For a player who once entered the transfer portal with an uncertain future, Sunday night was more than a Super Bowl victory. After being named MVP, Kenneth Walker III’s emotional admission revealed the doubt that fueled his historic performance.

The running back became the first player in the history of the Michigan State Spartans program to become a Super Bowl MVP. That conversation came up pretty quickly after the Sunday night game. His father, Kenneth Walker Jr., who’s an advocate of hard work, would give him hope as a kid, saying he could absolutely go to the NFL. Despite this, Walker hesitated when he first chose the Spartans.

“He took a chance to go to Michigan State,” his father said. “He didn’t know how it was going to turn out.” 

His mother, Shauntesia Brown, admitted that Kenneth Walker III’s move to play at Michigan State was the “best decision he made.” And her son agrees. 

“My journey, I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he said. “I feel like everything happened for a reason and God had a plan.”

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For Walker, the journey to Super Bowl MVP was anything but certain. He was a light recruit out of Tennessee and spent two seasons at Wake Forest without starting a game. But that transfer portal dip in 2021 to MSU turned into 1,636 rushing yards, 18 TDs, a Doak Walker Award, and an 11-2 season. He even delivered five TDs against Michigan. But shockingly, the Heisman invitation never came. 

Kenneth Walker III left anyway to become a second-round pick in 2022 to Seattle. He had two 1,000-yard seasons in his first four years. But after Zach Charbonnet went down with a torn ACL, he got the chance to prove his dad right. In the last game, the Seahawks leaned into him, and the Patriots couldn’t contain him. By halftime, he had 94 rushing yards on 14 carries and crossed 100 yards early in the third quarter on a short run. No Michigan State RB had ever done that in a Super Bowl before. That performance was just the beginning of a record-setting night for the former Spartan.

Kenneth Walker III breaks multiple records

Kenneth Walker III’s dominant Super Bowl performance, where he racked up 135 rushing yards and out-gained the Patriots by himself in the first half, was the culmination of a postseason run that saw him fall just five yards short of Marshawn Lynch’s franchise record.

Kenneth Walker III made his father a proud man by becoming an ex-Michigan State MVP, although Ben VanSumeren, another ex-Spartan, won the Super Bowl ring last season with Philadelphia. He finished the postseason with 313 rushing yards, just five short of Marshawn Lynch’s franchise record from 2014. 

He’s shown his father how his trust in him pushed him so far. Other impressive stats include outgaining the Patriots by himself in the first half and becoming the third player in Super Bowl history with multiple 25-plus-yard rushes in the same game. 

“It’s just a dream come true because a lot of people play their whole career and never make it this far in their career,” he said on NBC. “It’s a blessing.”