Key 4-star Michigan State football target visiting vs. UCLA

Bad news has been plaguing Michigan State football recruiting all week, and the rotten cherry on top of the garbage sundae was Braylon Hodge decommitting and listing Michigan as a finalist on Friday.

Earlier in the week, four-star receiver Tyren Wortham decommitted and he’ll soon be on his third school during the recruiting process — Michigan State flipped him from UCF originally. Then, on Friday, Hodge, a four-star linebacker from Colorado, decided to reopen his recruitment after taking some visits over the past few weeks, including one to Michigan last weekend.

The news wasn’t all that shocking, but it put a damper on football recruiting for the foreseeable future.

Jonathan Smith has his work cut out for him if he wants to finish with a top 25 recruiting class (it was No. 27 before the decommitments), and he knows that. He has to work on winning games first.

The second-year coach is still recruiting, though, and he has his sights set on the 2027 recruiting class as he’s bringing one of his top targets in for a visit on Saturday.

Four-star defensive back Gideon Gash, the younger brother of Spartan defensive back Caleb Gash and four-star receiver commit Samson Gash, will be on campus Saturday for the UCLA game.

It’s good to see the staff still putting in major work for Gash who has yet to commit anywhere, but it feels like the Spartans are in the driver’s seat for him. He will have two brothers on the team at this point next season, and it would make sense for him to join the mix.

Gideon is a four-star and he’s ranked the No. 328 overall recruit in the 2027 class and he’s Michigan’s fifth-best prospect, according to the composite rankings.

Borderline four-star edge rusher Keysan Taylor (No. 366 nationally in 2027) and three-star athlete Josiah Pouncy are also going to be on campus for the UCLA game.

Smith has some work to do during homecoming weekend.