It wasn’t that long ago—though it now feels like an eternity—that the Michigan State Spartans announced a transfer portal commitment from Kaleb Glenn.
He was a forward expected to help this team in major ways last season, but fate had other plans.
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Glenn lost his season before it ever began after suffering an injury that sidelined him for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign.
Even though he had yet to play a game for Tom Izzo, you could tell just how much he was missed throughout the season. Freshmen Cam Ward and Jesse McCullough were forced into much larger roles than originally expected because of Glenn’s injury. To their credit, both played very well, gaining invaluable experience after being thrown directly into the fire.
Still, while that experience will undoubtedly pay dividends down the road, the season ultimately fell short. With it came the lingering question of what might have happened had Glenn been healthy all year.
Now, those “what ifs” should finally get their answer.
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Glenn has been showcasing his talents during offseason practices and at the weekly Moneyball Pro-Am games held at Holt High School, giving Spartan fans their first real glimpse of what they’ve been waiting nearly two years to see.
The 2026-27 Spartans will feature plenty of familiar faces from last season, but they’ll also be replacing two key pieces in the frontcourt after the departures of Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper.
Transfer addition Anton Bonke and freshman Ethan Taylor appear likely to split time in Cooper’s former role, while Cam Ward and the returning Glenn will battle to replace Kohler’s production.
If you’re unfamiliar with Kaleb Glenn because you never saw him suit up for Michigan State—or perhaps didn’t catch many Florida Atlantic games during the 2024-25 season or Louisville games in 2023-24—that’s understandable. So let’s take a quick look at exactly who Kaleb Glenn is.
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Glenn is a 6-foot-6, 205-pound forward who plays with a bruising, football-like mentality. It’s exactly the kind of physical style that has become synonymous with Tom Izzo basketball.
He began his college career at Louisville, where he started 11 of the 32 games he played as a freshman. Glenn averaged 15.0 minutes per game while posting 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per contest. Although he was still developing his offensive game and adjusting to the speed of the college level, he immediately established himself as a physical presence who wasn’t afraid to battle in the paint and earn rebounds the hard way.
After one season at Louisville, Glenn transferred to Florida Atlantic—the same offseason Dusty May departed for Michigan.
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Despite starting only five games, Glenn appeared in all 34 contests for the Owls and elevated his game in nearly every statistical category.
His playing time jumped to 25.8 minutes per game, and his scoring exploded to 12.6 points per contest while shooting an efficient 53 percent from the field. He also averaged 1.4 made three-pointers on 3.4 attempts per game, proving he could stretch the floor as well. His rebounding increased to 4.8 per game, while both his assists and steals climbed to 0.6 per contest.
More importantly, his confidence seemed to grow with every game.
That breakout season eventually led him to East Lansing, which is where this story began. Unfortunately, because of his season-ending injury, Glenn hasn’t played in a college basketball game since March 19, 2025, when Florida Atlantic fell to Dayton in the NIT.
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Now he’ll be looking to do more than simply return.
He’ll be looking to come back with a vengeance and remind everyone why Michigan State pursued him so aggressively in the transfer portal.
Whether Glenn earns the starting job or becomes one of the first players off the bench, his impact could prove monumental for a Spartans frontcourt looking to maintain its identity. Michigan State was one of the nation’s top rebounding teams a season ago, and that’s exactly how Izzo wants his teams to play.
At 6-foot-6, Glenn may not be the tallest forward on the roster, but he’ll be expected to play much bigger than his listed height.
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He also has the chance to become one of the biggest surprises in the Big Ten.
After missing an entire season, Glenn’s name has naturally faded into the background while fans focused on the players who actually took the floor. But sometimes the biggest additions aren’t the newcomers—they’re the players everyone forgot about.
Like Woody sitting on the shelf in Toy Story, Kaleb Glenn has been waiting for his opportunity.
Now, it’s finally time for him to come off the shelf, and he just might become one of Spartan Nation’s favorite players along the way.
