Michigan State football will get visit from 4-star QB Jake Merklinger this spring

For two straight classes, Michigan State football has landed a really good quarterback prospect. In 2022, it was four-star Katin Houser who Mel Tucker flipped from Boise State and in 2023, the Spartans flipped four-star Sam Leavitt from Washington State.

Suffice it to say, Michigan State is set at quarterback for quite some time.

And the Spartans may have found their 2024 quarterback with their sights set on a certain four-star quarterback from Georgia. Jake Merklinger is one of the best quarterbacks in the country and his interest level in Michigan State is high and it looks like he may be checking out East Lansing soon.

According to Steve Wiltfong, Merklinger has a handful of visits planned this spring, including one to Michigan State.

While Wiltfong shared a VIP article so you must be subscribed to read the details, if you look at Merklinger’s profile on 247Sports, he’s scheduled to visit the Spartans on March 18.

This is huge for Tucker and the Spartans.

Michigan State football is building a heck of a QB room

Having a current quarterback room of Payton Thorne, Katin Houser, Noah Kim, and Sam Leavitt, the Spartans have one of the deepest groups of passers in the Big Ten.

Thorne will likely be gone by the time Merklinger gets to college and my best guess is that Kim will, too, but a trio of Houser, Leavitt, and Merklinger would make for an epic quarterback battle. I think Houser will be the starter for the next couple of years but Leavitt and Merklinger battling it out once he leaves would be fun to watch.

Obviously the Spartans will have to fend off programs like North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia for the No. 61 prospect in the nation and the No. 7 quarterback, according to the composite, but if they can win that battle, they’ll be set for a while at the most important position.