Pat Fitzgerald just wrapped up his first month of summer official visits as Michigan State’s head coach and he grew a class that was in the single-digits to 15 with more on the way in the near future.
Now that recruiting has settled down for the time being, the new coaching staff can start to really dive into the roster and sort out what the depth chart might look like after spring ball — not that they haven’t already been doing that, but the month of July is usually quiet on the recruiting front.
Fitzgerald can also consider who his first set of captains might be.
If Michigan State’s representatives at Big Ten Media Days are any indication of who we should expect to be captains, I think the first-year coach got it right.
According to Michigan State’s official Twitter, Jordan Hall, Alessio Milivojevic, and Nikai Martinez will be representing Michigan State at the end of July in Chicago. They’ll obviously be joined by their head coach, but these three are the perfect Michigan State representatives and all have had interesting roads to where they are now.
How each Big Ten Media Days representative got here
We all know how Fitzgerald got to where he is today. He was a legendary coach at Northwestern who often drew the attention of the NFL and an alleged incident forced him out of his job. Now, he’s leading an FBS team for the first time in three years.
Hall was a four-star linebacker in the 2023 class out of IMG Academy and he was a prized recruit during the Mel Tucker era, but his head coach was dismissed less than a month into his freshman year. Instead of doing the easy thing and transferring, Hall stuck around and is now going to be a captain again while also being a legit first-team All-Big Ten-caliber linebacker as a senior.
Milivojevic was an overlooked three-star quarterback from Illinois who had originally committed to Ball State, but Jonathan Smith got him to flip right before signing day. He backed up Aidan Chiles for 1.5 years and then took over at the end of the 2025 season. As the returning QB1, he looks to have a ton of potential after a promising end to 2025.
Lastly, Nikai Martinez’s 2025 season was marred by injuries and now the UCF transfer is back to try and help the defense return to glory. He’s the leader of the defensive backfield, and when he’s healthy, there aren’t many safeties better in the Big Ten.
These are some really good leaders for Michigan State football.
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