Pat Fitzgerald has his work cut out for him in East Lansing. You could tell at his introductory Michigan State football press conference on Tuesday afternoon that he was getting a little antsy about getting to work, stating that he has plenty of phone calls to make before Wednesday's signing day and he still has current players to meet with.
Unfortunately, he's going to have some extra work to do as more Spartan recruits make their decisions public about whether or not they're going to sign with Michigan State.
A handful have already stated that they're going to be sticking with Fitzgerald and Michigan State on Wednesday, including Joey Caudill, Eddie Whiting, Eli Bickel, Brayden Thomas, Kayd Coffman, and Adam Shaw. These guys have all reaffirmed their commitments to Michigan State, and they all plan on signing Wednesday to the new coach.
Another prospect announced on Monday that he, too, would be sticking with Michigan State, reaffirming his previous commitment to Jonathan Smith. That was three-star defensive lineman Christopher Knauls Jr.
On Tuesday, he retracted that reaffirmation and announced his decommitment.
After careful consideration! I will not be singing early tomorrow to Michigan State. I will be decommitting and reopening my recruitment 100%. Thank you.
— Christoper Knauls Jr (@ChrisKnaulsJR) December 2, 2025
This is a tough loss for Fitzgerald and the Spartans considering he was originally expecting Knauls to sign as he previously stated, but he must have gotten a different vibe than the one he was looking for after talking to the new Michigan State head coach.
Knauls isn't the highest-rated recruit in the class, but his offer sheet doesn't exactly reflect his ranking. He's just barely inside the top-1,500 nationally, but he holds offers from the likes of Indiana, Houston, Colorado, Boise State, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech, and Utah. This is one of those offer sheets that shows that the prospect is better than the ranking.
However, it doesn't look like that prospect will end up in East Lansing after all as he decommitted on Tuesday afternoon during Fitzgerald's press conference. Interesting timing, to say the least.
Michigan State's 2026 recruiting class is still ranked in the top 40 nationally and it'll take some last-minute efforts from Fitzgerald to get it into the top 40 come February's National Signing Day.
I'm excited to see what the 51-year-old coach can do.