Now that National Signing Day has passed, it’s a natural time for fans of programs to look ahead to the next cycle and crop of talent it has to offer, but the foundation for the 2020 class has been in place for a while now.
Coaching staffs all over the country, Michigan State included, have been on the road getting info from high school coaches, breaking down film of players, making in-home appearances, hosting prospects at summer camps and preparing official visits for targets from this class for years now.
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There’s a learning aspect that takes place for some recruits. The first-time visit as a sophom*ore, the initial conversations with coaching staffs, a tour of the facilities with family nearby. For others — some who’ve completed those steps as early as the eighth grade — visits around this time are more about continuing to build trust with a staff and seeing that relationship grow over time.
Though Michigan State doesn’t have a 2020 commitment yet, the class should start taking shape in the coming months. Let’s take a look at early targets, trends and needs for Michigan State during this upcoming cycle.
Family matters
The 2020class is the year of the legacy, which bodes well for Michigan State. There are several talented prospects in the state of Michigan and nationally with ties to the school. Let’s identify a few of them.
Muhsin Muhammad II was born and raised in Lansing. He went to nearby Waverly High School, developed into a dynamic receiver at Michigan State and became a second-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in the 1996 NFL Draft. Now his son Muhsin Muhammad III, a four-star prospect, could follow in his footsteps.
Blessed to receive my fifth offer from Michigan State University. Both my father and uncles alma mater⚔️✳️❕#Spartandawg #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/PsYNeNZohp
— Muhsin “Moose” Muhammad III (@MooseMuhammad) February 28, 2018
Muhammad III is an excellent route runner, has good hands and solid speed. He’s the 130th-best prospect in the 2020 class and holds offers from Tennessee, Auburn, Oregon, Nebraska and N.C. State, among others. And with Darrell Stewart Jr. graduating next season, Muhammad could be an ideal slot receiver.
Unlike his father, though, Muhammad grew up in North Carolina. He visited N.C. State in December, and Clemson has shown interest, too. It’s possible that he’ll opt to stay closer to home.
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Michigan State was the first school to offer four-star Texas safety Darius Snow, the son of former Spartans basketball player Eric Snow and the nephew of former MSU linebacker Percy Snow. Eric spent 14 years in the NBA and is a former All-NBA defender, while Percy is a member of the Michigan State football Hall of Fame, and was the first player in college football history to win both the Butkus Award and the Lombardi Award.
So, yeah. No pressure, Darius.
If he’s half as good a defender as his father and uncle were, he’d be a great pickup for the Spartans. He’s a four-star prospect ranked as the sixth-best safety in the 2020 class and 121st overall. Michigan State will lose senior David Dowell after the upcoming season and there aren’t a ton of options at safety on the current roster, so landing a player of Snow’s caliber could help solidify the position when Dowell leaves. However, like Muhammad, Snow’s home-state team also is in the mix. The Texas Longhorns are another option for Snow.
The last player isn’t technically a legacy, because he’s not biologically related to a former Spartan. But 2020 three-star wide receiver Devell Washington considers family friend and former Spartans receiver Charles Rogers — the highest-rated recruitin Michigan State history — an uncle figure in his life, so much so that Washington has referred to Rogers as his uncle in past interviews. Washington, a 6-foot-4 receiver from Bay City, Mich., picked up an offer from MSU after a visit last summer and would serve as another great addition. Unlike Muhammad and Snow, Washington grew up closer to Michigan State and is familiar with the athletic program. MSU will have to compete with Ohio State and Michigan to secure a commitment from Washington, but the team is in good shape.
I’m excited to say that I’ve received a scholarship offer from Michigan State University! #GoGreenGoWhite @MSU_Football @DantonioMark @MSUTSamuel pic.twitter.com/8YWkYggC13
— Devell Washington (@DevellWashingt2) July 31, 2018
The search for a speed back
We’ve evaluated the running back position and the options at Michigan State’s disposal, and it’s clear this team was missing a speed element in 2018. Simply put, this group lacked explosion. Of Michigan State’s four rushes of 40 or more yards, only one belonged to a running back. The team’s 38 rushes of 10 or more yards were the fourth fewest nationally.Unless there was a hole as wide as the Sahara, Michigan State running backs rarely made it to the second level.
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It’s easy to place blame on the offensive line, but the skill set and availability of running backs played a role here, too. LJ Scott was limited to five games and is now NFL-bound. Connor Heyward and La’Darius Jefferson learned the position on the fly last year, and neither showed particularly impressive speed. Weston Bridges, coming off of his second torn ACL, was limited to 16carries in 2018. And freshman Elijah Collins barely managed to crack the rotation.
