EAST LANSING, Mich. — The roster says Charles Brantley is 6-foot, 165 pounds.
Standing next to the Michigan State freshman, it’s hard to believe those numbers weren’t stretched just a tad.
But those measurements only say so much. Sure, they’ll tell you the basics, but they don’t come close to gauging what’s inside the cornerback from Sarasota, Florida, a player who has been on campus for only a few months.
Because what Brantley lacks in size, he more than makes up for toughness and a willingness to stick his nose smack into the middle of the fight.
“I’ve got a lot of heart and I feel like anybody that comes my way,” Brantley said, pausing to gather his thoughts. “You bleed how I bleed. You wake up how I wake up. You put on clothes how I put on clothes.
“I mean, that’s just how I approach everybody. I'm going to hit you. You’ve got to show me you’re bigger than me.
It’s been on display since Brantley arrived on campus, something coach Mel Tucker noted early during preseason camp. During a drill with other cornerbacks, Tucker hollered out to anyone who would listen.
“We’ve got to give Chuck a chance,” Tucker yelled.
Tucker could see it then, something he and the coaching staff saw when they recruited him.
“We knew he had a chance just because of the skill set, and when we put the pads on, we saw that he was willing to strike people at this level,” Tucker said. “He's taken his lumps out there as a freshman this year, but he keeps coming back. He keeps chopping and he was he was ready to go. When we called his number, he ran out there and got lined up, and was running and hitting.”
His number was called when it mattered most — in the second half of the biggest game of the season.
The playing time up to last Saturday’s showdown with Michigan has been sporadic for Brantley. He’d seen some time early, namely in Week 3 when the Spartans headed to Florida and beat Miami as Brantley had plenty of family and friends on hand.
Since then, Ronald Williams and Chester Kimbrough had locked down the starting cornerback spots while Marqui Lowery had been working into the rotation as well.
So when Brantley hit the field against the Wolverines, it might have been a surprise to some.
“We felt comfortable putting him in the game when we did and he went out there and performed,” secondary coach Harlon Barnett said. “That’s all we ask of the guys. Go out there and play your butt off. Play to the maximum of your abilities. If you do that, we’ll live with the results.”
Boy, did Brantley perform.
With the game on the line, Brantley locked up the Michigan State victory by intercepting a Cade McNamara pass in the final minute, recognizing a play the Wolverines had run in an earlier series by dropping off his man to jump into a passing lane, pulling the ball in with one hand before corralling it in his midsection and quickly sliding to the ground.
Chaos ensued.
“When I made that play, I didn’t even feel it,” Brantley said. “I was just running with my teammates, having fun. They were just telling me like, ‘Do you know what you just did?’ I looked at them, ‘I just got an interception.’”
He got an interception, all right, but the kid from Florida quickly realized what it meant in a rivalry that’s never short on animosity.
“I’d always hear about the rivalry and I used to watch the games,” said Brantley, who admitted he was as nervous as he’s been before a game. “But it didn't really hit me until I actually was in the game.”
When he got his shot, he made sure the Wolverines understood what he was about, no matter his physical stature.
“He’s not the biggest guy — about 160, 150 — but he comes downhill, he tries to lay the wood,” wide receiver Jayden Reed said. “He has that edge. He has that mentality to where he’s not afraid of anybody. No matter how big you are, no matter how fast you are, he’s very competitive.
“I competed with him all through camp and he showed me great things and he’s going to be a great player. He’s going to be the next great player here at Michigan State.”
Whether Brantley lives up to that billing remains to be seen, but the cousin of former Michigan State wide receiver Herb Haygood — “He’s my cousin, but I call him my uncle,” Brantley said — has certainly had a good start.
Though eight games, Brantley has played in five and collected 13 tackles. He’s broken up two passes and, of course, has an interception. How many more opportunities he gets this season is unclear as cornerback has become one of the more tightly contested spots on the team for the third-ranked Spartans (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten), who head to Purdue on Saturday.
In fact, after starting the first two games, Kalon Gervin hit the transfer portal as Kimbrough and Williams took over. But with the play of Brantley and Lowery, things could continue to evolve.
“Competition makes everybody better,” Barnett said. “At the corner position in particular we’ve had a lot of competition where a guy is playing well and another guy steps in. The good thing about Coach (Travares) Tillman, he doesn’t mind rewarding that competition based on how you practice.”
Based on how he played against Michigan, Brantley is staking his claim. However, he also understands the work is only beginning.
“It’s exciting, but at the same time I know that’s only one play and I’ve got to keep going,” he said. “I can’t stop here.”
