Michigan State Basketball: Jaden Akins rises in updated 247Sports rankings

The latest 247Sports rankings have hit the internet and Michigan State basketball fans will be happy to know Jaden Akins is on the rise.

It’s the end of the summer and recruiting analysts are piecing together final rankings before the school year and potential 2020-21 basketball season. It’s that point in the offseason when recruiting becomes paramount and it captured headlines on Wednesday.

The 247Sports‘ updated rankings were released and a couple of 2021 Spartan commits were on the move.

Only three players are currently committed to the 2021 class right now (pending reclassifications of Emoni Bates and Enoch Boakye). Pierre Brooks, Jaden Akins and Max Christie were all listed in the top 100 on Wednesday and two of those guys were on the move.

Brooks, who happened to be the Spartans’ first commit, dropped one spot in the 247Sports rankings from No. 79 to No. 80 and he’s still No. 69 in the composite. He is, however, no longer the top ranked player from the state of Michigan as that honor goes to Kobe Bufkin. Christie, the second 2021 commit, stayed at No. 12 in the rankings as MSU’s lone five-star pledge.

Akins, who committed just a few weeks ago, was the lone Spartan commit who rose in the rankings, going from No. 89 to No. 83, one spot behind Michigan’s Isaiah Barnes who dropped a spot.

While it’s not the biggest rise or the one that we all expected to see based on his film and elite skillset, it’s a start and he could still rise even more before the 2021 class is all sewn up.

Akins is still a composite top 70 player and the No. 2 player in the state of Michigan and the Spartans’ class has the potential to be No. 1 in the country in Bates and Boakye reclassify.