Michigan State football picks up pledge from 3-star S Michael Gravely Jr.

Michigan State football landed another commitment in the class of 2021 from three-star safety Michael Gravely Jr. from Ohio.

It had been nearly seven whole days since Mel Tucker landed a commitment in his 2021 recruiting class and that all changed with the addition of three-star safety Michael Gravely Jr. from Cleveland, Ohio, on Thursday evening.

This was one of those commitments that seemingly came out of nowhere for those who haven’t been on the inside track of the remaining targets as he was just offered on March 17.

Apparently Tucker made up some ground in his recruitment quickly and landed Gravely Jr. over the likes of Cincinnati, Colorado, Pitt, Wake Forest and West Virginia. His list of offers won’t blow anyone away, but he might be one of those “wait and see” commits who ends up exceeding expectations early on.

Also, like the 10 other commits in Michigan State’s 2021 class, Gravely Jr. has solid size at 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds. Tucker has said that he wants to recruit big and Gravely Jr. fits that mold for a safety.

Gravely Jr. joins the likes of Charles Brantley, Gabe Nealy and Antoine Booth as the four defensive backs committed to Michigan State’s 2021 class as it looks like Harlon Barnett has plenty of talent to work with.

Like most of those other defensive backs, Gravely Jr. will likely be a 2-3 year project, meaning he’ll redshirt and then work his way onto the two-deep by year two or three.

He’s a physical, hard-hitting safety who can come up in the run and he thrives on the big hits. Moreover, he’s good at diagnosing routes and breaking on them. When I watch his film, his aggressiveness reminds me of Nehemiah Warrick who played for Michigan State in 2006-07. He played with a mean streak and Gravely Jr. is from that same mold.

Gravely Jr. is ranked the No. 962 overall player and 74th-best safety in the 2021 class, per 247Sports.