Jonathan Smith has had a good couple of weeks with Michigan State football.
The second-year head coach hosted his second official visit weekend of the summer and it was a roaring success (again). While he's not exactly aiming for the stars (literally), he is hosting guys who he feels would be a good fit for the program as well as his system, regardless of rating.
The official visitor list for weekend No. 2 wasn't exactly loaded, but, like I said, these were guys who Smith felt were good fits and he even landed a few of them.
In fact, three more recruits committed to Michigan State after another official visit weekend. Three-star cornerback KJ Deriso committed followed by three-star safety Eliyjah Caldwell-Hardy and three-star defensive tackle Christopher Knauls. It was a good weekend that followed up the initial official visit slate which yielded commitments from three-star linebacker Braylon Hodge and three-star safety Brayden Thomas.
Five commitments over the span of two weeks have done wonders for fan excitement even though these aren't the four and five-stars that Mel Tucker was swinging for the fences with just a few short years ago. These are more attainable targets considering the state of the program.
Before official visits commenced, Michigan State was ranked in the 60-70 range nationally, but after this recent string of commitments, the Spartans have finally vaulted into the top 50.
No, that's not exactly something to be excited about because we should expect top 25 classes at Michigan State, but it's a step in the right direction. We have to remember that Smith has had just one season to prove himself which didn't exactly positively affect recruiting. If he can coach Michigan State to 7-8 wins in year two, we could see him flirting with top 25 classes moving forward.
We'll take this baby step, but we need to start expecting more.