This past Wednesday, twenty-two high school seniors signed to play football at Michigan State, becoming arguably one of the best classes that Mark Dantonio has signed during his tenure at Michigan State. Below is a brief description of each player, their recruitment, and impact on the team.
DE PROTOTYPE
MSU continues to bring in, long, athletic athletes at
defensive end, following the Shilique Calhoun blueprint.
Justice Alexander joins Demetrious Cooper, Montez Sweat and
Robert Bowers as lean 6’5”+ athletes who are projected as rush defensive ends
after a few years of working with Coach Mannie.
According to Jim Comparoni of Spartan Magazine, Alexander showed the
needed ankle flexion needed to be an explosive defensive end at the next
level. MSU’s biggest competition was
Tennessee, and OSU showed interest after Alexander committed in the summer.
MOST DEDICATED
Josh
Butler’s offer required a total of
49
hours spent on a bus, as he paid his way to travel from his home of Dallas
to go on campus visits to Tennessee and East Lansing. MSU’s reputation of the “No Fly Zone” made
popular by Darqueze Dennard paid off and Butler committed in July after
visiting. Although he suffered a
torn
ACL that ended his senior season in October, the staff expects Butler to
compete for playing time this fall, and may be a threat returning kicks. Butler was ranked in the
Rivals.com
Top 250 (#241).
MR. GRAY SHIRT
Cole
Chewins passed on a full scholarship at Miami (Ohio) to pursue a gray shirt
opportunity at MSU, paying for his first semester before going on scholarship
in the spring. Selling such an option is
made easier by the fact that Jack Conklin followed a similar path, enrolling as
a gray shirt before becoming a starter in his redshirt freshman year, and now
being regarded as a very high pick in next year’s NFL draft by
ESPN’s
Mel Kiper. Chewins won two state
championships at Clarkston, and was named to the
Detroit
News Dream Team. He hopes to follow
in the path of another Oakland county tight end turned offensive tackle in
Rochester’s Eric Fisher, the 2013 NFL #1 overall pick.
UNDERRATED
Felton
Davis is a physical, tall receiver who has the speed to run away from
defenders and excels at catching the ball away from his body. With a similar build to Tony Lippett, Davis
will be looked to compete for playing time early in his career, as the team
graduates Aaron Burbridge, MacGarrett Kings, AJ Sims, DeAnthony Arnett and
possibly AJ Troup after this year.
Although only ranked as a 3 star by Rivals.com, Davis has the potential
to have a long, impactful career.
CLEVELAND TWINS
MSU was finally able to infiltrate one of the top program’s
in the country in Cleveland’s St. Edwards when they received commitments from
twins
Andrew Dowell
and
David Dowell. St. Ed’s actually visited MSU last summer,
modeling their defense after the press corners that MSU employs. Since the staff had the opportunity to watch
the Dowell’s in a similar scheme, they made the decision to offer the then
Kentucky commitments. David
likely projects at corner, but could play wide receiver given a need, while
Andrew projects at the STAR linebacker position.
SEC LUSTER?
It’s rare that a school in the Midwest beats Alabama, Auburn
and Florida State for a kid in Florida, but that’s just what MSU did when
Kaleel Gaines committed
in August. Gaines played multiple
positions in high school, including quarterback, but will likely play safety in
college. He has the potential to compete
early for playing time as well, as the secondary will have open competition in
the fall for starting CBs.
LONE STAR LINEMAN
Although LSU and TCU offered Houston offensive lineman
Tyler Higby, Higby
decided to commit to MSU, who has family located in the Midland, Michigan
area. Higby will likely play guard, and
Dantonio considers Higby “one of the most athletic offensive lineman in the
state of Texas.” Higby will redshirt,
but could compete for a spot in the two-deeps in 2016.
PATIENCE
Mufi Hunt
made his college decision to attend MSU by stating that he will “
fight
alongside my brothers of Sparta.”
From Utah, Hunt will be embarking on a two-year Mormon mission after
graduation, so he will not enroll until 2017.
Hunt seems to be very mature mentally, but will need a few years to add
weight and to mature physically. Given
patience, Hunt could develop into a force off the edge given the fact that he
will 23 – 24 years old as an upper-classmen.
This may also open up a pipeline to more Samoan players to MSU,
following in the lines of Tupe Peko, Domato Peko, and Fou Fonoti.
ROSE BOWL SUCCESS
Without the success in last year’s Rose Bowl and the
attention it brought to MSU out west, it’s unlikely that
Brian Lewerke would be a
member of this class. Hailing from
Phoenix, it was a combination of the on-field success and the pro style offense
that made MSU an attractive option to Lewerke.
Also take into account that MSU did not take a QB in last year’s class,
and Lewerke has a very good chance at becoming the starting QB for at least his
last two years at MSU.
BIG COUNTRY
Noah
Listermann is physically the biggest recruit since David Barrent in
2009. Listermann attended the same
school as George Brown, another OT who may have been ranked higher, but
Listermann arguably out-performed Brown during the year. Listermann did have an OSU offer for a short
period, where he was basically told if he committed at the time and didn’t
visit East Lansing, he could be a member of their class. Listermann projects at right tackle, and
realistically will compete for a starting spot in 2017.
