MSU Gets Positive Update in Recruitment of Five-Star Ethan Taylor
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Michigan State basketball is right in the thick of the recruitment of center Ethan Taylor, a five-star player who is ranked as the 24th-best member of the 2026 class on the 247Sports Composite.
The Spartans just hosted Taylor for an official visit this Thursday and Friday. He was in attendance for the annual "Michigan State Madness" event at the Breslin Center, where his name was chanted by members of the Izzone. Head coach Tom Izzo, who can't acknowledge Taylor publicly under NCAA rules until he's signed, merely said, "Who's that?" Taylor also did some crowdsurfing at the Izzone Campout shortly after.
On Monday evening, on the heels of that eventful visit, Jacob Polacheck of Kentucky Sports Report reported that Taylor had canceled his visit to Kentucky that was set for this coming weekend and that he is "no longer considering" the Wildcats.
That means that Michigan State is probably going to get the last word, as far as visits go, in Taylor's recruitment. He announced that he was down to six schools on Aug. 9, but the race is down to five with Kentucky no longer in consideration. Besides MSU, the other programs left are Oregon, Indiana, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Taylor had already taken visits to each of those schools before he came to East Lansing this past weekend.
Generally, it's a good sign when a recruit who just visited your school cancels future visits. It doesn't mean Taylor to MSU is a done deal, but sometimes it means that the recruit was impressed enough with what he saw on the visit that he doesn't feel the need to visit any other places to make a decision.
Michigan State's 2026 Recruiting Class
Carlos Medlock Jr.
The first player to commit to the Spartans and the highest-ranked pledge thus far is four-star point guard Carlos Medlock Jr., who is a teammate of Taylor's at Link Academy in Branson, Missouri. He is currently ranked as the 73rd overall recruit in the class of 2026 on the 247Sports Composite.
Even though he now attends school out there, Medlock is a Michigan native who previously attended Wayne Memorial High School.
Julius Avent
Michigan State's other commit to this point is four-star power forward Julius Avent, who announced that he'd picked the Spartans last Wednesday. According to the 247Sports Composite, he's the 78th-best overall player in his class.
Avent chose MSU over Xavier and Seton Hall.
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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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