Michigan State basketball target Jaden Akins makes monster Rivals150 leap

One of Michigan State basketball’s top remaining 2021 targets in Jaden Akins made a massive leap in the latest Rivals150 rankings.

Tuesday was a big day for the 2021 college basketball recruiting class, namely Michigan State’s lone commit as well as some of its top targets.

Earlier, we posted the 34-spot leap of one four-star commit Pierre Brooks who went from the No. 109 player in the class all the way up to No. 75 in the Rivals150 update. That’s an almost unheard of jump for a recruit with no AAU going on as well as a silent summer with no camps or even in-person recruiting and visits.

But Rivals thought highly enough of him to boost him and the recruiting service did the same for a potential future Spartan and top 2021 target, Jaden Akins.

In fact, the latest Rivals150 has Akins listed as the No. 66 overall recruit in the class which is the second-highest jump inside the rankings of any recruit, rising all the way from No. 105. Yes, you read that correctly, that’s a 39-spot jump for the four-star point guard from Farmington.

Michigan State basketball’s top priority

There’s talk about Max Christie being the top target left on the board for the 2021 class as well as newly-offered Jeremy Sochan or even James Graham who was offered recently as well. Heck, even Charles Bediako has been on the radar, but the five-star big might be trending toward Duke. Don’t forget Kobe Bufkin, another four-star Michigan-based guard.

While those names are high on the list, the top priority has to be Akins. He plays the point guard position which is critical moving forward with Foster Loyer entering his junior season already and Rocket Watts taking over the position even as a natural two-guard.

Landing a point guard in 2021 is crucial and Akins has to be at the top of the list. This mammoth jump in the rankings just goes to show how valuable everyone thinks he is.

Michigan State will have to fend off the likes of Michigan, Iowa, Missouri and Xavier for his services, but the Spartans’ chances to land him are high.