Big news out of East Lansing on Friday was the announcement that linebacker Jon Reschke was leaving the team and will transfer out of the university after he graduates in the spring. Reschke made an “insensitive and regrettable comment” regarding a former teammate, details of which have not been made public.
The news has definitely raised the eyebrows of some and sparked conversation, particularly from those associated (or formerly) with MSU. Among those is former Spartans linebacker Darien Harris, who on Friday shared his thoughts regarding the matter.
Harris was a co-host on ‘The Drive with Jack’ in Lansing with Jack Ebling. The two had a back-and-forth about the Reschke saga. The former Spartan called the exit of Reschke “necessary for the betterment of the team.”
“Obviously, a very unfortunate situation — but probably a situation that was necessary for the betterment of the team, unfortunately. And it’s kind of strange to say that when you take a player of Jon Reschke’s caliber – probably the best returning defensive player we had – but sometimes there’s just situations where things are said that can’t be said.”
Harris and Reschke played together at MSU for two seasons from 2014-15. The two combined for 165 tackles in ’15, when Harris was a senior and led the team with 90 tackles, while Reschke turned in a breakout season as a sophomore with 75 tackles.
But the former Spartan Harris understands the situation with the program and knows that the move needed to be made with the soon-to-be former Spartan Reschke.
Obviously nobody at Michigan State would ever wish ill upon Jon Reschke and we hope that he’s able to find peace and find a way to come back from this situation and maybe even one day get an opportunity to play somewhere else again.
But it just can’t be at Michigan State.”
While the details and specifics of the comment(s) made by Reschke are unknown to those outside the situation, one can only speculate. Ebling asked Harris for his thoughts about what the comment may have derived from and where Reschke may have crossed the line.
“Especially with the climate of the country now, when you start pulling in things obviously about family, obviously that’s stepping over boundaries. When you start using racial slurs, that’s obviously going to step over boundaries, when you start being insensitive – for myself personally who’s a [proponent] of loving everybody – to the LGBTQ community, that’s something that’s a major turnoff for me. It just comes down to treating people – as I said earlier – the way you want to be treated and just being sensitive in nature to everybody else.
You can view the interview between Ebling and Harris in its entirety here.
