Michigan State’s big recruiting weekend is proof Pat Fitzgerald era has juice

Pat Fitzgerald probably didn’t expect to be riding a four-game losing streak after starting his Michigan State tenure 2-0 with a couple of MAC wins, but the first-year head coach has seen his team struggle to stay healthy and they’ve run into some buzzsaws like Notre Dame and Nebraska.

The other two losses? Well, those were unacceptable. Losing by four touchdowns to Wisconsin and then in overtime to Illinois has really put a damper on the season, but that hasn’t stopped Fitzgerald from recruiting.

In fact, he’s hosting his best crop of visitors of the season for the Northwestern game.

The list of visitors is headlined by several four-stars in the 2028 class. He’s close to wrapping up the 2027 class, but his 2028 visitors list proves that his program still has plenty of juice and recruits are buying into the future.

Five four-stars and a high priority three-star headline the list of visitors for Fitzgerald and Co. this weekend.

Asa Burch is probably the biggest star of the bunch but he holds a crystal ball on 247Sports from that team down the road. He’s the No. 86 recruit in the class and 12th-best edge rusher. Burch is also the state of Ohio’s fourth-best prospect.

The other visitors aren’t too shabby either.

• Kajus Muralis (2028) — No. 286 overall, No. 27 OT
• Cartae Ligon (2028) — No. 140, No. 11 RB
• Allen Kennett (2028) — No. 180, No. 14 LB
• Jayden Stephens (2028) — No. 525, No. 36 ATH
• Austin Phillips (2029) — No. 63, No. 5 LB

That’s a pretty impressive list of visitors for a program that currently sits at 2-4 and is missing about a dozen guys for a must-win home game against Northwestern. That goes to show that the Fitzgerald era has plenty of juice and this program is going to be just fine.

If Tom Izzo believes, we should all believe.

It all starts with the 2027 portal class for Pat Fitzgerald

People are so quick to jump ship on a new head coach when he struggles during a rebuild. The current 2-4 record is not all on Fitzgerald although he will tell you that he hasn’t done a good enough job and that’s why the Spartans are sitting two games below .500. Rather, it’s a combination of a injuries, some coaching errors, and a lot of personnel deficiencies.

The previous regime didn’t do enough to really stock the cupboard for Fitzgerald and he’s been scrambling to pick up the pieces. He can’t truly be judged yet.

The judgement will come with the 2027 transfer portal class. New athletic director Dan Bartholomae vowed to back him with competitive NIL funds which with a goal of being in the top third of the conference in roster spending. That should start immediately in the portal.

While Fitzgerald did have a solid haul with guys like Cam Edwards, Trent Fraley, Tre Bell, Charles Brantley, Kenny Soares Jr., Dion Crawford, Devin Vaught, and Eli Coenen, among others, in the portal this past offseason, he needs to one-up himself in 2027.

We’ll soon see if this recruiting “juice” can translate to commitments and then wins.

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