It’s not even official visit season yet and Michigan State football coach Pat Fitzgerald is already landing some of his top targets in the 2027 class.
Michigan State had landed three commitments since the beginning of March from three-star offensive tackle Jack Carlson, three-star quarterback Eli Stumpf, and three-star safety Ty’ire Clark, expanding the class to five.
On Friday evening, the Spartans landed their highest-ranked commit of the 2027 cycle so far. Four-star defensive lineman Ohimai Ozolua committed to Michigan State over offers from the likes of Illinois, Michigan, Miami, Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. He had quite the offer sheet before going green.
After watching his highlights, Ozolua looks massive and just overpowers opposing offensive linemen. I’d like to see him get off the snap a little quicker, but that’s something that I’d expect him to work on with new defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere II who, in my opinion, deserves a ton of credit for landing the four-star from Chicago.
Ozolua is ranked the No. 408 overall recruit and 49th-best defensive lineman in the 2027 class, per 247Sports. His 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame makes me think he’ll play on the edge, but bulking him up could allow him to play more on the interior.
Coaches have to love landing versatile players and that’s exactly what Ozolua is. He’s going to be able to play anywhere along that defensive line — and play at a high level.
Michigan State has needed DL help for years
When was the last time that you can remember a Michigan State defensive line playing a dominant form of football? You’d probably have to go all the way back to the Mark Dantonio era when he was featuring elite defenses year in and year out. Since then, it’s been a graveyard for defensive linemen.
Adding Ozolua is a great start, but DeLattiboudere is going to need to leave his mark on the program with elite additions each cycle. The first recruiting win for DeLattiboudere is a good one, proving that he can out-recruit programs like Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Miami, and Tennessee for one of the top defensive linemen recruits in the nation.
Unfortunately, the Spartans must wait a year for him.
The focus is on this year’s team and I’m just not sure that it has enough juice to provide a consistent pass rush. Losing Alex VanSumeren and Jalen Thompson is going to hurt, but seeing guys like Kenny Soares Jr. and Derrick Simmons break out this spring should provide some hope.
Like I said, this is a good start, but it’s not going to fix anything right away, especially since we may not really see Ozolua take the field for another two years — it’s tough to crack the defensive line rotation as a true freshman.
I do appreciate Fitzgerald’s focus on the defensive side of the ball and I think DaLattiboudere is already proving to be a really good hire.
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