Tom Izzo’s 2015 Success Continues as he Lands Super 2015 Big Time Recruit: Caleb Swanigan. Could He Add More?

Tom Izzo’s 2015 Success Continues as he Lands Super 2015 Big Time Recruit: Caleb Swanigan. Could He Add More? Coming off of his seventh Final Four last week,

Tom Izzo’s 2015 Success Continues as he Lands Super 2015 Big Time Recruit: Caleb Swanigan. Could He Add More?

Coming off of his seventh Final Four last week, MSU head basketball coach continued his success. With already a top ten team heading into next year based on returning players and a solid recruiting class, Izzo landed the biggest fish of the already stellar 2015 class tonight.

">Caleb Swanigan the 2015 6’8” center from Ft. Wayne, IN., chose the Spartans tonight. Swanigan had previously announced he would be making his decision public on Saturday. Speculation, as late as this morning coming out of Swanigan’s camp, was that he was seriously contemplating NOT making a decision on Saturday, but waiting.

He simply Tweeted, “Next year I will be going Michigan State university. Once a spartan. Always a Spartan.” There is considerable speculation that Swanigan is a one and done player. He has a terrific work ethic so you can’t count that out. At this point, I think he has the potential to leave early, but right now doesn’t appear to be a one year guy.

Well, the big man gave Izzo an early Christmas present by pledging to the Spartans tonight. Swanigan is the fourth player to commit to Izzo for what critics are now calling one of the nation’s ELITE recruiting classes.

Spartan Nation caught up with the gold standard of Big Ten basketball recruiting analysts from Peegs.com Jeff Rabjohns who has watched Swanigan closely for years and knows both the young man and those closest to him for analysis. As usual Rabjohns didn’t disappoint with his thorough analysis.

“Swanigan can play with power and skill on the low block. He is a little bit of a below-the-rim finisher in the Zach Randolph mold, but he can finish through contact. He has very good footwork and hands. Swanigan has really improved his ability to make plays off the bounce, especially from the free throw line area. He can make threes and did so during his senior high school season and last summer in AAU. Swanigan really reshaped his body from being a little too round as a freshman and sophomore while keeping a good lower base that allows him to move around in congestion.”

Izzo loves athletes and Swanigan was a star LT early in his high school career who garnered national attention from Alabama before committing solely to the game of basketball. This addition to the Spartans will certainly propel them into the top five rankings when the season starts and may be Izzo’s most talented squad on paper.

Swanigan had numerous offers including Kentucky, Duke, Indiana, and Purdue. Nationally, the speculation was that Swanigan was headed to Cal. Speculation that obviously was wrong. While the Spartans were stunned to learn the news of his commit, no school had worked harder for the young man than Izzo and his staff.

Swanigan is a McDonalds All American. He joins the Spartans 2015 class with fellow McDonalds All American Deyonta Davis from Muskegon. This one-two punch of youth at the four and five is big news for the Spartans.

With the commitment of Swanigan, Izzo has no more scholarships available to add any more players either via transfer or recruiting unless a current player leaves. Izzo said that may be a possibility yesterday as he is conducting end of year meetings. The Missouri Tigers 6’9” forward and leading scorer Johnathan Williams III has also expressed interest in transferring to MSU.

When Izzo was pressed about players leaving yesterday, he said, “Everybody staying? I will give you a better idea in a week. I am having my exit interviews; I do meet with my guys after the season. I started this morning and I will continue this afternoon. All I am telling you is that everybody that wants to commit to what I want to commit to is staying if they want to stay. If somebody doesn’t want to commit to that, they aren’t staying. I am going to make it real simple this year. If you don’t want to, I understand. It doesn’t mean you’re good, you’re bad, or you’re indifferent. We’re going to commit to what Travis did. We are going to commit to what Denzel does. We are going to commit to what Tum does, what Eron does. We are going to commit to what Cleaves did and Peterson did and Magic. We are going to look at this like you should look at it. Look at the commitment 90 percent of those guys made, and look where they all ended up. Better players, better teams.”

He added, “There’s a guy or two that I am going to post up to and say, ‘hey, I haven’t seen it so far. Is that going to change?’ If it doesn’t change, there is a lot of good places to play. That’s what you do.”

Is Izzo planning on running anyone off? Of course not. “Am I going to run anybody off? Nope. I am not going to run anybody off. Am I going to make sure that they are going to do it our way or the highway? Yeah, I am going to do that. It’s going to be pretty simple.”

Spartan Nation wrote about each member of the 2015-16 team earlier this week. Here is what I wrote about the other three members of the of 2015 class with Swanigan.

Deyonta Davis: power forward. A one man wrecking crew will get Michigan’s Mr. Basketball plenty of minutes early for the Spartans. If he can translate his game on offense, he could march right into the Spartans starting lineup early. He runs the floor very well like Schilling and has a solid shot.

Kyle Ahrens: guard. Izzo wants to change his offense and this young man could do it. He can shoot for distance, but this kid is fearless. He will drive to the rim and attack it like a bulldog after a steak. If he is hot on offense, he will get minutes. The biggest question that has to be answered is on defense. Can he play the defense Izzo wants and expects? He loves playing D, but he hasn’t been asked to do it at this level. If he can, don’t be shocked to see him play and play a lot next season.

Matt McQuaid: guard. Scorer extraordinaire. This kid can light it up. He can put the ball in the basket from anywhere, BUT he needs to spend time in the weight room. If he doesn’t red shirt, it will be because he has spent significant time gaining strength and he doesn’t suffer lulls in scoring. He has all the potential to be a great player before all is said and done. Just physically, he has to grow into the talent he has.

Here is something for Spartan fans to chew on all off season. Next year’s Spartan football team and basketball may both be ranked in the top five, top ten at least. Now enjoy the miserable off season known as summer.