Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald is feeling the importance of Midwest recruiting just five months into his tenure, and he’s not messing around with the 2027 class.
After landing a four-star from Chicago earlier this week, Fitzgerald locked in a massive official visit with arguably the top in-state target in the 2027 class on Saturday.
According to Rivals’ Allen Trieu, Michigan State will be getting the first official visit on four-star defensive end Myles Smith’s schedule this summer. He will be in East Lansing on May 29 for his first official before taking trips to Missouri, Kentucky, and Michigan to end the month of June. Those are seemingly his top schools right now.
Fitzgerald has to like where he stands with Smith heading into these official visits, but I would argue that it’s more important to get the final visit than the first one — although every recruitment is different.
Smith is a guy that’s been on the radar for about a year now as Jonathan Smith took a look at him and Fitzgerald has carried that interest in the four-star defensive end over. The new staff has loved what they’ve seen from Smith and I just know that Winston DeLattiboudere II is pushing hard to add the talented defensive end to a thinned out defensive line that could use some help.
I’m not sure what the recruiting pitch is, but I’m just going to assume that early playing time is being discussed at Michigan State more than the other programs on his list.
Michigan State has a lot of playing time to offer Myles Smith
Not many programs could offer a legitimate spot on the two-deep right away, but Smith would see that opportunity if he were to pick the Spartans.
Michigan State has had one of the worst defensive lines in the Big Ten for years, and after losing Jalen Thompson and Alex VanSumeren, I doubt that gets a whole lot better in 2026.
However, DeLattiboudere II has proven to have some juice, landing a four-star defensive lineman in the 2027 class already on Friday and locking in a visit with the No. 245 overall recruit and seventh-best prospect from the state of Michigan. I would not be shocked to see DeLattiboudere and Fitzgerald win a second straight recruiting battle for a four-star defensive lineman.
Early playing time, proximity to home, and playing for a defensive line coach with recent NFL coaching experience would have to be huge selling points for Smith.
Holding off Michigan here would be huge for in-state recruiting.
And in-state recruiting leads to sustained coaching success at MSU.
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