Michigan State Basketball: Jaxon Kohler is going to be a fan favorite

Michigan State basketball fans have become spoiled over the years in terms of post players as they’ve had the likes of Nick Ward, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Xavier Tillman cycle through East Lansing on their way to the next level.

Currently, Marcus Bingham Jr. looks poised to have a big senior year with the Spartans and there are high hopes for Mady Sissoko at center as well.

Tom Izzo added another post presence that will soon become a fan favorite like some of the others mentioned above as four-star power forward Jaxon Kohler from Utah committed to Michigan State on Sunday evening.

Kohler becomes the Spartans’ second commitment in the 2022 class, joining four-star point guard Tre Holloman from Minnesota.

Izzo offered Kohler at the beginning of September as he saw some other top targets head elsewhere like Tarris Reed to Michigan and Isaac Traudt to Virginia; he ramped up his recruitment of the Utah big man. It didn’t take Kohler long to plan a trip to East Lansing and he committed just one week later.

Kohler is ranked the No. 67 overall player in the 2022 class and 11th-best power forward, according to the composite — 247Sports has him ranked as the No. 62 prospect. He held offers from Iowa, Oklahoma, USC, Illinois, and Kansas, among nearly a dozen others.

Kohler will be a Michigan State basketball fan favorite

When you look at what kind of tools are needed to become a great post player, Kohler has just about every single one of them. He’s instinctive, he’s aggressive, he has soft touch around the rim, he has a good repertoire of moves, he has a turnaround game, and he isn’t afraid to play defense.

While he’s not the best athlete ever, Michigan State got a kid who is big on the fundamentals and who can stretch the defense.

How can you watch his highlights and not be a fan of his game? He’s not going to be like Adreian Payne or Jackson Jr. with freakish athleticism, but he’s going to work just as hard as those guys and his aggression is going to make the rest of the Big Ten hate him.

Michigan State landed a future fan favorite on Sunday and Izzo has to be elated.