Top 2025 DL Target Has Michigan State Among Top 5 Teams

Three-star edge rusher Tyrone Burrus Jr. listed Michigan State in his top five teams on Wednesday.

Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith leaves the file after the Spring Showcase on Saturday, | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA

Three-star edge rusher Tyrone Burrus Jr. announced his top five teams Wednesday evening. He had Michigan State among Louisville and Kansas and Big Ten rivals Illinois and Indiana.

Burrus, of Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, is the No. 5 player in Indiana, according to 247Sports, and is the No. 28 edge rusher in the 2025 class.

Burrus posted the announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Where’s 🏡……⁦@mikekirschner1⁩⁦@cdc372⁩ ⁦@SWiltfong_⁩⁦@AllenTrieu⁩ ⁦@GregSmithRivals⁩⁦@ChadSimmons_⁩ ⁦@IndianaPreps⁩⁦@ChadWilt⁩⁦@CoachMarkHagen⁩⁦@CoachSintim⁩⁦@CoachSvarczkopf⁩⁦@EzeObiora2⁩⁦@AGEDITS32⁩ pic.twitter.com/347uJgyEZj

— Tyrone burrus Jr ⭐️ (@tyrone_burrus) May 15, 2024

Michigan State hosted Burrus for a junior day event earlier this spring.

Burrus told 247Sports he thought the Spartans' facilities were "great." Rush ends coach Chad Wilt and Smith both made a positive impression on Burrus.

"I had a great talk with Coach Wilt, who I'm building a good relationship and trust with. I also had a great talk with head Coach Smith," Burrus said. "I loved how they let the team play and then correct them after the play. I also liked how the coaches were hyping up the team."

Last season, Burrus registered 34 tackles and 16 tackles for loss. He had 19 quarterback hits and 5.5 sacks with three pass break-ups.

The edge rusher is a standout athlete as well. Competing in track and field, Burrus has a time of 7.48 seconds in the 60-meter, 11.99 in the 100-meter and 57.62 in the 400-meter. He is also a successful high jumper.

The Spartans will need good pass rushers going forward. The West Coast teams joining the Big Ten -- USC, Oregon and Washington -- will have pass-heavy attacks with athletes at the quarterback position. The two potential quarterback options for Michigan, Alex Orji and Jadyn Davis, are big-time running threats.

Michigan State also lost several potential pass rushers to the transfer portal -- namely the high-potential but unproven Bai Jobe.

Smith has made it his stated goal to recruit big in the Midwest and re-establish the Spartans' recruiting presence in the region. So far, he has kept his West Coast pipeline healthy with the commit of 2025 three-star quarterback Leo Hannan, and he has a lot of interest from plenty of other recruits out west, too.

Smith has done well in the state of Michigan -- three of his five 2025 commits are from the Mitten.

Of Smith's five 2025 commits, four are from the Midwest.

Burrus would be a huge addition to the future of Michigan State's pass rush -- and Midwest recruiting.

Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.

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