Michigan State Football: Recruiting focus on offensive line is refreshing

Mel Tucker isn’t messing around.

For years, Michigan State football fell short in the offensive line department and that was all based on poor recruiting as well as not focusing on arguably the most important position group (outside of quarterback) on the offensive side of the ball.

Tucker and Chris Kapilovic are changing that.

After landing Braden Miller (a 6-foot-7, 290-pound tackle from Colorado) earlier this week, the Spartans’ 2022 recruiting class grew to seven, and four of those commits happen to be on the offensive line.

Miller joins Ashton Lepo, Gavin Broscious, and Kristian Phillips as the big guys in the 2022 trenches and the Spartans may not be done yet. Combine this with the incoming 2021 class of Geno VanDeMark, Kevin Wigenton, Ethan Boyd, Brandon Baldwin (a JUCO All-American), and Arkansas State transfer Jarrett Horst and you have a monster group.

Just look at how many behemoths Tucker has landed since he’s been in town.

Nine offensive line additions in the span of two classes. Not too shabby for a coach who took over a lackluster group that was essentially coached into the ground.

This is refreshing to see from the new coaching staff. Putting an emphasis, to say the least, on the clear weakness on the offensive side of the ball just shows that they’re willing to stack talent in order to turn it around in a hurry.

Michigan State football has one of the best OL coaches in the nation

Kapilovic was brought on last offseason and he immediately became one of Tucker’s best hires. He was considered one of the best in the business, working his way up the career ladder. He went from Alabama State, to Missouri State, to North Carolina, to Colorado (with Tucker).

And now he’s at arguably his best stop to date with a chance to recruit at the highest level and get the guys who he believes will help the turnaround.

This first group in the 2021 class, including Horst, will be a good start, and the 2022 group is only going to add quality depth with some underrated guys. Plus, all of them are monsters in terms of size with heights ranging from 6-foot-5 to 6-foot-7, and most guys in the 290-320-pound range.

The offensive line is going to soon be a strength.