Michigan State Target: Kahlil Ali and his "Tribe"
On Wednesday, Michigan State’s offensive line coach, Chris Kapilovic, had exciting news to give to a sophomore from Pennsauken, NJ, Kahlil Ali.
“I talked to Michigan State twice last week, and he (Coach Kapilovic) started asking me about camp and how many offers I had, I said nine. I started naming all of them and then he said ‘how about you add Michigan State as your tenth?’ I was surprised and happy because Michigan State is, wow. I never would’ve thought,” Ali said.
The 15-year-old has had an interest in the school, especially since Michigan State holds Jersey ties.
“One of my brother’s teammates went there (Michigan State), and he said he liked the school. I was going to go up there but then the pandemic happened. I wanted to go up there,” Ali said.
Ali reached out to his two buddies, Payton Kirkland and Bradyn Joiner, the day he received his offer from Michigan State.
Ali said, “We were actually on a group FaceTime call and we were talking about it; It’s a tribe between us three. I definitely expect us to all go to the same school together.”
When asked how long this tight-knit friendship has been going on for, Ali said, “It was around some time last month.”
This tribe of three created a brotherhood within a month through the NCAA recruiting process.
“Me and Payton are actually real tight. I met him through recruiting and he followed me and hit me up. We got along after that, talking about schools and where me and him want to go,” Ali said.
Ali said the reason he and Payton clicked and want to go to the same school together is that “we are basically the same person.”
“Me and him (Kirkland) have the same dreams. I was watching his film and talking to him about his background. He kind of reminds me of myself but a bigger version because he’s 6-7, geez,” Ali said.
While the ‘tribe’ talks about offers they’ve received and the recruiting process, Ali said the group also talks about things outside of football and school.
“We’ll talk about what we’re going to do in life and how we’re going to do it to get to that goal. We’ll talk about the recruiting process and then talk about our goofiness. If something on the media is funny, we’ll send it in the group chat and we’ll have a lot of laughs.”
With all three friends in the ‘tribe,’ continuously receiving offers, decisions are still up in the air.
Ali said, “As of right now, it’s a maybe (if they will go to the same school) because I don’t know where their minds are at.”
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