Quite often a college football player will end up playing for the rival of a school he cheered for as a kid. That happens pretty regularly in the state of Michigan with lots of Wolverines and Spartans fans not always ending up at the school they cheered for growing up. You also hear quite a bit about Ohio State fans coming to play for MSU or even Michigan considering both schools recruit the state of Ohio so much.
As revealed during Big Ten media days, there is one player who grew up cheering for the Iowa Hawkeyes but now is the starting quarterback at Michigan State -- Kirk Cousins.
"Absolutely, I was a Hawkeye fan," Cousins says. "I can remember the 2002 season watching Brad Banks' every game and cheering them on and following them to the bowl game against USC and getting my heart broken."
So what is the connection that Cousins, who is from Holland, Michigan, has to Iowa? Cousins' grandfather actually played for Iowa in the 40s, and his mother went there as well. As you can imagine, each year the MSU-Iowa game is something very special for their family.
"I actually have a No. 8 Iowa jersey with my name on the back of it that I got when I was younger," Cousins says. "I was a fan for sure, but my allegiances have switched. For me personally, with my family background, (the Michigan State-Iowa game) is one of the most special games for me. Obviously the Michigan game is very, very special, but to be able to go to Kinnick Stadium and play Iowa and the outcome we had last season is only going to add fuel to that fire. It's going to be a great game. I know Kinnick Stadium will be rocking like it always is and we're going to have to come ready to play."
Cousins will get a chance to go back to Kinnick Stadium on Oct. 30, which is when Michigan State takes on the Hawkeyes.