Michigan State RB Coach Keith Bhonapha Talks Recruiting

The Spartans are pretty loaded at running back heading into 2024, but position coach Keith Bhonpha is building recruiting pipelines for the Spartans' future backfield...

One of the biggest question marks regarding Michigan State's hire of head coach Jonathan Smith this past offseason was the 45-year-olds ability to recruit outside of the Pacific Northwest.

Those questions extended to Smith's staff at MSU, most of which followed the head coach from Oregon State, including offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, tight ends coach Brian Wozniak, running backs coach Keith Bhonapha, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik, defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa and secondary coach Blue Adams.

However, coaches don't necessarily need to know an area in order to be an effective recruiter. They just need to know how to get to know people in those areas. That's one of the things Bhonapha and the rest of Michigan State's new staff have been up to since they arrived in East Lansing this past winter.

"It's good," Bhonapha said of the early recruiting efforts. "I will say this, I've gotten a chance to go down to Detroit and some of the surrounding areas of Detroit as well. I've also been to Cleveland, and I think about Texas. All three of those areas, to me these guys and these coaches and these kids are serious about football, which is awesome."

Michigan State's 2024 recruiting class was a mixture of guys recruited by the Spartans' previous staff and several players committed to Smith and his staff once they arrived in East Lansing. The class was made up of mostly players outside of the Midwest and finished ranked No. 42 in the country (247Sports team rankings), but it's hard to know how much to take away from that given Smith and Co. only had weeks to put the class together.

Bhonapha had success reaching down into Texas to nab a pair of three-star running backs in Frisco (Texas) Memorial early enrollee Brandon Tullis and McKinney (Texas) High's Mahki Frazier, who will join the roster this summer. Bhonapha described the type of players he's looking for on the recruiting trail.

"I think me having a foothold in Texas, which is another place in my opinion that's serious about football, and having really having some good ties down there, and trying to build ties in Detroit and trying to build ties in Cleveland, I'm looking to hopefully build a little bit of a foundation with our staff and how we recruit and how we're going to treat these kids once they get here, that we'll have some kids around that are more into football than all the peripheral that goes into college football right now," Bhonapha said.

Michigan State is still seeking its first commitment in the 2025 recruiting cycle, but how that class shapes out will give us a better idea of what to expect out of Smith and his staff on the trail going forward.

The Michigan State Spartan Football Spring Green and White Game (Spring Showcase) will be held at the High Cathedral of the Spartan Nation, Spartan Stadium, on April 20, 2024, at 2 p.m.

Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.