40 | AUGUST 26 • 2021 

N

ick Chudler didn’t 
live his dream, but he 
came mighty close.
Chudler wanted to be the 
long-snapper for the Michigan 
State University football team. 
He made the team as a pre-
ferred walk-on in 2018 and 
was on the roster that season 
and in 2019.
He didn’t get into any games 
during those two seasons, but 
he went with the Spartans 
to the 2018 Redbox Bowl in 
Santa Clara, Calif., where 
MSU lost 7-6 to Oregon.
A bad back and new coach-
ing staff hired in 2020 brought 
an end to Chudler’s MSU 
football career after the 2019 
season, but the 21-year-old 
MSU senior from Novi is 
happy he went to East Lansing 
and turned down chances 
to play football at smaller 
schools.
“I’m a little disappointed 
because I worked so hard at 
long-snapping for a long time 
and never got a chance to 
show everyone at MSU what I 

could do, but everything hap-
pens for a reason,” he said.
“I made the right choice to 
go to MSU. No doubt.
“A very, very low percentage 
of high school football players 
go on to play Division I col-
lege football at a Power 5 con-
ference. I did it with my spine 
at a 50-degree angle. And I 
met so many people through 
playing football for MSU.”
Chudler had specialized spi-
nal fusion back surgery May 
3 at a hospital in New Jersey, 
one of a few hospitals in the 
country where the surgery is 
done.
The surgery was delayed for 
more than a year because of 
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chudler said doctors went 
in through his right side and 
installed tethers and eight 
screws in his spine. He’s a little 
more than three months into a 
six-month recovery period.
“I’m not 100%. Not at all. 
But I am doing some weight-
lifting,” he said. “My right side 
is still numb, but that’s slowly 

getting better. The numbness 
is a weird feeling. I was told 
that would happen.”
Recovering from back 
surgery didn’t squash all of 
Chudler’s summer plans. He 
still did an internship in a 
West Bloomfield insurance 
office, starting the part-time 
job three weeks after the sur-
gery.
Chudler plans to graduate 
from MSU next spring. Health 
communications is his major. 
Sales leadership is a minor.
He wants to go into medical 
device sales after earning a 
master’s degree, specializing 
in spinal devices. No surprise 
there.
There’s a chance — he labels 
it at 40% — that he’ll enter the 
NCAA transfer portal after he 
graduates from MSU and see 
if he can latch on with another 
college football program.
Being in a Division I col-
lege football program was an 
eye-opening experience for 
Chudler, a football and wres-
tling standout at Orchard Lake 

St. Mary’s High School.
“I wish I could describe 
the difference between high 
school football and Division I 
football. It’s insane,” he said.
How insane?
Chudler is normally a 
6-foot, 195-pounder. He said 
he bulked up to 230 pounds 
when he was on the MSU 
football team so he could have 
a fighting chance to battle in 
the trenches after he snapped 
the ball.
“I hated weighing that 
much,” he said. “I felt heavy. 
My clothes didn’t fit. It 
seemed like I was the biggest 
guy when I was in class, but 
the guys on the football team 
were much bigger than I am.
“I had four roommates in a 
house last school year. All of 
them were on the MSU foot-
ball team. Only one is still on 
the team this season. These 
guys are all good players.” 

Send sports news to 

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

SPORTS

Nick Chudler walked 
Nick Chudler walked 
on to the MSU football 
on to the MSU football 
team and walked 
team and walked 
away glad he did it.
away glad he did it.

 Snap
 Decision
 Was a
Good One

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Nick 
Chudler

ABOVE: Michigan State’s Nick Chudler works on his long-snapping before a 2018 game against Michigan at Spartan Stadium.

KIM SOKOL

MSU

