Michigan State football lands first 4-star in 2021 class in CB Charles Brantley

Michigan State football landed its first four-star commitment in the 2021 class in Florida-based cornerback Charles Brantley.

For the first time since taking over as head coach at Michigan State, Mel Tucker can say he landed a four-star recruit.

On Thursday afternoon, Charles Brantley announced his commitment to Michigan State, becoming the first four-star pledge in the green and white.

While he is a composite three-star, the only reason he’s not an all-around four-star is because 247Sports has him listed as a low-three star while other recruiting services are much higher on him such as Rivals. He’s ranked as the 18th-best cornerback on Rivals and No. 36 prospect from the state of Florida as a four-star recruit.

Rankings don’t mean much, but when a coach hears nothing but “let me know when he lands a four-star”, this is a pretty big get.

Even the composite isn’t too shabby as he’s listed as the No. 557 overall prospect and 41st-best cornerback in the class as Tucker continues to recruit nationally with Brantley coming from Venice, Fla.

Brantley now joins Gabe Nealy as the other Florida-native defensive back and also like him, he has decent size for his position. He stands 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds and that’s really all you can ask from in a cornerback, size-wise.

As a junior, Brantley recorded eight interceptions and was an absolute ballhawk. He is excellent at reading quarterbacks’ eyes and his break on routes and closing speed is impressive. He has soft hands which make him a pick machine and he doesn’t often get beat deep.

Michigan State is getting another good one here as Brantley becomes the 10th commitment in the 2021 class since April 7 and it should put the Spartans in the top 25 nationally.