EXCLUSIVE: Spartans Recent 2025 Commit Di'Mari Malone Talks In-State Recruiting, Fellow 2025 LB DJ White

Three-star linebacker Di'Mari Malone committed to Michigan State on Sunday, giving the Spartans the two best linebackers in the state. Malone told Spartan Nation he looks forward to playing with DJ White.

Nov 24, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; A Michigan State Spartans helmet sits on a bench during the | David Reginek-USA TODAY Sports

What started as a slow burn for the 2025 recruiting class has shaped into something special for Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith. Smith added his third recruit of the class on Sunday.

Three-star in-state linebacker Di'Mari Malone announced he would take his talents to East Lansing.

Smith introduced his goal of developing ties to the Midwest and in the state of Michigan when it came to recruiting way back in his introductory press conference. Malone is another big step in achieving that goal.

Malone is the No. 9 player in the state of Michigan and the No. 64 linebacker in the class, per 247Sports.

"With me being an in-state guy committing to [Michigan] State, it's definitely a big thing for me because I wanna be a part of Coach Smith's whole thing with trying to turn around the program," Malone said. "I feel like it's definitely possible, I'm a dog myself and also, these in-state kids are really talented. It's a lot of slept-on kids. A good amount of slept-on kids. I don't know, I feel like people are so worried about that down South ball when it's out here in the Midwest. It's really talented out here, people just got to take their time and dissect it. It's some great ball out here."

Malone was a player that fellow Spartan 2025 commit and three-star linebacker DJ White wanted to get to Michigan State to "win a Big Ten Championship."

"[White] reached out to me a week ago, he asked me about [Michigan] State and stuff like that. We really don't have a relationship like that," Malone said.

Malone does plan on developing a relationship on the field with his fellow commit very soon.

"With me and [DJ White], being a linebacker duo as of right now in the 2025 class, I feel like we got to build our connection now, so when we get [to Michigan State], we gonna be dogs," Malone said. "Because we already got the talent, it ain't gonna do nothing but get better, so with him being the other linebacker, we got some heat coming for the Spartans."

Malone and White share similar styles as athletic, versatile linebackers.

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