Michigan State football’s 2021 recruiting class rating moves into top 25

Michigan State football’s 2021 recruiting class is one of the best in the Big Ten, ranked No. 23 in average star rating and fifth-best in the conference.

Recruiting hasn’t been a strong suit for Michigan State in a few years, dating back to that disastrous 2016 season but the Spartans always seem to land enough talent to make the Big Ten title race interesting.

No one has been thoroughly impressed with the Spartans’ recruiting over the past few years, however, and Mark Dantonio knew that.

Mel Tucker had his work cut out for him, inheriting a program after National Signing Day and with a 2021 class that had zero commitments. Making a splash on the recruiting trail after a couple of mediocre seasons wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

Even after a couple of seven-win seasons and a coaching staff change, Michigan State seems to be picking up some momentum on the recruiting trail under Tucker, landing a three-star safety from Louisiana last week (Jah’von Grigsby) and four-star running back from New Jersey (Audric Estime) on Sunday.

This was shortly after picking up a pledge from four-star New Jersey offensive lineman Geno VanDeMark and three-star Tennessee defensive end Alex Okelo in the month of August to push the class to 15 pledges.

With this recent string of commitments, Michigan State’s 2021 class went from the bottom of the Big Ten to the middle and the average star rating went from pedestrian to No. 5 in the conference and No. 23 in the entire nation.

Rivals and 247Sports have much different rankings as there are three four-stars committed to the Spartans according to the former and they are much higher in the national ranks.

Average star rating before the class is all over is important because some teams have a higher overall ranking thanks to commitments from 20-plus players already while having less pledges at this point almost automatically ranks you lower.

If Michigan State continues to recruit at this high level for the remainder of the class, it’ll end up in the top 25 range.

That would be one heck of a win for Tucker and Co. in year one.