Michigan State football seeing benefits of Mel Tucker’s in-person recruiting

When Mel Tucker was hired last February, he was already behind in the 2021 recruiting class. The Spartans had a grand total of zero commitments and he was hired after National Signing Day, so he had his work cut out for him with an offseason of official visits to plan.

Then COVID-19 hit. The world shut down in March of 2020 and the NCAA imposed a dead period with no end in sight. Coaches would have to do all their recruiting remotely.

This was a tough adjustment for a coach who says he commits every day and expects his staff to do the same. He places a major emphasis on recruiting and has even said that if you can’t recruit at Michigan State, you probably can’t anywhere. Basically, he said that Michigan State can reel in top talent if given the right resources and opportunities with in-person recruiting.

We didn’t see the true benefits of his in-person recruiting until June of 2021 when he had official visits scheduled left and right. Recruits wanted to check out the program and new staff finally.

So far, he’s knocked in-person recruiting out of the park.

Just take a look at this stat from 247Sports’ Corey Robinson:

Five prospects from the first batch of official visits in the Tucker era have already committed to Michigan State after four-star receiver Antonio Gates Jr. made it official on Monday. It could soon be six if Alex VanSumeren verbally commits and if Ryan Baer also becomes a Spartan pledge, he’ll be yet another recruit who took an official who has committed this summer.

Tucker is clearly getting through to these young recruits.

Tucker setting up for a nice 2023 Michigan State football class

If Tucker is recruiting at this high of a level in just a couple of months of in-person work, imagine what he could do with an entire cycle of face-to-face recruiting.

Most of the top 500 prospects in the country were already committed when the dead period was lifted, but Tucker still managed to land four-stars Katin Houser and Gates Jr. and he’s in a good spot with Dillon Tatum, Baer, Jaden Mangham, and VanSumeren.

Michigan State could finish with a top 25 recruiting class and if that’s the case for 2022, I could see the 2023 group finishing in the top-20 range.

The benefits of Tucker’s in-person recruiting are clear and he’s going to build on this impressive 2022 class.