Elite 4-star ATH moves Ohio State visit to make room for Michigan State trip

Pat Fitzgerald pulled a couple of rabbits out of his hat over the past 24 hours and Michigan State fans couldn’t be happier about the work he’s been putting in with the 2027 class.

On Friday night, just hours before his visit, four-star in-state athlete Gideon Gash was revealed as a surprise official visitor for Michigan State. He was trending away from the Spartans in the months before this visit even though his brothers are on the team. Now Gash will be taking the trip to East Lansing before checking out Texas Tech, Alabama, and Oklahoma.

There was another surprise four-star visitor announced on Thursday night, less than 24 hours before the weekend kicked off.

Justin Thind of 247Sports reported that Michigan State would be hosting composite four-star Massillon, Ohio, athlete Deontay Malone this weekend. He was the 14th confirmed visitor for the Spartans ahead of a huge weekend and Gash became No. 15.

Malone is a rather new name on the radar for Michigan State fans. He was offered by Jonathan Smith and the old staff back in September and he was supposed to be visiting Ohio State this weekend, but Fitzgerald was able to work his magic and get Malone on campus instead of him visiting the home-state Buckeyes.

You don’t often hear about recruits postponing Ohio State trips to make the trek north to check out Michigan State, but Fitzgerald has the juice.

According to his 247Sports profile, he’ll now be visiting Ohio State on June 12.

Fitzgerald would love nothing more than to lock up a commitment from the No. 303 overall recruit in the 2027 class this weekend and beat Ohio State for a top prospect from its own backyard.

Michigan State is the only “warm” team on 247Sports

If you follow recruiting, you know that 247Sports has a pretty cool feature that gauges recruits’ interest level in the Spartans. The levels are none, cool, warm, warmer, and favorite. You don’t often see the last one unless an uncommitted recruit has made it very obvious who his top school is.

For Malone, Michigan State rose to that “warm” status while Ohio State remains “cool”.

Take it with a grain of salt because sometimes those aren’t updated but I’m assuming that was changed after he locked in a visit with the Spartans. Ohio State still has to be considered a top contender for him, but Michigan State looks like the school that is going to give the Buckeyes a run for their money.

Malone also holds offers from Auburn, Michigan, North Carolina, Pitt, and West Virginia.

With his 5-foot-11, 170-pound frame, I’m going to say he probably projects more as a slot receiver or a cornerback at the next level. Michigan State could be on commit watch here.

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