Michigan State football: Will Mel Tucker land first 5-star in 2024 class?

Each recruiting cycle, there are about 30-35 five-star recruits for programs to fight over. Michigan State football, however, hasn’t landed one since Malik McDowell in 2014.

Mel Tucker has also yet to land a five-star recruit since becoming a head coach in 2019 and even though he’s been close a few times since taking over in East Lansing, he’s still batting .000 in that department.

Samson Okunlola, Jayden Wayne, Kiyaunta Goodwin, David Hicks. All of these guys were high on the Spartans at one point or another and they each decided to go with other programs with potentially bigger NIL deals or more promises from head coaches elsewhere.

But is Tucker just going to constantly be No. 2 in the race for five-star recruits or will he eventually win out on one of these recruiting battles?

Could Michigan State football land a five-star in 2024?

It’s honestly tough to say when Michigan State could land a five-star recruit for the first time under Tucker, but 2024 looks like a really good opportunity.

I thought that 2023 would be it because Hicks, Wayne, and Okunlola all really liked the Spartans and had them in their top group, but 2024 just feels like it could be different.

The other day, Michigan State received a couple of crystal balls for five-star defensive lineman David Stone who just released a top 10 list and he’s good friends with 2023 signee Bai Jobe. He also seems to be high on the Spartans because he dressed as a “D1 commit” for Halloween while donning MSU apparel and his Twitter picture is him in a Michigan State uniform on a visit.

Stone feels like a good pick to be the first five-star in the Tucker era.

There’s also a guy like TJ Capers, a five-star edge rusher from Miami who has been really high on the Spartans. KJ Bolden, a five-star safety from Georgia, also took a visit to Michigan State in August and loved what he saw. These three guys are the best options, but we could also see Nick Marsh rise in the recruiting rankings close to five-star status.

I think 2024 will be the year Tucker finally lands one and that’s because I like his chances with Stone. His recruiting classes get better every year and I think 2024 will be top 20, at least.