Michigan State Football: New staff must continue recruiting Jaylen Reed

Four-star safety and top priority in the 2021 class Jaylen Reed committed to Penn State, but the Michigan State football staff shouldn’t give up just yet.

Michigan State lost a Plan A in-state target to Penn State on Thursday evening as four-star safety Jaylen Reed announced his decision to play for James Franklin over Mel Tucker.

While this decision hurts some of the momentum the new coaching staff has built with a couple of commitments already this week (Ethan Boyd and Davion Primm), it goes to show just how well Franklin has done in the state of Michigan during his time with the Nittany Lions.

But this should also be just the start of his recruitment for the Spartans.

What does this mean? Well, Reed stated that he talked to Franklin every day and that factored heavily into his decision and if the only thing separating the schools was the relationship with the head coaches, Tucker needs to remain in the race and continue to recruit him. It’s not unprecedented to recruit players who are already committed — heck, Franklin does it all the time.

Reed was at the top of Tucker’s board and he made up some serious ground over the past couple of months and it’s a miracle the Spartans were that close to landing him with a new relationship and no campus or in-person home visits due to COVID-19.

If Michigan State wants to make some noise in the 2021 class, continuing to recruit Reed and getting him on campus when the dead period is lifted will be crucial.

Losing Reed hurts, but this could be just the beginning of his recruitment if Tucker is serious about making him a priority.