Michigan State Football: Losing Jamari Buddin to Penn State is painful

On Friday afternoon, four-star Belleville linebacker chose Penn State over Michigan State football and it was painful to hear.

Painful. Unacceptable. Heartbreaking. Losing Jamari Budding to Penn State holds all three of those characteristics, and then some.

Right in the Spartans’ own backyard was Buddin who attends a high school that is a constant pipeline for Michigan State — or has been for years. The Spartans have landed some talented guys like Davion Williams, Julian Barnett and Devontae Dobbs from Belleville and the staff was attempting to make Buddin next.

Mark Dantonio and the old staff didn’t recruit the state of Michigan well over the past couple of classes and Buddin wasn’t even on the radar. Then Mel Tucker took over and that changed.

Tucker made Buddin a priority right away and the Spartans went from an afterthought for Buddin to one of his top four teams and many felt like, at one point in time, a top-two favorite.

When he picked Penn State on Friday afternoon, it was a gut-punch to the Spartans’ 2021 class and that feeling may not go away any time soon.

Mel Tucker’s recruiting won’t stop here

This is the second four-star in-state recruit that Tucker and his staff have lost to Penn State in the 2021 class, following Detroit King’s Jaylen Reed.

Like Reed, Buddin likely won’t be done hearing from Michigan State. The new head coach and his staff are almost always on the recruiting trail and even thought Buddin committed to Penn State officially, it’s not over until the pen hits the paper on National Signing Day.

Michigan State could use Buddin more as their class isn’t as highly-touted nor do the Spartans have the depth of the Nittany Lions.

While this loss to Penn State on the recruiting trail hurts, the No. 305 recruit in the nation isn’t off the Spartans’ big board just yet.