Now that the NBA draft deadline is behind us, Michigan State fans can step off the ledge and take in what should be an eventful month of official visits.
Pat Fitzgerald and the football program will be hosting several four-star recruits to kick off the first week of summer officials and there were supposed to be two more on campus. Unfortunately, some visits have been cancelled and Michigan State is now out of the running for both.
Four-star in-state defensive end target Myles Smith revealed a top five on Wednesday and announced that he’d be committing less than 24 hours later. Michigan State originally had a visit scheduled with him for May 29, but he cancelled that and swapped the Spartans for Oklahoma. He may not even make that trip, though, if he commits elsewhere on May 28.
The other cancelled visit that flew under the radar a bit was four-star defensive lineman Marvin Nguetsop from Oakdale, Conn. He was also supposed to be visiting on May 29 but he, too, cancelled that trip shortly after naming his top schools. Nguetsop is the No. 223 recruit in the class.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, Michigan is in both top fives.
The Spartans swung for the fences on a couple of top 2027 defensive linemen and missed after garnering enough mutual interest to schedule a visit. Once the staff starts winning games and producing NFL talent, that’s not going to happen as much. This is just another recruitment that proves that Fitzgerald has an uphill battle on his hands.
Pat Fitzgerald is going to have plenty of early misses
Losing visits from two big-time defensive linemen definitely hurts, but that’s to be expected for a first-year head coach who’s taking over a program that hasn’t sniffed a bowl game since 2021.
Michigan State just isn’t an easy sell right now on the football field, and that’s something that Fitzgerald is going to have to immediately change. He can’t afford to miss a bowl game in his first season even though that’s what Vegas is predicting. Fitz has to win at least six games and he can start really selling the idea of a College Football Playoff run.
It’s going to take some time, but with the resources at his disposal and the young, energetic staff behind him, Fitzgerald is going to land top-25 classes regularly before we know it. Book it.
Add us as a preferred source on Google