Great Look At Mel Tucker & Michigan State Football Quarterback Recruiting
One of the first positions the new Michigan State coaching staff has prioritized on the recruiting trail is the quarterback position, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to most fans considering the amount of uncertainty there is surrounding the position in the Spartan football program.
Under the previous coaching staff, the Spartans mainly targeted pro-style quarterbacks with much more regularity than it targeted dual-threat signal-callers, although both Brian Lewerke and Rocky Lombardi both fit the mold of dual-threat quarterbacks.
But under Mel Tucker and offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, Michigan State has pursued some of the top dual-threat and pro-style signal-callers in the 2021 and 2022 classes.
The dual-threat quarterbacks the Spartans have extended offers to under Tucker and his staff are Folsom (CA) 2021 3-star Ari Patu and Cedar Hill (TX) 2021 4-star Kaidon Salter, who were two of the first recruits at the quarterback position the Spartan staff extended offers to. Patu, who was offered by Colorado under Tucker, was the first quarterback offered by the new Spartan staff.
Michigan State’s interest in dual-threat quarterbacks doesn’t come as much of a surprise as Colorado ran a spread offense that featured RPOs at Colorado in Johnson’s one year as offensive coordinator in Boulder.
Colorado’s lone quarterback signee in the 2020 class was Melissa (TX) 3-star dual-threat Brendon Lewis.
At a recent press conference, Tucker told reporters that what stands out to him about Johnson as an offensive coordinator is his ability to adapt to the players and their skill sets, which obviously translates to how the Spartans will operate on the recruiting trail.
“One of the things I like about Jay is that Jay is very adaptable,” he said. “He's multiple, and he's got great experience and wisdom, he's kind of been there, done that. So, we see football the same way, and he understands that you have to do what your players can do. You never want to try to fit a square peg into a round hole, so to speak.”
The pro-style quarterbacks that Michigan State has targeted and offered in the first month under the new coaching staff are Fort Worth (TX) All Saints Episcopal 2021 3-star Hampton Fay, Hamilton (AZ) 4-star Nicco Marchiol, Apple Valley (CA) 2022 Jayden Denegal, Moreno Valley (CA) Rancho Verde 2022.
Fay, who stands at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, has emerged as a top Michigan State target for the 2021 class and the interest has been mutual. Fay visited Michigan State last week before the NCAA imposed a recruiting dead period due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Patu, Fay, Marchiol, Denegal and Duffy all received offers from Colorado when Tucker was the head coach of the Buffaloes in 2019.
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