Shortly after Pat Fitzgerald was hired, he hit the recruiting trail and started sending out some 2027 and 2028 offers while keeping an eye on Michigan State’s 2026 class. He was tasked with keeping the group together and adding a crop of new transfers to the mix, and he did that for the most part.
The Spartans kept some key recruits in their 2026 class like Kayd Coffman, Samson Gash, and Collin Campbell. They also added 29 transfers.
Yet one of the first orders of business for Fitzgerald was identifying and offering an elite recruit in the 2028 class. He extended one of his first offers to four-star offensive tackle Carter Barrett in the 2028 class from West Des Moines, Iowa, back in January.
Since then, he’s exploded in the recruiting landscape and he’s being pursued by college football’s most prominent programs. Schools like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Indiana, Iowa, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Wisconsin are all involved for the top-150 recruit in the 2028 class.
But according to Tom Loy of 247Sports, the four-star offensive tackle from Iowa is intrigued by Michigan State’s potential under Fitzgerald. Basically, he’s just like the rest of us.
It’s still very early, but hearing that Michigan State is making the nation’s No. 134 recruit has the Spartans high on his list is a good sign that recruiting the offensive line under Nick Tabacca may be one of the staff’s strengths. That’d be nice for a change.
Barrett is also Iowa’s No. 2 prospect.
Nick Tabacca is making Michigan State fans believe
I will admit, when Rustin Young entered the transfer portal this offseason, I was really down on Michigan State’s projected offensive line. That was before offensive line coach Nick Tabacca got to work in the transfer portal and also convinced Young to withdraw his name and return to Michigan State.
That made a believer out of me. That and getting Conner Moore to come back and making sure four-star 2026 offensive tackle Collin Campbell signed had me sliding all my chips to the center of the table.
The additions of Trent Fraley, Ben Murawski, Robert Wright Jr., and Nick Sharpe were just the icing on the cake. The offensive line is looking deeper than it ever has and the newcomers are all good enough to start — two of them were named to the preseason second-team All-Big Ten by Phil Steele.
Fans were losing hope in the offensive line after years of futility under Chris Kapilovic and Jim Michalczik, but Tabacca has returned the hope. We believe again.
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