As a sophomore, Snow led the 1987 Michigan State Spartans football team with 110 tackles, won the Tommy Love Award as the Spartans' most improved player, and helped lead the team to a Big Ten Conference championship and the top-ranked defense in the country against the run (61.5 yards per game).[4][5]
At the end of the regular season, Snow was selected by the Associated Press as a first-team linebacker on the 1987 All-Big Ten Conference football team.[6] Spartan head coach George Perles said of Snow: "He's as good as there is in the Big Ten. It's not just that he makes the tackles, but when he gets there, he hits with such great thunder, he's going to cause fumbles."[4]Nick Saban, then the Spartans' defensive coordinator, said of Snow: "If there's a key guy in our defense, it's Percy . . . Percy had a hall of a year and made a lot of big plays . . . Players make plays, and Percy is a player."[4]
Snow also helped the Spartans defeat USC in the 1988 Rose Bowl game, recording 17 tackles (15 unassisted) and receiving "Player of the Game" honors.[5]
1988 season
As a junior in 1988, Snow recorded 150 tackles, ranking second in the Big Ten.[7] He was selected by both the AP and UPI as a first-team player on the 1988 All-Big Ten Conference football team.[8][9] He also received first-team honors from The Sporting News on the 1988 All-America college football team.[10] Perles said at the end of the 1988 season: "Percy Snow is as good a linebacker as you will see. You'd have to go a long ways to find someone as good as him. He gets to the ball; he makes things happen, and he plays the pass exceptionally well."[7]
1989 season
As a senior in 1989, Snow led the Spartans with 183 tackles—the third consecutive seasons he led the Spartans in tackles.[3] He tallied a career-high 23 tackles against Illinois,[11] and concluded his college career with 473 tackles.[3]
Snow was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round (13 overall pick) of the 1990 NFL draft.[1][16] As a rookie, he appeared in 15 games for the Chiefs, 14 as a starter, and earned all-rookie honors from the UPI, Pro Football Weekly, and Football Digest.[1][17]
Prior to the 1991 season, Snow broke an ankle in a motor-scooter accident during training camp. He missed the entire 1991 season as a result of the accident.[1][18]
Snow returned to the Chiefs in 1992, but never fully recovered from the accident. His career ended after only three active seasons with just one start in his final two.[1] He was arrested in April 1993 by the Kansas City police for allegedly threatening a group of golfers with a gun after a golf ball struck his car.[19] During the 1993 season, he appeared in 10 games as a backup for the Chicago Bears.[1] In 1995, he attempted a comeback with the Cleveland Browns where his former college coach Nick Saban was defensive coordinator.[20]
Snow was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.[3] On learning of the honor, Snow called it his "highest individual honor."[21] George Perles recalled: "Offenses simply dreaded playing against him because he didn't just make the tackle; he damaged people. Percy was the hardest-hitting kid that played at Michigan State in many, many years. He was the nucleus of those great defensive units in the late 1980s."[21]
Snow was also inducted into the Michigan State Hall of Fame in 2010,[14] and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.[22] In 2015, the Lansing State Journal rated Snow at No. 8 on its list of the 50 greatest Michigan State football players of all time.[11]
Snow's wife, Tyra, ran track at Michigan State. Their daughters Tyonna and Bry Snow both played basketball at Missouri State.[23]