Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler is ready to step up after being named a captain
Going into his senior season, Jaxon Kohler was named one of four captains of the 2025-2026 MSU basketball team. Kohler talks about embracing the role and the excitement that it brings him.
On the first day of practice for the 2025-2026 season last month, Michigan State men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo announced that the team voted four captains for this year's team.
One of those players is senior forward Jaxon Kohler, who has been with the program since the beginning of his college career. He joins redshirt sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., junior forward Coen Carr and senior center Carson Cooper as this season's team captains.
In the current world of college basketball that we live in, with the heavy roster turnover and the importance and popularization of using the transfer portal, Kohler decided to stay all four years in East Lansing, something that has become uncommon in college basketball.
Although Kohler certainly would have gauged a sizable market if he entered the transfer portal during his career, his reason for staying is simple. The relationships he has built with the Spartans.
“The relationships I have developed here since my freshman year have kept me staying,” Kohler said. “We’re in a day and age where people can go for millions of dollars to another school, and who knows what they will do over there. I’d say the relationship that I have built with the coach (Izzo) is something I would never ever think about jeopardizing. I mean he has been with me through the toughest moments of my life — if he asked me to run through a brick wall, I wouldn’t hesitate.
