Michigan State football makes top 10 for 5-star 2024 CB Jaylen Mbakwe

Michigan State football has made the cut for five-star 2024 cornerback Jaylen Mbakwe from Alabama. Will the Spartans be able to steal him from the SEC?

Mel Tucker has Michigan State football in recruiting battles that it would never have been in about 5-6 years ago.

In fact, he’s had a handful of five-star prospects schedule official visits over the past few weeks and every weekend is jam-packed with blue-chip prospects taking trips to East Lansing.

While the 2023 class is currently the priority, Tucker has his eye on the 2024 class and he’s been putting in the work with some of the best prospects in the entire country. One of those prospects is five-star cornerback Jaylen Mbakwe from Alabama.

On Monday night, Mbakwe released his early top 10 and Michigan State made the cut.

The five-star prospect from SEC country also listed Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Florida State, and Louisville in his top 10. Yes, Michigan State is the lone Big Ten team to make the cut for him which is impressive given the fact that he also holds offers from Michigan and Nebraska — his sheet is approaching 30 offers.

Michigan State has a tall task ahead of it if it wants to land Mbakwe over five SEC programs, two ACC programs, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame.

Poaching a five-star kid from Alabama’s backyard is nearly impossible.

But if anyone can do it, I have faith that it’s Tucker. He’s proven to be one of the better recruiters in college football and has turned Michigan State into a prime destination for blue-chippers.

Mbakwe is ranked the No. 22 overall recruit and third-best cornerback in the class, per the composite, but 247Sports is even higher on him, ranking him No. 8 nationally.