Michigan State Football: Spartans will be fine without Habakkuk Baldonado

Michigan State football missed out on three-star defensive end Habakkuk Baldonado to Pitt, but the Spartans will be just fine.

One of the first schools to really take notice of three-star defensive end Habakkuk Baldonado was Michigan State. The Spartans offered him before a plethora of other programs and got an official visit from him and his family on Jan. 19.

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Everything looked to be headed in Michigan State’s direction, but a Pittsburgh offer and official visit changed thing. He had also held UCF in high regard, but the Panthers, and Pat Narduzzi, jumped to the forefront.

By National Signing Day, it was a foregone conclusion that Baldonado would end up playing for Narduzzi instead of Mark Dantonio. Although the Spartans led at one point, the question marks surrounding the program as well as an opportunity to play right away attracted him to Pitt.

There’s no need to panic, though. Michigan State has three other defensive ends signed in the 2018 class in Parks Gissinger, who some think is the most underrated player in MSU’s class, and both Zachary and Jacob Slade. On top of that, there’s a chance Dashaun Mallory could add depth to Michigan State’s defensive line in the coming weeks as he’s delayed his signing.

Defensive end wasn’t the biggest need for the Spartans on National Signing Day, especially since there were three who inked their names on the dotted line in the early signing period.

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There’s no reason to panic or worry, Michigan State has some solid contributors coming up the ranks, such as DeAri Todd and Brandon Randle, to complement the starters as well as incoming freshmen. Michigan State will be just fine.