Michigan State father of priority 4-star TE target on its side

Pat Fitzgerald could use all the help he can get on the recruiting trail in this first full cycle as Michigan State’s head coach. He’s taking over a program that hasn’t even sniffed a bowl game in five years and that hasn’t exactly produced elite talent lately.

Selling this “sleeping giant” to top recruits is not an easy task but Fitzgerald has been doing a pretty good job so far. The results are still up in the air, but that’s only because we haven’t even started official visit season yet. The first wave of visitors gets to campus next Friday and that includes a priority four-star tight end.

The four-star also happens to be a legacy recruit.

Anthony Cartwright — whose dad played for Michigan State basketball decades ago — will be in East Lansing on May 29 for his official visit before visiting Miami and Oregon in the weeks following. He will also make his college decision on June 28 right after his official visits conclude. He only has three scheduled right now, but Michigan and Alabama will be pushing for one.

Those are some big-time programs in the mix for the four-star tight end from Detroit Country Day but Michigan State has one distinct advantage: Cartwright knows that his dad wants him to play in East Lansing.

Like every good dad, Cartwright’s father, Tony, has backed off on giving a biased take on where he should go to school, but his son appreciates that. Whenever parents try to intervene too much in a kid’s college decision, it ends up backfiring for the parent. Fortunately for Fitzgerald, Tony isn’t pushing for Michigan State openly to drive his son away from East Lansing.

This is a bigger advantage than people may realize.

Cartwright is ranked the No. 21 tight end in the 2027 class as well as the No. 395 overall recruit. He’s been on Fitzgerald’s radar ever since he was hired back in the winter.

Is Pat Fitzgerald a closer?

Fitzgerald has now gotten his foot in the door with several top in-state recruits as well as some four-stars from around the country. But is he a closer? He can clearly open and garner some interest from top targets, but can he impress them enough to make them commit?

We’re about to find out over the next month. I’ll give him a grace period since the program was in such a dark place after Jonathan Smith, but he has to land a few of these priority four-star targets over the next month to really make me believe in him as a recruiter — especially when the recruit is a legacy.

Fitzgerald did close on Samson Gash in the 2025 class and got some key players to return, so I don’t doubt that he has the “closer” gene, but he needs to flex it over the next month.

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