervin and freshman Angelo Grose. As such, Kimbrough will have a major opportunity to immediately hop into a starting role since Grose projects as more of a nickelback.

Kimbrough is the second overall cornerback that has transferred to MSU after former North Greenville player Kendall Brooks.  Brooks, a former Division II player at North Greenville University, transferred to Michigan State in January.