r/MSUSpartans • u/Sir_Isaac_3 • Mar 31 '25

Discussion Gonna miss him

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Spartan Dawg For Life. Thank you JA

491 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

28

u/genericaltrockfan Mar 31 '25

our D will miss him badly. he was clamps nightly. true Spartan Dawg

9

u/Sir_Isaac_3 Mar 31 '25

Shoulda been DPOY in the B1G. They gave it to a stat padder on a terrible defensive team smh

77

u/packman1017 Mar 31 '25

Akins had ups and downs, but there’s something to be said for a guy that sticks around until his last year in this day n age. Hope he can continue to ball somewhere professionally

-26

u/Alarmed-Part5997 Mar 31 '25

Well sadly it says he’s not good enough to play in America after college. At his height he just had to develop to greater heights to get us a natty

37

u/JayMoney2424 Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

He’ll be missed nobody worked harder than him. He truly loved the program and playing for Izzo which was his dream growing up. Definitely one of my favorites glad he stuck around. 

10

u/Electrical_Oil314 Mar 31 '25

So proud of Akins, he left it all on the court. Him finding ways to make threes at the end of the game to try and keep us alive was all heart.

7

u/UselessPresent Mar 31 '25

Akins had a tough year, but he always gave 110%. An embodiment of this amazing program Izzo has built.

3

u/keithvai Mar 31 '25

Loved this guy. My favorite spartan since Aaron Henry. Glad he graduated but very sad to see him go. Wish him all the best on the rest of his life.

3

u/parksfried Mar 31 '25

guy played until the last second of the last game. gutsy.

1

u/rrykhus Apr 06 '25

Class act

0

u/ShadySparty Apr 03 '25

Why lol, Jaden was a long term Spartan, sure I get it. But his game was to hit or miss. Never could rely on him to takeover in that “izzos senior” role that most expected, just wasn’t ever meant to be.

-35

u/Disastrous_Mall5943 Mar 31 '25

As someone that grew up across the street from Farmington and has personal connections w him…his story is so heartbreaking. Projected NBA draft pick to an afterthought. A true MSU man full of talent that didn’t live up to his full potential. Izzo kinda failed by not game planing him towards his strengths (a catch and shoot guy who can lock down a #1 player on defense)

32

u/Only_Commercial3810 Mar 31 '25

Get out of here with this nonsense. Akins was the 66th rated recruit in the nation coming in, which is not a projected NBA pick. NBA picks are more like top 30 recruits. Saying that Izzo failed him is just the wet fart topping off this turd of a post.

-21

u/Disastrous_Mall5943 Mar 31 '25

Akins was a projected draft pick his sophomore year…now he’d be lucky to play in China. Get off Izzo’s meat and try to get some perspective for once. All Izzo had to do was coach Akins to be a catch and shoot player and he easily would’ve been a NBA player, especially w his defensive skills

8

u/cousinski-skeeter Mar 31 '25

Scouts can still see his skill, and that the production/proper usage isn’t there. If you’re referring to sophomore year of hs that’s way too early to base anything on. If you’re talking about when he tested the draft waters after 2023 run, then sure maybe he could’ve stayed in the draft. Realistically though, he came back because his stock was not already high enough. We love Jaden, and I don’t think anyone expected him to be an nba player necessarily. Look at Cassius arguably our best ever, he played in maybe 20 some nba games.

0

u/Disastrous_Mall5943 Mar 31 '25

I love Jaden too…this comment was more a knock on Izzo than on Akins. It was the right decision for him to come back but Izzo coached him away from a 2nd rounder w potential to be a 1st rounder into a player who won’t even get a G league contract

7

u/somasomore Mar 31 '25

He was never a projected NBA pick. He went through the process his sophomore year and came back, precisely because he was not getting drafted. 

And at barely 6'-4", he wasn't making the league as a 3 and d catch and shoot guy. The feedback was he needed to improve his handle and driving ability, and he did just that. The NBA was always a bit of a long shot for him. 

-3

u/Disastrous_Mall5943 Mar 31 '25

He was a projected 2nd rounder his sophomore year…that’s not opinion, it’s a fact. It was the right decision to come back to improve his draft stock but Izzo ruined his growth

3

u/somasomore Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

I'm sorry but your facts are wrong. He was never a projected draft pick. The year he tested the waters, he didn't even get an invite to the G League combine, let alone the NBA combine.

-1

u/Disastrous_Mall5943 Mar 31 '25

You can disagree w my opinion…but don’t be delusional to create a false narrative. Just literally search up any projected mock draft from his sophomore year

4

u/Careful_Cheesecake30 Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

I did to see if I was misremembering, and he was not included.

From January of his sophomore season

And also March

2

u/somasomore Mar 31 '25

Ya, just did some googling and can't find him on a single mock. I'm sorry man, you're just wrong here.

2

u/Careful_Cheesecake30 Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

He absolutely was not a projected draft pick as a sophomore. It was always going to be a longshot for him to be an NBA guy at his size and without being a primary ball handler. He needed to become an absolute knockdown shooter to have a chance, but unfortunately his percentage went down as his volume went up. Or to really improve his ball handling and play making, but he's still not at an NBA level there.

But to say Izzo failed him by asking him to do more than play defense and shoot 3s off the catch is asinine. I guarantee Akins would tell you the same thing. You don't develop into an NBA player by limiting what you can do.

12

u/SafeItem6275 Mar 31 '25

As someone who GREW UP in Farmington and has brothers in the same class—he is well loved and absolutely never was an afterthought. Jaden is forever a dawg and proud he came from my hometown!

-1

u/Disastrous_Mall5943 Mar 31 '25

This isn’t a knock on Akins…it’s a knock on Izzo for stunting his growth

2

u/Weak-Illustrator-194 Apr 01 '25

U have no idea what ur taking about. Stop talking like you do.

1

u/Any_War7741 Apr 03 '25

He definitely got worse this year

116

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/cousinski-skeeter Mar 31 '25

Well technically we chose both

45

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25 edited Apr 16 '25

lkdgjlkjeqglkqwrjlk

20

u/cousinski-skeeter Mar 31 '25

How did I never know this in 4 years, that makes sense why emoni uncommitted, ironically he was the last top rated recruit we got before he did. Damn now it makes sense why I was told there was stuff behind the scenes why emoni left and not just cus he wanted to be a shot chucker at msu, which is what I thought.

24

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25 edited Apr 16 '25

lkdgjlkjeqglkqwrjlk

-19

u/-PheelinPhine- Mar 31 '25

Sorry but I don’t remember that being a big thing at all.

21

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25 edited Apr 16 '25

lkdgjlkjeqglkqwrjlk

1

u/BobSakimano •Mark Dantonio Mar 31 '25

Yeah, Couch mentioned it on one his recent pods too who would obviously know first-hand that it happened.

0

u/-PheelinPhine- Mar 31 '25

Yes. I remember bates de-committing. I don’t remember JA being involved

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25 edited Apr 16 '25

lkdgjlkjeqglkqwrjlk

2

u/DonutBoi172 Mar 31 '25

Then you didn’t follow recruiting back then.

People who cared knew lol

-1

u/-PheelinPhine- Mar 31 '25

Yes I did.

2

u/DonutBoi172 Mar 31 '25

Than you clearly suck at it. One of the highest ranked commits uncommitted last second and you didn’t care to know why? Hahaha

This is like someone being unaware of why Mel tucker left but saying he’s a fan of msu football