Michigan State football preparing to host Michigan’s No. 1 TE in the 2028 class

Michigan State is entering its final week of fall camp and Pat Fitzgerald and the Spartans are fired up for what should be an exciting first season at the helm.

This season is important for a variety of reasons.

One, it’s Fitzgerald’s first opportunity to prove himself after being exiled from Northwestern and college football for three years. Two, it’s a chance to build some momentum to kick off a new era and prove to the rest of college football that something special is being built in East Lansing. And three, it’s an opportunity to build toward the future by impressing recruits.

That third and final reason is already going to be in play early in the 2026 season as recruits come to East Lansing for visits and the No. 1 tight end in the state of Michigan will be at Spartan Stadium in less than a month.

Three-star 2028 tight end AJ Henley planned an unofficial visit tour for the fall and he’s going to be at Michigan State on Sept. 12, just one week after kicking things off with the reigning national champs.

Henley will also visit Toledo (Sept. 19), Purdue (Sept. 26), Iowa State (Oct. 3), Michigan (Oct. 17), Minnesota (Oct. 24), and Washington (Nov. 7) this fall, wrapping up what is an impressive slate of visits for a junior prospect.

This almost looks like an official visit schedule for a four-star recruit (minus maybe Toledo), but this just shows that Henley is going to be a tough prospect to reel in. That’d be a great week to have a blowout win over Eastern Michigan.

Henley is the No. 783 prospect in the 2028 class and the 38th-best tight end.

Pat Fitzgerald has his sights set on the TE room

A few years ago, Jay Johnson talked about how he wanted the tight end room to star on offense. He was all talk and never really got that to come to fruition. Then, Jonathan Smith (an offensive mind) was bringing an elite tight end to East Lansing with him, but it felt like Jack Velling and Aidan Chiles were never on the same page.

Now, Fitzgerald has been making strides to improve the tight end room and make it a focal point on offense — at least more so than the last two coaching staffs.

Although Henley doesn’t hold an offer from Michigan State yet, according to 247Sports, Fitzgerald has at least piqued his interest enough to lock in an unofficial visit. Henley is spending his own money to visit a program that he hasn’t been offered by yet. That’s a great sign for this coaching staff. It shows that in-state recruits really like what they’re seeing from Fitzgerald and Co. so far.

Henley would be a great addition to a young room that’s looking to really flourish in this new era. Jayden Savoury is already looking to spearhead the room along with do-everything H-back-type Carson Gulker and veteran Brennan Parachek.

The future is bright at tight end — finally.

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