FASTEST PLAYER
Drake
Martinez is the younger brother of former Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez, but
he may be just as fast. Martinez
originally committed to Nebraska over MSU in 2013, but left school after a
serious illness resulted in Martinez losing 35 pounds. Although Martinez may lose a year of
eligibility due to a Big 10 rule that states a transfer within the conference
has to sit out a year, that speaks volumes that Martinez was willing to
sacrifice a year of playing time to come to MSU. Martinez projects at multiple positions, but
likely will get first crack at the STAR LB position.
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Grayson
Miller is the son of former Spartan John Miller, and his commitment caught
many Spartan fans off guard. However
Miller ran two 4.4 40s at the MSU camp, and also jumped over 10’ in the broad
jump, showing just how explosive he is.
Unfortunately Miller missed his entire senior season due to an ankle
injury, but the staff projects Miller as a safety prospect. It is possible that he could grow into a
linebacker as well.
NFL BLOODLINES
Cassius Peat
is the younger brother of
NFL
projected first-round pick Andrus Peat, and is the son of
former NFL offensive lineman Todd
Peat. Dantonio did mention that Peat
is a candidate to play early, and he could fill a defensive end role similar to
what Marcus Rush did for the past four years.
Some have even said that they wouldn’t be surprised if Peat grew to be a
defensive tackle, similar to Joel Heath, however in terms of depth on the defensive
line, I think it’s best that he stick to the end position. Peat was a UCLA commit for a time, but
Dantonio stated in his press conference that he was aware Peat still wanted to
hear from and consider Michigan State.
MOST LIKELY TO PLAY EARLY
The consensus top player in this class,
L.J. Scott has drawn
plenty of comparisons to Leveon Bell for his physical build, running style, and
ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.
Look for Scott to compete for first-team reps from the minute he steps
foot on campus. Competition at RB will
be between Delton Williams, Gerald Holmes, Madre London, and Gerald Owens, but
look for Williams, London and Scott to form a rotation once the season begins. Scott was a huge recruiting victory when he
committed in July, not only holding offers from Alabama and Ohio State, but he is
from Northeast Ohio, a traditional strong-hold for the Buckeyes. Scott comes from Hubbard, the same school as
Kurtis Drummond, which helped in the recruiting process. Scott is ranked the #57 player in the country
by Rivals.com.
ST. MARYS PIPELINE
Tyson
Smith joins former St. Mary’s teammates Jalen Watts-Jackson (JWJ), Nathan
Conrad, Sean Harrington and Jeremy Schram on the Spartan roster. Smith was a player the staff identified early
in the process as they recruited JWJ, and it paid off when Smith became the
first commit for the class. Dantonio
compared Smith to former Spartan DB and NFL player Renaldo Hill. Smith also has the potential to compete for
playing time early at corner.
TOP INSTATE PLAYER
Although Mike Weber and Brian Cole had been ranked as the
state’s top player,
Kyonta
Stallworth should be mentioned in the same breath as one of, if not the top player in the country. Stallworth
had offers from Alabama, Florida, MSU and UCLA before his junior year, and is
athletic enough to possibly play tackle if needed, similar to Donovan
Clark. Dantonio mentioned that
Stallworth could play early, although I think it is likely Stallworth will
redshirt and then compete for a spot at guard in 2016. Remember Brian Allen wasn’t needed to play
significantly until Connor Kruse’s’ injury at the start of the year.
KIWI REINCARNATE
Mark Dantonio made several comparisons during his press
conference, but the one that stuck out to me the most was him comparing
Darrell Stewart to
Keshawn Martin. Stewart was another
versatile player in high school, playing multiple positions including QB. The offensive staff has already mentioned
using Stewart on reverses and using his passing ability for trick plays. Stewart attended the same high school as WR coach Terry Samuel, and is versatile enough to play defensive back if
needed. Also look for Stewart to compete
for playing time in 2016.
BIGGEST COUP
Tyriq
Thompson is the son of former Michigan player Clarence Thompson, making
Tyriq’s commitment the biggest coup. The
staff identified Thompson as a key target early, and Thompson was one of the
top defensive performers at the Semper Fidelis All-American game. Thompson enrolled for the spring semester,
and will participate in spring practice.
Mike Tressel mentioned that Thompson has the capability to play all
three linebacker positions, and he even could get a look at fullback to get
Thompson on the field early.
NEXT FB
Kenny
Willekes accepted a preferred walk-on spot, but has the chance to earn a
scholarship if he is able to earn the starting fullback position after the
graduation of Trevon Pendleton.
Willekes’s biggest competition could be Gerald Owens if he sticks in the
offensive backfield and the staff feels Owens has outgrown the RB position. Willekes could also get a look at LB.
MALK 2.0
Raequan
Williams has drawn comparisons to Malik
McDowell due to his size and athleticism.
Williams could initially see playing time at defensive end, but will
likely spend the majority of his career inside at defensive tackle. Williams is from the Chicago area, keeping
the pipeline to Chicago alive after MSU received four commitments from the area
in 2014. Williams also plays basketball,
and is rated the #153 player in the country by Rivals.com.
FUTURE CAPTAIN
Although
Khari Willis’s ran for
2,800 yards and 30 touchdowns in his senior season as a running back, Dantonio
announced that Willis would play safety, comparing him to Isaiah Lewis. They like Willis as an explosive, physical
athlete who shows strong leadership skills.
Willis was also a candidate to play Division 1 basketball, but will
focus on football in college. In fact Co-Defensive
Coordinator Harlon Barnett injured his Achilles while playing against Willis
this summer. There still remains a
possibility that Willis sees time at running back at some point in his career,
as we know how much the staff likes to move players around.
