Michigan State Football: Why recruiting stars haven’t mattered under Mark Dantonio

It’s early signing day and for fans, it’s the time to celebrate hard work in recruiting. How good will the recruits Michigan State football signs be?

Theres no other coach who has enjoyed more success with less recruiting stars than Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio. He has won Big Ten championships and major bowl games like the Rose and Cotton. He has done this with the likes of players who were headed to MAC schools like Kirk Cousins, Le’Veon Bell, Connor Cook, Trae Waynes, Darqueze Dennard and there are many other lightly-recruited players who have contributed to MSU’s success.

On the flip side, there are many four and five-star players who go to major college powerhouse programs and yet never seem to be able to live up to the hype.

Garrett Gilbert was regarded as one of the best quarterbacks to come out of high school in 2008 by USA Today. He had everything you could want as a head coach the arm, the accuracy, a five-star player, and the pedigree (dad was former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert). Yet he floundered at Texas then transferred to SMU.

Gilbert was able to resurrect his career at SMU under June Jones, however, his tale is a cautionary one for college coaches. Recruiting analysts do the best they can, but they miss on players and the same is true for coaches. Former Texas, now North Carolina coach Mac Brown lost his job at Texas because of the product on the field. Yet he was routinely bringing in four and five-star players every year. Did he lose his ability to coach? No.

Part of the problem for Brown was that in the state of Texas (it is becoming true nationally as well with the emphasis on getting to the next level), high school players have a tendency to max out their ability in high school due to the high amount of training of players that happens. It’s a reason current Texas head coach Tom Herman has been looking out of state this season. He understands what Brown did not.

A player may be a four or five-star recruit, but the question is have they maxed out already. It’s why that has led to Dantonio’s success and why some recruits never live up to the stars.

Drake Harris was a former four-star wide receiver recruit from Grand Rapids, Mich. He had great ability and even flirted with MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo on being a two-sport athlete. However, he de-committed from Michigan State and committed to Michigan in 2013. He never caught on at Michigan and ended up at Western Michigan.

Blake Barnett was a five-star quarterback in the class and among the elite of prospects. He lost his job and then transferred to Arizona State. Nevertheless, he lost that starting job to Manny Wilkins and it was another transfer this time to USF. Barnett was a “can’t miss guy” and yet Alabama head coach Nick Saban missed on him.

Why don’t some recruits never achieve what they could have been if rated highly? It could be the system they go with, getting buried in the depth chart, coaching changes, injuries and missing home. There is still another reason and that is it could be possibly playing on a really great high school team.

Analyzing recruits is a difficult task, even seasoned vets can miss on players. Dantonio has his share of misses, but his matches have outweighed the misses. Recruiting stars are exciting yet do not necessarily mean a team will win important games in November or December.

This current recruiting class in 2019 may not be filled with four and five-star guys, but there is much potential for their success at MSU.