Michigan State football ‘stands out’ to key 4-star DL who’s planning spring visit

Although football and basketball have their own specific seasons during different times of the year, recruiting is a year-round sport. New Michigan State football coach Pat Fitzgerald has embraced that.

Fitzgerald was known for his “Pat signal” on social media, teasing new commitments left and right from the transfer portal earlier this offseason but things have obviously slowed down.

Michigan State has landed a couple of 2027 commitments in three-star running back Savior Owens from Ohio and three-star offensive lineman Grant Adloff from Michigan. There’s still plenty of work to do, but with spring ball approaching, 2027 class visits are going to start piling up.

Some big names will be on campus over the next month, or so, as top 2027 targets plan their spring visits, and one key target has announced that Michigan State “stands out” to him because of the program’s history of development and he’s going to be in East Lansing this spring, per On3’s Jason Killop.

The inside scoop about the visit and more quotes are behind a paywall, so you’ll have to subscribe to On3 to read everything that Killop and Lee spoke about.

The only thing that truly matters, however, is getting Lee to East Lansing. It’s always important to garner interest from top recruits and priority targets, but getting them to campus is critical. Without visiting, recruits aren’t going to pick Michigan State. This at least puts Fitzgerald and the Spartans on Lee’s radar. He did say that Michigan State stands out, so that’s a good start.

Michigan State could use a guy like Maleek Lee

If there’s one area of weakness that Michigan State hasn’t addressed effectively for years, it has to be the defensive line. The pass rush has been non-existent and the Spartans have been pushed around far too much for anyone’s liking.

That needs to change under Winston DeLattiboudere II. The new defensive line coach has work to do.

Lee would be a nice start to the 2027 class’ defensive line haul. He’s ranked as the No. 35 defensive lineman in the class, according to the composite, and he’s also the nation’s No. 309 overall recruit. Lee is from the talent-rich state of Florida, so getting him to visit is a big deal.

Fitzgerald could sell him on early playing time because the Spartans could use a ton of help in the trenches. File Lee under the “need” category.