A 2025 Michigan State football commit has been upgraded to 4-star status

Although it's not exactly star-studded, Michigan State football's 2025 recruiting class has some guys in it that could legitimately turn the program around as 3-4 year players.

It feels like we're going back to the days of Mark Dantonio where he'd secure commitments from underrated Midwestern prospects and develop them into stars. He's doing just that in the 2025 class as the Spartans currently have four of the state's top 12 prospects committed and six of the top 17 in Michigan.

One of those top-12 prospects is defensive lineman Derrick Simmons from Frankenmuth. He committed back in June as a three-star and a top-500 recruit but he's getting more respect now.

According to a recent update in the 247Sports rankings, Simmons is now a four-star prospect who is ranked in the top 250 nationally.

Simmons just snuck into that Top247 ranking as the No. 245 overall prospect and the No. 29 defensive lineman. And potentially even more impressive than his national ranking is the fact that he's listed as the No. 3 prospect in the state of Michigan behind only five-star LSU quarterback commit Bryce Underwood and four-star Pitt safety commit Elijah Dotson.

Among all the Michigan schools, Michigan State has the top-ranked prospect from the state committed. That's right, that school from Ann Arbor's highest-rated in-state commit is Avery Gach at No. 4 in the state.

The other Spartan pledges in the top 12 in the state are Di'Mari Malone (No. 10), Jace Clarizio (No. 11), and Charles White (No. 12). Bryson Williams (No. 16) and Jayden Savoury (No. 17) also make the top 20.

Like I said, this class isn't exactly star-studded, but it's taking shape nicely.

Simmons looks to be a budding star leading the way.