DALLAS ꧒— Michigan State hasn’t forgotten Derrick Henry’s slight.
The day the College Football Playoff pairings were released, Alabama’s star running b🤡ack 🔯referred to Michigan State as Michigan during an ESPN interview about the Cotton Bowl.
“He’s a celebrity, isn’t he?” Spartans sophomore linebacker Jon Resc𝓡hke told reporters before leaving East Lansing. “He d🃏oesn’t even know about us, but he will.”
“I mean, he caꦇlled us Michigan,” Michigan State senior defensive end Shilique Calhoun said Sunday. “You can’t get no worse than that.
“He probably doesn’t know the difference. He’s from Alabama. I was in New Jers🥃ey, I didn’t know the difference either.”
Nick Baumgartner, an Olympic snowboardeꦜr from Michigan, tweeted shortly after the snafu: “Someone tell Derrick Henry Alabama’s not playing Michigan in the Cotton Bowl.”
A few Michigan State players have tweeted at Henry since his Heis💧man Trop🎉hy win as well, with Reschke telling Henry on Twitter: “Can’t wait Derrick!!”
Fellow lin♏ebacker Riley Bullough congratulated Henry on Twitter for winning the Heisman.
“Congrats @KingHenry_2! Excited to play against a heisman winner!! Hopefully you don’t think me and [R🦩eschke] are that weird but oh well,” he tweeted.
“We are just messing around with him and letting him know we are thinkin🦂g about him,” Reschke said.
Henry said he k🌞ne🐼w whom Alabama was playing, and the microphone simply didn’t pick up the word “State” after “Michigan.”
The Spartans seem eager for the challenge of facing the Alabama star. Reschke said, “We’re going to have to hit him har▨der than we’ve ever hit anyone else.”
Henry reacted to those comments diplomatically, but fellow running back Kenyan D𒆙rake seemed to take it personallyౠ.
“You have to show us better than you can tell us,” Drake said. “W🃏e’ll see on𝄹 the field.”
Al⭕abama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, no stranger to off-the-field controversies, got into the act a bit Sunday, but he was poking fun at Michigan State’s rival𝓰, Ohio State, not the Spartans.
“Hopefully we give the ball to Derrick more than they did,” he said, referring to Ohio State only giving its star running bac🦄k Ezekiel Elliott 12 carries in its loss to Michi♌gan State on Nov. 22. “Kidding. That’s a joke.”