Former Michigan State star Andre Rison claims assistant Buck Nystrom hit him before game

Andre Rison isn't staying quiet any longer.

The former Michigan State wide receiver said he was slapped by assistant coach Carl "Buck" Nystrom in the locker room before taking the field at Illinois on Oct. 18, 1986, he told ESPN. 

According to ESPN, Kyle Nystrom, Michigan State and Northern Michigan have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

When Nystrom allegedly hit Rison, then a sophomore, everyone in the locker room went silent, the former Michigan State star said. At the time, the late George Perles was in his fourth season; current Alabama coach Nick Saban had been the defensive coordinator for just as long.

Teammate Mark Ingram Sr. put his arm around Rison while the latter cried.

"I shed a tear," Rison, 53, told ESPN. "I had never been struck by a grown man. Not by my grandfather, not by my father — who wasn't in my life a lot — but I just had never been struck by any man, and then I had never been struck by a white man, for sure. For a long time, I just held it in."

Saban was one of the first people to discuss the situation with him. Rison said Nystrom had "no right to hit me" but did not provide further context. He didn't tell his mother about the situation and hasn't shared it with anyone else — until now.

"That's why I respect him to this day," Rison said about Saban. "I don't have to call Nick Saban every day and knock his door down, but Nick Saban offered my son a scholarship (to Alabama), and that was fair to me. That was fair and was all I ever asked for. I love Nick. I love Nick like a father figure."

Rison competed in football, basketball and indoor track at MSU before being selected 22nd overall by the Indianapolis Colts in 1989. His NFL career spanned 12 years: a five-time Pro Bowler, first-team All-Pro, three-time second-team All-Pro and Super Bowl champion with the Green Bay Packers in 1996.

In 2014, Nystrom was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame for his playing and coaching career. As a defensive lineman, he helped the Spartans to a share of the 1953 Big Ten title, 1955 national championship and two Rose Bowl wins in 1954 and 1956. The former All-American was a college coach for 38 years, including six seasons at his alma mater.

Rison decided to speak up about what he said happened in 1986 because of the recent protests, a byproduct of George Floyd's May 25 death in Minneapolis, where former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, has been charged with second-degree murder after kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.

"I thought it was part of the culture of trying to get to the next level," he said of allegedly being slapped by Nystrom. "Also, I was fresh off watching 'Roots' as a kid and listening to how slavery was. We were real close to (having learned) that, but not like this generation of professional athletes, so that's why I commend them for how they stand up and protest and the way they do for racial change."

Because of what happened, Rison doesn't feel welcome on Michigan State's campus in East Lansing. He finished his four-year career (1985-88) with nearly 3,000 receiving yards, 20 touchdowns and a 1988 Rose Bowl victory against USC.

"For me, myself, being in an interracial relationship, in a marriage of 15 years, I love my wife, and it doesn't matter what color you are and what race you come from, because we're all human," he said.

Rison's son, Hunter, turned down Saban's offer to play for the Crimson Tide. He followed his father's footsteps to Michigan State, where he played as a freshman in 2017 before transferring to Kansas State in 2018. He was arrested on a domestic battery charge and suspended in April 2019, later pleading guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge.

Hunter transferred to Fullerton College, a junior college in California, and logged 604 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in seven games last season.

Follow Evan Petzold on Twitter: @EvanPetzold.