Top MSU Football Target Reveals Shocking Top Four
The Michigan State Spartans are prioritizing top talent that fit their prototype for a Jonathan Smith Spartan.
The state of Michigan is Smith's No. 1 priority and the 2025 class showed some reasonable gains for the first year of a new regime trying to mend pipelines to their most sacred territory. The 2026 class is going to be a tell-tale sign, more so than Year 1, as to how well Smith and Co. have done.
2026 interior offensive lineman Ben Nichols is a highly-rated four-star offensive lineman from Davison High School. Nichols is the No. 16 interior offensive lineman in the class of 2026 and the No. 3 player in the state of Michigan, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.
The 6-foot-5, 315-pound prospect is a top priority for the Spartans, who have been recruiting him hard. Davison head coach Jake Weingartz gave some insight to me as to what made Nichols so special when I met with the two in September.
"He's just a hard worker, man," Weingartz said. "He's really transformed his body, when he was younger he was kind of a chubbier kid per say, but now if you look at him when he walks in here, he doesn't look 315 pounds. Really, really committed himself to the weight room, committed himself to all of our speed training, you know, never missed a single day in the offseason or in the summer. So he takes it very seriously and he's obviously had some good success."
Nichols released his Top 9 teams on Nov. 11 and the Spartans were included. Now, the news is not so good. Nichols revealed his top four on Friday, and the Spartans were not included.
Nichols' top four are Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Penn State. He is setting his commitment date for Dec. 24.
The commitment date is earlier than most prospects would have it, as it is before the official visit cycle and could murk the waters and make things tougher when it comes to a long-term decision. The good news for the Spartans is that the decision is coming early.
It gives the green and white a chance to make a comeback for Nichols. As learned time and again, no recruitment is over until the ink is dry on signing day.
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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