MSU Re-Offers Elite 2027 Defensive Lineman
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Michigan State and new head coach Pat Fitzgerald are fresh off putting together one of the nation's top transfer portal classes. As the portal winds down, the Spartans are continuing to focus on recruiting and shifting their attention to the 2027 cycle.
Fitzgerald and his staff have already started targeting several prospects in the 2027 class and recently extended an offer to a four-star defensive lineman whom the previous Spartans staff had already been pursuing.
Spartans Extend Offer to Four-Star Defensive Lineman
On Jan. 18, Fitzgerald and his staff extended an offer to Brayden Parks, a four-star defensive lineman from Brother Rice High School in Chicago, Illinois. Parks shared on X that the Spartans had re-offered him, writing, “Blessed to be re-offered by [Michigan State Football].”
Blessed to be re-offered by @MSU_Football @coachfitz51 @Coach_DeBo46 @BrotherRiceFB @CoachQuedenfeld @GregSmithRivals @EDGYTIM @AllenTrieu @TomLoy247 @TheUCReport @adamgorney pic.twitter.com/e3XBVxCD3p
— Brayden Parks 4⭐️DT (@BraydenParks27) January 15, 2026
The previous Michigan State staff had offered Parks in January 2025, and the new staff has now made it clear that they remain highly interested in the four-star defensive lineman.
The Spartans' re-offer to Parks comes after Michigan State staff members visited Brother Rice High School on Thursday morning. He’s coming off a strong 2025 season at Brother Rice, where, according to his Hudl, he recorded 61 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, and 7.5 sacks.
Fitzgerald and his staff are entering Parks’ recruitment relatively late, as several programs have already made significant progress with him. The young defensive lineman recently told Rivals’ Greg Smith that he plans to take visits with Oregon and Illinois this month and that he’s also highly interested in Ohio State, Notre Dame, LSU, and Oklahoma.
While Michigan State will need to make up a lot of ground in the coming weeks to have a chance of landing Parks, the good news for the Spartans is that there’s currently no timeline for his decision, giving Fitzgerald and company plenty of time to do so.
The new staff under Fitzgerald should begin building a relationship with Parks in the coming weeks and even try to bring him to campus in East Lansing for an official visit in the near future.
Parks is undoubtedly worth pursuing for Michigan State, as he’s one of the top recruits in the 2027 class. Rivals’ industry rankings list him as the No. 223 overall player nationally, the No. 26 defensive lineman, and the No. 10 prospect from Illinois.
While it’s still a long shot for the Spartans to win the battle for Parks, re-offering him at least opens the door to the possibility of Michigan State landing one of the top players in the 2027 class.
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Max Doresy serves as the Western United States College Recruiting Beat Writer On SI. He graduated from the prestigious Syracuse University – S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Before that, he worked for the Pro Football Network and was part of the recruiting department for Syracuse University's football program.