Adding speed on offense should be one of Michigan State’s top priorities heading into the 2020 recruiting cycle. In terms of potential recruiting targets, running back is a position that tends to come together later in the process. Both of Michigan State’s 2019 running backs — Brandon Wright and Anthony Williams Jr. — committed over the summer. Former MSU commit Aaron Young, a speed back who flipped to Rutgers on the first day of the December signing period, committed in October. The staff even made a late push for 2019 running back Jordan Houstonin January, but he signed with N.C. State.
Four-star Detroit running back Peny Boone visited campus this past weekend and told The Athletic that Michigan State is up there on his list, but at 6-2, 225 pounds, he projects as more of a power back. A player like Maryland running back Blake Corum, a four-star prospect with the ability to cut on a dime, would be a good fit. He received an offer from Michigan State when he was a sophom*ore and has taken an unofficial visit to East Lansing. But most recruiting sites predict he’ll stay closer to home and list Virginia Tech as the early favorite. Three-star Illinois running back Marcellus Moore has drawn interest from Michigan State. Although he hasn’t been offered yet, he visited campus in November and coaches told him they liked his speed and would be in touch. Moore won multiple Illinois state track titles last season, so he certainly would fill the void.
And with that, we’ve made it through an entire section with using the phrase “need for speed.”
More power players
Everything Michigan State wants to do, offensively and defensively, begins with the big boys up the middle.
“We believe really the game of football starts up front,” head coach Mark Dantonio said on Dec. 19, the first day of the early signing period. “I thought we signed a great, very impressive group of what I call ‘power football players,’ guys that can play on the offensive and defensive lines in the trenches.”
For proof to back Dantonio’s philosophy, look no further than the 2018 Spartans. On defense, stopping the run has become the No. 1 priority, and Michigan State’s defensive line has anchored the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 rushing defenses in back-to-back seasons. On offense, Dantonio has often said he’d like to run the ball 40 times a game to control the clock and keep a balanced attack. But the lack of push from the offensive line has made it difficult to find success in the run game, leading to the nation’s 114th-ranked rushing offense and more pressure on the quarterbacks to perform.
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Despite the group that Michigan State brought in this past cycle, both positions are in need of an influx of talent.
Michigan State is set to lose defensive end Kenny Willekes, as well as defensive tackles Raequan Williams and Mike Panasiuk, after the 2019 season. That’s three multiyear starters who’ve contributed to the nation’s best and second-best run defense each of the past two seasons. It’ll be a challenge to replace all three, but we’ve already seen the early steps to prepare for their eventual departures.
Two 2019 projected offensive line prospects — Ohio guard J.D. Duplain and Michigan tackle Maverick Hansen — will start their careers on the defensive side of the ball. Michigan State was able to secure a commitment from 2019 three-star defensive end Michael Fletcher, who chose MSU over Kentucky, Alabama and Michigan, among others. He’s raw and will need time to develop, but Dantonio compares him to former Spartans defensive end Shilique Calhoun. Three-star defensive tackle Bryce Austin is one of the early 2020 targets for Michigan State. The Southfield, Mich., native is a top-400 prospect and has narrowed his list of schools to five: Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, Boston College and Washington State.
Michigan State has done well to bring in young talent along the offensive line in recent years, landing four-star prospect guard/tackle Devontae Dobbs and another highly regarded prospect in three-star tackle Spencer Brown, though neither is on campus yet. This could be the year where we start to see current players like James Ohonba and Mustafa Khaleefah emerge as depth pieces. MSU returns all five starters from the Redbox Bowl next season, but until this group proves it can compete on a consistent basis, it would be wise to continue bringing in young talent.
Landing five-star guard Justin Rogers would be a dream scenario. Rogers is from Oak Park, Mich., and has been on MSU’s radar for years. The thought of adding a player of Rogers’ caliber to play alongside Dobbs is an ambitious one, though, because he’s already being heavily recruited by almost every major Power 5 program in the country. Three-star guard and Grand Rapids native Dallas Fincher holds offers from Ohio State and Wisconsin, but he told The Athletic that Michigan State has always been his “dream school.” Three-star tackleJosh Priebe visited Michigan State’s Spartan Elite Camp last summer, played out his junior season and wasoffered by the staff in December. It served as his first Power 5 offer, and he has since picked up offers from Purdue, Duke, Nebraska and Miami.
These players and others who emerge in the months to come could define Michigan State’s 2020 class and serve as building blocks for future teams. Only time will tell.
(Top photo by Mike Carter / USA TODAY Sports)
Colton Pouncy is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Detroit Lions. He previously covered Michigan State football and basketball for the company, and covered sports for The Tennessean in Nashville prior to joining The Athletic. Follow Colton on Twitter @colton_pouncy
