Three weeks ago, Michigan State football fans were ready to march to Jonathan Smith's office with pitchforks and torches and demand that he do something -- anything -- on the recruiting trail.
The second-year head coach signed an underwhelming class in 2025 but it had some gems, but his 2026 group had gotten off to a molasses-esque start, sitting somewhere near the bottom of the Big Ten and around 70th nationally. All it took was official visit season to commence for him to catch fire, however.
What a difference a couple of weeks make.
Smith went from having four commits to now having 15 and his class has catapulted into the top 25 nationally with another two official visit weekends left. There's a strong chance he flirts with the top 20 before July begins.
Over Father's Day weekend, he remained red-hot, landing a couple more pledges, highlighted by a flip from an ACC program.
@MSU_Football #GoGreen #GoWhite pic.twitter.com/IosJqL9buO
— Jordan Vann 3⭐️ (@Jordan_Vann_) June 15, 2025
Vann, a Virginia commit, visited Michigan State on June 13 and apparently liked what he saw enough to flip from the Cavaliers (where he'd been committed since February) to the Spartans. He also recently visited Purdue after receiving an offer from the Boilermakers in May. He was also one week removed from his Virginia visit before he went to see Michigan State.
Smith offered Vann back in February, three weeks after he committed to Virginia, and the second-year head coach remained persistent and pulled off the flip on June 15.
Vann is ranked the No. 87 safety in the 2026 class, per 247Sports, and the Middletown, Ohio, native also held offers from Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky -- essentially all the blue bloods of basketball. He helped the Spartans jump into the top 25 in 2026 team recruiting rankings.