Michigan State guard Gehrig Normand transfers to Santa Clara
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Former Michigan State guard Gehrig Normand announced on Sunday that he will transfer to Santa Clara. The rising redshirt sophomore has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Normand (6-5, 190) entered the transfer portal on April 1 after spending two seasons at Michigan State. On3’s Shea Dixon reported that Normand visited LSU over the weekend of April 11.
The former four-star recruit struggled to gain traction in a deep Spartan rotation last year. After injuring his knee during the preseason, Normand averaged 0.6 points on 37.5 percent shooting (33.3 percent from three) in two minutes per game. He appeared in 13 games for the Spartans.
Normand provided value as a leading member of Michigan State’s scout team.
“I thought that Gehrig was almost homesick the day he got here,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said during a press conference on April 16. “This year I really planned on (Normand) playing, then he got injured, then you’re away from home. He worked his tail off all year. He was on that scout team, and he did a phenomenal job. He got a lot better as a basketball player.
“But there’s so many things you don’t know, either, because you get people telling you that you should transfer. That’s going on minutely. But also, who knew what other guys would do? Who knew what Tre (Holloman) would do? Who knew Jase (Richardson) would get good enough to do what he can do? You don’t know that (going into the year). There’s so many things that play a role. But he wants to get closer to home, 100 percent.”
While the North Richland, Texas, native did not move closer to home, he did find a program in Santa Clara that enjoyed a solid 2024-25 season. The Broncos finished 21-13 (12-6) in head coach Herb Sendek’s ninth season with the program. They finished fourth in the West Coast Conference.
Santa Clara lost in upset fashion to Pepperdine in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament, and again to Alabama-Birmingham in the second round of the NIT.
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A product of North Richland Hills (Texas) Birdville High School, Normand was the No. 82 player in the 2023 class, per the On3 Industry Rankings. He also was the No. 20 shooting guard and No. 6 player from Texas in his class. He redshirted his freshman season at Michigan State in 2023-24.
Michigan State is set to return rising sophomore Kur Teng at the shooting guard position. The Spartans also brought in former Samford shooting guard Trey Fort, a rising sixth-year senior, via the transfer portal. Elsewhere in the backcourt, Michigan State will return starting point guard Jeremy Fears, a rising redshirt sophomore.
Coen Carr, incoming Florida Atlantic transfer Kaleb Glenn and freshmen Cam Ward and Jordan Scott could all feature at the small forward position.
Fort and Glenn are bigger wing players who should provide Michigan State with physical maturity, athleticism and proven three-point shooting.
Normand becomes the third player from Michigan State’s Elite Eight team to transfer elsewhere. Forward Xavier Booker committed to UCLA on April 4, while guard Tre Holloman committed to North Carolina State on April 13. The Spartans also lost Jaden Akins, Frankie Fidler and Szymon Zapala to graduation, and Jase Richardson to the NBA Draft.
