Michigan State Football: Mel Tucker’s recruiting impact being felt tremendously

Mel Tucker has made a huge impact on the Michigan State football recruiting system and is one of the many reasons fans should be excited about the future.

When Mel Tucker was brought in to coach Michigan State football, the biggest upside to him that was talked about was his recruiting skill. But in the 2021 class, it was not really felt, leading to a lot of fans turning their backs on him before he even really got a fair shot.

But now fans and the rest of the NCAA are seeing what Mel is capable of when it comes to recruiting.

Mel Tucker and Michigan State’s recruiting jump in just one year

Like I said in the 2021 class, Mel struggled a good amount when it came to raw recruiting only landing one four-star player. That player was Ma’a Gaoteote who he flipped from USC. But he also hit the transfer portal hard, landing 14 players which included six former four-stars.

He also landed the best running back in the country in Kenneth Walker III, who was not a former four-star but who doesn’t love talking about him?

Now, some will argue that the class rankings don’t matter and stars dont either. But as we have seen in the past — most recently in the Georgia vs. Michigan game — stars do matter.

In 2021, Michigan State finished with the 46th ranked class and the worst class in the Big Ten. Which after having such a poor first year and a lot of fans expecting Mel to add amazing talent because he is such a good recruiter, this class left many fans disappointed. But, as we saw this season, even when Tuck doesn’t have a strong recruiting class, he knows how to coach and get the best out of his players — as we know the Spartans finished the year 11-2, ending the season as the Peach Bowl champions.

Now with such a successful season, especially winning an NY6 bowl and beating rival Michigan, the fans who originally doubted began to love Mel and were excited to see what he had in store with the 2022 class.

Let’s just say Tuck did not disappoint.

Michigan State currently has the 17th best class in the country, which also puts them at No. 4 in the Big Ten. In this class, Tucker and the Spartans have eight four-star players. Most notably quarterback Katin Houser, athlete Dillon Tatum, defensive lineman Alex VanSumeren, athlete Jaden Mangham, receiver Antonio Gates Jr., and the most recent receiver commit Germie Bernard.

What makes Tucker any different than the other coaches in the Big Ten?

The answer to this is quite simple, he is putting MSU back on the map and is turning it into a bigger program already. He is doing this by going after a lot of guys in the southern states that you would never expect Michigan State to get or even be in the conversation with.

The most notable example is five-star offensive tackle Kiyaunta Goodwin who did not enroll or commit to Michigan State but the Spartans were a final choice for him and it was a hard decision for him to choose Kentucky over Tucker.

To add to that point, Tucker is really good at bringing in players from places like Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Mississippi, and Texas — a lot of warm states which is difficult to do because of the harsh climate you can have in Michigan. Along with that, the fact that a lot of these guys are getting offers from bigger SEC schools like Alabama, and Georgia, LSU, and Clemson makes it even more impressive.

When you see these guys on paper and look at their state rank a lot of people will say, “They can’t be that good if they were in the mid-50s and 60s in their own state rankings”. But what people don’t realize is that those states produce a ton of elite college talent and the 50th-best player from Georgia is probably in the 10-20 range or possibly even higher in Michigan or another Midwestern state.

The Michigan State football program is in good hands

Fans are still excited to see who the first five-star Tucker will land but having the 46th ranked class in 2021 and jumping all the way up to 17th in 2022 gives a lot of hope and promise to this MSU program.

So if the Spartans can keep winning and Tuck can keep being a great coach and recruiter, this program will begin to see greater heights than it has ever seen before.

Tucker and his staff have already been working into the 2023 class and have made these kids really start considering a Big Ten school next to an Alabama or Georgia. Like Elliot Washington who is a safety in the 2023 class, he is “warm” to committing to Alabama, Georgia, and Michigan State. The fact Tucker is able to have the Spartans in that same conversation speaks volumes on its own.

So keep being patient and just trust the process Spartan fans and remember, Tuck Comin’ and so is a Big Ten title.