Michigan State football pushing for Kentucky DB coach Steve Clinkscale

Mel Tucker already tried to lure one of Kentucky’s top assistants to Michigan State football and he’s already pushing for another.

Vince Marrow was on every Spartan fans’ wishlist just last week after Mel Tucker was hired as Michigan State’s head coach but he decided to stay at Kentucky as Mark Stoops’ top recruiter and tight ends coach.

It was a tough pill for Tucker to swallow as he offered more money and had a long-lasting friendship with Marrow but he had to move on.

Since then, he has hired Ron Burton, Mike Tressel and Chris Kapilovic to the staff as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. The former two were retained from Mark Dantonio’s staff and there are now rumors that the Spartans may bring Harlon Barnett back, potentially as a defensive coordinator — he’s also a very good recruiter.

But what about the rest of the staff? We touched on that here, but there’s one name that has resurfaced after Marrow turned down the job and that’s Kentucky’s defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale who happens to be an elite recruiter who has poached multiple top prospects from the state of Michigan.

With talks of Tucker’s interest increasing in Clinkscale, a 42-year-old Ohio-native, there’s reason to believe he could become potentially the recruiting coordinator as well. He is one of the best recruiters on Kentucky’s staff and many believe he’s every bit as important to the Wildcats as Marrow is.

If Michigan State can land Clinkscale, that will make the swing-and-miss of Marrow hurt just that much less.

Tucker is swinging for the fences and fans have to love the aggression when hiring his staff. I guess that’s what happens when you get a Brinks truck full of money to spend.