Michigan State Football Recruiting: June Official Visits Critical For Spartans

Mel Tucker and his staff are off to a slow start in the 2024 recruiting cycle, but the Spartans look to build momentum as prospects line up to visit East Lansing this June...

Author:
Aedan Mulcrone and Matthew Lounsberry
Publish date:
May 30, 2023 4:16 PM EDT

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Michigan State Spartans

As the month of May comes to a close, a new recruiting period is about to open. Michigan State will begin hosting official visitors from the Class of 2024 this coming weekend.

The month of June is a crucial time in recruiting across the country, as schools show recruits what they can offer inside and outside of football. Head coach Mel Tucker and his staff have the opportunity to reassure high school prospects of the strength of the Spartans’ culture after some key personnel losses this offseason.

A year ago, Michigan State followed up an 11-2 season with a highly successful June recruiting period, hosting one of the most star-studded lists of on-campus visitors in the country. But after a 5-7 season last fall, this summer’s list of scheduled visitors isn’t as full of blue-chip recruits as hoped.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. While the Spartans filled campus with several five- and four-star prospects last June, MSU still has plenty of talent still visiting this year and may have a better chance of landing firm commitments from this June’s crop than it did from last year's five-star visitors. After signing just 16 prospects in the 2023 class, it is imperative the Spartans have a higher success rate in this cycle.

Michigan State currently has three players committed for its 2024 class — four-star cornerback Jaylen Thompson and three-star interior offensive linemen Andrew Dennis and Logan Bennett. That is currently tied for the smallest class in the Big Ten Conference. A successful June recruiting period would include multiple commitments and regaining momentum on the trail after a pair of decommitments from this class earlier this year.

There’s an exciting amount of offensive talent visiting East Lansing next month, with 10 four-star prospects on that side of the ball making their way to campus. Running backs coach Effrem Reed, wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins and offensive line coach Chris Kapalovic have been hitting the recruiting trail particularly hard this cycle, and we’re seeing some dividends in the form of summer visits.

One player that will get a lot of attention is four-star River Rouge (Mich.) wide receiver Nick Marsh, who will make his visit over the weekend of June 23-25. Marsh was once MSU’s highest-rated verbal pledge in the ‘24 cycle, but he decommitted from the Spartans back in March. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound in-state talent is considered the No. 99 overall player in the country and the No. 3 player from Michigan by 247Sports’ Composite rankings. Winning back Marsh would be a big lift for the Spartans, and go a long way towards helping MSU reignite momentum on the trail.

In addition to Marsh, Michigan State will host three other four-star wide receiver prospects next month in Fort Wayne (Ind.) North Side’s Brauntae Johnson (No. 161 overall), Downey (Calif.) Warren’s Jordan Ross (No. 234 overall) and Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon’s Kwazi Gilmer (No. 271 overall). The Spartans will host a handful of three-star wide receivers as well, providing a wide array of options.

Running back is also a major emphasis for Michigan State in this cycle, as the Spartans will host a quartet of four-star ball carriers in June. Kahnen Daniels, the No. 346 prospect in the country out of West Point, Miss. get things started on June 2. His visit will be followed by No. 128 prospect Caden Durham (Duncanville, Texas) on June 9, as well as No. 62 prospect Jason Brown (Seattle, Wash.) and No. 253 prospect Anthony Carrie (Tampa, Fla.) on June 23.

Finally, Kapilovic hopes to continue his positive momentum in O-line recruiting as MSU hosts four-star Mukwonago (Wisc.) offensive tackle Nathan Roy (No. 187 overall) on June 9 and Santa Ana. (Calif.) Mater Dei interior offensive lineman DeAndre Carter (No. 80 overall) on June 23. Roy has listed the Spartans in his 'Top 3' alongside Minnesota and UCLA, with a commitment date set for June 20.

After developing several three-star prospects into rotational pieces for MSU in 2023, Kapilovic landed his first four-star offensive line prospect last cycle with Stanton Ramil out of Alabaster, Ala. The O-line coach will be hunting for a couple more four-stars this June.

All in all, Michigan State is scheduled to host 30 official visitors, half of which are four-stars, from 17 different states next month. That number is expected to grow to 40 or more by the time all’s said and done.

One state in particular may be growing in importance.

During the Mark Dantonio era, recruiting the state of Ohio was a staple of Michigan State’s program. Many of the stars from the 2010 through 2015 teams were from the Buckeye state, and these players had a built-in competitive desire and edge to beat Ohio State and Michigan after being overlooked by those programs. However, in Tucker’s three recruiting classes, Michigan State has signed just two prospects from Ohio — 2021 safeties A.J. Kirk and Michael Gravely Jr. — both of whom have since transferred out of the program. In the last two recruiting classes, the Spartans have not signed a single player from Ohio.

It appears that Tucker and his staff are paying closer attention to the Buckeye state in the 2024 cycle, as MSU will welcome four visiting recruits from Ohio next month — three-star safety Reggie Powers, three-star wide receiver Tra’Mar Harris and three-star offensive linemen twin brothers Mercer and Charlton Luniewski. Perhaps the Spartans can get back to those Dantonio roots and create recruiting footholds in Ohio once again.

Michigan State may be off to a late recruiting start for 2024, but June can put them back on track. Tucker and the coaching staff need to sell recruits on the belief that the program is still going in the right direction. After two consecutive top 25 recruiting classes in 2022 and 2023, next month will determine if the Spartans have another this year.

Other June Official Visitors

June 2

Four-star LB Dylan Williams; Long Beach Poly High School; Long Beach, Calif.; No. 171 nationally, No. 16 Linebacker, No. 16 in state of California
Four-star DL Xadavien Sims; Durant High School; Durant, Okla.; No. 203 nationally, No. 25 Defensive Lineman, No. 2 in state of Oklahoma
Four-star CB Marcellus Barnes Jr.; McCallie School; Chattanooga, Tenn.; No. 306 nationally, No. 24 Cornerback, No. 7 in state of Tennessee
Three-star TE Eric Karner; Immaculate Conception High School; Elmhurst, Ill.; No. 563 nationally, No. 28 Tight End, No. 13 in state of Illinois
Zero-star S Justin Denson; La Salle Academy; Providence, R.I.; No ranking data available

June 9

Four-star LB Kamar Mothudi; Campbell Hall School; Valley Village, Calif; No. 218 nationally, No. 21 Linebacker, No. 18 in state of California
Three-star WR Syair Torrence; Christian Brothers Academy; Syracuse, N.Y.; No. 636 nationally, No. 82 Wide Receiver, No. 5 in state of New York
Three-star WR Javarius Green; Crest High School; Shelby, N.C.; No. 730 nationally, No. 93 Wide Receiver, No. 21 in state of North Carolina
Zero-star ATH Camren Campbell; Tampa Bay Tech High School; Tampa, Fla.; No ranking data available

June 16

Three-star TE Decker DeGraaf; Glendora High School; Glendora, Calif.; No. 670 nationally, No. 33 Tight End, No. 51 in state of California
Three-star OT Mike Williams; Charles Herbet Flowers High School; Upper Marlboro, Mary.; No. 1271 nationally, No. 104 Offensive Tackle, No. 35 in state of Maryland
Three-star TE Karsen Konkel; Pinckneyville Community High School; Pinckneyville, Ill.; Not ranked by recruiting services outside of 247Sports
Zero-star CB Samuel Madu; Archbishop Stepinac High School; White Plains, N.Y.; No recruiting data available