EAST LANSING – Charles Brantley’s walloping hit provided another big moment in his long journey with Michigan State football.
A journey that started with one of the Spartans' biggest interceptions of the past decade. That included three trips into the transfer portal
before leaving for Miami (Florida). That survived a lost season riding the bench as the Hurricanes reached the College Football Playoff championship game.And then a humble return to where it all began: Spartan Stadium. As a new father, to boot.
“It just felt good being back out there,” Brantley said after MSU’s practice Wednesday, Sept. 16. “Even walking through the tunnel,
it was just, ‘OK, I’m back home. I gotta finish what I started.’”
A year ago, the cornerback sat out the Hurricanes' season opener in Miami, a loss to Notre Dame. Now, Brantley will get his chance to face the No. 3 Irish (2-0) when the Spartans (2-0) head to South Bend, Indiana, for their first road game of the season on Saturday (7:30 p.m., NBC).
It will be the 34th game of the sixth-year senior’s MSU career, which was abbreviated with his departure after the 2024 season, under then first-year defensive coordinator Joe Rossi and former coach Jonathan Smith.
“It was very hard to leave,” Brantley said. “I made a business call for myself. And the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”
Brantley also said part of his equation to return to MSU was for his 1-year-old son, Charles (CJ) Brantley Jr., who was born after he decided to transfer to Miami.
“I’m more mature,” the elder Brantley said. “I just figured out the life of being a father and just being a player. It’s more than just me now. It ain’t just me no more. My drive is for my baby now.”
A native of Sarasota, Florida, Brantley quickly found himself behind Miami’s younger cornerbacks and played in just three games last season – even as the Hurricanes played 16 en route to CFP runner-up status – finishing with one tackle. There were 11 snaps against South Florida on Sept. 13, then none for more than a month before seven snaps against Stanford on Oct. 25. He took 13 snaps against North Carolina State on Nov. 15, then did not play again in the Hurricanes’ final six games: two regular-season wins and four CFP appearances.
Safety Nikai Martinez said he and Brantley stayed in contact throughout his arduous season. Brantley eventually entered the portal one day before Miami beat Ole Miss to advance to the CFP title game, where it lost to Indiana. They talked about him returning to MSU for one final season, and Rossi got behind bringing him back, too.
“One of the reasons you love him is no one packs a harder punch per pound than him,” Rossi said of Brantley before his first game back. “And no one is more willing to throw his body in and have no recourse about it and consideration. He has put on a little bit of weight and he’s gotten a little bit stronger. But Chuck is still Chuck.”
This season, Brantley started the Spartans’ opener against Toledo and looked rusty. He was beat for a 60-yard touchdown pass, committed a costly defensive hold and got pulled out of position on a fake screen, allowing a receiver to get behind him for another long gain.
Tyran Chappell took his place in the starting lineup (with Tre Bell on the other side) in Saturday’s 35-7 victory over Eastern Michigan. But Brantley, who worked in at nickel back as well as corner, delivered a hard hit to force a fumble that he recovered, not far from the spot where he picked off a pass to seal the Spartans' 2021 victory over Michigan way back when he was a true freshman at MSU.
First-year coach Pat Fitzgerald said he and the staff felt Brantley “bounced back” against EMU, crediting his resiliency and tenacity.
“I think dynamite comes in a lot of different packages,” Fitzgerald said Monday. “Chuck’s hit was awesome. … Chuck isn’t 250 pounds. And to see how violent he was on that play, the ex-linebacker in me, it kind of gets me really, really fired up to see it. But then, his awareness – you can see he’s a savvy veteran – he knew the ball was out and, boom, he’s right on it.”
Brantley said there was never any bad blood between him and Rossi when he left, and their relationship was one of the big reasons he decided to return to the Spartans for his final year of eligibility.
“Coach Rossi is my guy. I love coach Rossi to death,” Brantley said. “If I’m being completely honest, without coach Rossi, I probably don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t get an opportunity to come back here. … My mindset was, I didn’t want to go nowhere but here. I just wanted to come back here. That was like the only option, honestly.”
Brantley had 103 tackles and five interceptions with 18 pass breakups in his first MSU stop. He scored two touchdowns on interceptions – a school-record 100-yard return against Prairie View A&M in 2024 and another TD off a pickoff of Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud in 2022 – along with the game-clinching pick against Michigan in 2021. Brantley also earned honorable mention All-Big Ten from the coaches and media in 2024.
However, each of his four seasons in East Lansing were ended by injuries, including missing MSU’s most recent bowl game, the 2021 Peach Bowl. Brantley entered and left the portal twice in 2023 before his eventual transfer to Miami on his third entry. In total, the 6-foot, 170-pound cornerback missed 18 games due to injury despite starting 24 of the 31 games he played between 2021-24.
“It’s a blessing, for sure, just to have somebody that’s comfortable with the system and somebody that you can trust out there on an island …” Martinez said of Brantley. “I’m just glad that [his return] all played out how it’s supposed to.”
Come Saturday, Brantley will have an opportunity to provide another pivotal play in a career full of them to help the Spartans pull off an upset win on national television against the Irish.
“We’re not playing a logo,” Brantley said, “we’re playing them.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Fighting Irish
Matchup: Michigan State (2-0) at No. 3 Notre Dame (2-0)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19; Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
TV/radio: NBC, WJR-AM (760).
Line: Irish by 29½.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Charles Brantley takes long trek home to Michigan State football
