MSU Loses Commitment of Rising Four-Star LB
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Michigan State took another big hit to its 2026 recruiting class, as rising four-star linebacker Braylon Hodge announced that he was rescinding his verbal commitment to the Spartans. He had been a member of MSU’s class since June.
Hodge is ranked 274th overall in his class on the 247Sports Composite and 350th in the Rivals Industry Rankings. According to the latter rankings, Hodge was the third-highest-ranked player in Michigan State’s 2026 class, only behind quarterback Kayd Coffman (East Kentwood, Mich.), and offensive tackle Collin Campbell (Gilbert, Ariz.).
BREAKING: Four-Star LB Braylon Hodge has Decommitted from Michigan State, he tells me for @rivals
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) October 10, 2025
He’s ranked as the No. 9 LB in the 2026 Rivals300https://t.co/3uU5eJOxc0 pic.twitter.com/82XMkyRiFd
Even though head coach Jonathan Smith’s staff and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi were one of the earlier parties to Hodge’s recruitment, recent attention from several other big programs seemed to become too much for him to ignore. Since he verbally committed to the Spartans, Hodge has received offers from Michigan, Texas, Oregon, Missouri, and Colorado. All of those came in September.
Other Visits
It hasn’t helped that Hodge has been willing to entertain other schools’ recruitments of him, even right after he said he was committed to Michigan State. Hodge took three official visits in the three weeks immediately following his June 1 announcement that he had chosen MSU, taking official looks at Utah (June 6), Minnesota (June 13), and Iowa (June 20), according to 247Sports.
The rumors of Hodge’s decommitment had especially been circulating in the last handful of weeks, starting about when he received that wave of new offers. It almost felt inevitable when he scheduled several more visits to those schools.
Hodge visited the rival Wolverines during their game against Wisconsin on Oct. 4 and was photographed flashing an “M” with his hands. He will also be at Oregon on Saturday for the third-ranked Ducks’ game against No. 7 Indiana. The other school Hodge will reportedly be considering is Texas.
This is the second four-star recruit that has recently exited Michigan State’s 2026 recruiting class. The Spartans lost wide receiver Tyren Wortham on Oct. 6, who ranks 246th overall in the Rivals Industry Rankings and was MSU’s top commit, according to that metric.
Michigan State’s next incoming class is still better than its last according to the rankings, but the Spartans are still in the lower half of the Big Ten. With Hodge now taken off the list, MSU only has three four-star commitments out of 20 total in its 2026 class.
According to On3/Rivals, Michigan State's next recruiting class has now dropped to 39th nationally and 12th in the Big Ten.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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