It's been a rough couple of weeks for Michigan State football. Jonathan Smith has seen his promising first season as head coach come to a grinding halt after losing two straight games.
On top of that, he's in danger of losing one of his top recruits to the SEC.
In fact, three-star running back Jace Clarizio -- who has been committed since May -- just received an offer from Kalen DeBoer and Alabama. That's right, DeBoer is not done giving Michigan State fans nightmares after beating the Spartans twice while at Washington and he helped develop Michael Penix Jr. who also dominated them throughout his career.
Not only did Clarizio get an offer from the Tide, but he's also planning on visiting on Nov. 16.
𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: Michigan State RB commit Jace Clarizio will visit #Alabama on November 16 for the Mercer game, per @SWiltfong_
— Recruits Bama (@RecruitsBama) November 7, 2024
The #32 RB was offered by the Crimson Tide earlier this week. He has been committed to the Spartans since May. pic.twitter.com/BEh0H1xy5W
Well, that's not good.
Clarizio is the No. 485 overall recruit and 37th-best running back in the class, per the 247Sports Composite, and he's obviously going to take this offer seriously. While he wanted to stay home and play for Michigan State, it's not every day that you're offered by Alabama and it's truly difficult to turn down playing for the Crimson Tide, especially if you want to play in the NFL one day.
So you can't really blame Clarizio for entertaining this, but this is really bad news for the Spartans because he was one of the fastest-rising kids in the 2025 class. And he was expected to be the future in the backfield which would be a cool story since he's from East Lansing.
Smith and Co. are in serious danger of losing Clarizio to the Crimson Tide, but hopefully the first-year Spartan head coach can make his case.