Michigan State football locks in official visit with highly-coveted Florida RB

Pat Fitzgerald and Michigan State football have been locking in some important official visits over the past couple of weeks with some in-state targets, and it's clear that the Mark Dantonio blueprint is being followed.

Focusing on the Midwest in recruiting, especially the state of Michigan, is what helped Dantonio build that tough, winning culture. He was landing guys from the Midwest who may have been overlooked, and who turned out to be All-Americans and long-time NFL players. Fitzgerald seems to be focusing on the same recruiting grounds, but we'll see just how he does with those players.

Like Dantonio, Fitzgerald is also reaching into other recruiting hotbeds like Georgia and Florida. Plucking a few talented players from SEC territory every cycle can't hurt, and that's how Dantonio ended up with a guy like Darqueze Dennard who became a first-round pick.

Fitzgerald is zeroing in on one potentially undervalued SEC territory recruit who's being pursued by several big-time programs yet he doesn't have a recruiting ranking.

Caleb Mattison, an unranked running back from Florida, has locked in an official visit with MSU.

Kicking off the Fitzgerald era in the first batch of 2027 class official visits, Mattison will get to finally meet the new staff who offered him a few short weeks ago.

Although Mattison is not yet ranked via any recruiting database for 2027, he has been offered by Alabama, USC, Tennessee, Iowa, Washington, Pitt, Georgia Tech, UCF, Wake Forest, and SMU, among several others, according to On3. He should see a decent first ranking whenever they're updated.

Michigan State is building a special backfield

If there's one position group that doesn't cause me much stress regarding the future, it's the running backs. Michigan State's running back room is loaded from top to bottom, and Fitzgerald has already addressed that position in the 2027 class.

But he's not content. He wants an elite run game.

Brandon Tullis, Jace Clarizio, and Zion Gist all return from last year's team and while there's not exactly a ton of production between the three of them, Fitzgerald made sure to address the backfield in the transfer portal with Cam Edwards, Kenneth Williams (return specialist), Marvis Parrish, and Jaziun Patterson. All four of those guys will have major impacts.

Then there's Savior Owens already committed in 2027, so why not add a little explosiveness with Mattison? A nice 1-2 punch in 2027 would be more than welcomed.

This backfield could get Michigan State back to the good old days.