Michigan State Football: Antonio Gates Jr. already raising his stock

Antonio Gates Jr. was a massive recruiting win for Mel Tucker and Michigan State football and that’s becoming more evident as the 2021 season kicked off on Thursday.

The four-star receiver led Dearborn (Mich.) Fordson past Canton on Thursday night in one of the more intriguing Week 1 matchups in Michigan high school football. And he had a monster game that garnered some attention from recruiting experts, most notably Allen Trieu.

While he was recruited as a receiver by the Spartans, he plays defensive back for Fordson and showed why he’s one of the more versatile athletes in the 2022 class.

Gates Jr. arguably had the best opening game performance of any 2022 Michigan State commit and he finished with two touchdowns and two interceptions as Fordson beat Canton 38-23.

Let’s start off by looking at what he’s going to Michigan State to do. He showed just why he’s one of the top receivers in the 2022 class with his two touchdown receptions.

On his second touchdown catch, he showed plenty of concentration as he slid to haul in a pass as he crossed the goal-line for another score.

Now onto the defense.

Gates Jr. returned this interception deep in Canton territory nearly 100 yards for a touchdown but it was called back due to a penalty during his return. He flashed some serious athleticism here.

https://twitter.com/TheD_Zone/status/1431075068541607937?s=20

The four-star commit also read this pass perfectly, cut off the route, and picked off the Canton quarterback deep in his own zone. Great instincts here.

As if those weren’t enough, he also recovered a fumble and brought it back about 35 yards to around the 50-yard line.

Not too shabby for a four-star receiver recruit.

Other Michigan State football commits shined as well

Malik Spencer, Jack Nickel, and Kristian Phillips all had huge games in their Georgia high school openers a week ago and set the tone for the 2022 class and Gates Jr. followed suit on Thursday.

Joining him with a big game was three-star commit Tyrell Henry from Roseville (Mich.) as he had two touchdowns and an interception as he led his team to a Week 1 blowout win.

The Spartans’ 2022 class is looking great thus far.