If you’ve been paying attention to Tom Izzo’s summer, you’d know just how hard the Michigan State coaching legend has been working on the recruiting trail.
Izzo has been offering top targets left and right and now he’s scheduling visits with all of these guys for the fall so he can fill out his 2027 class before he’s fully focused on the regular season. Locking in official visits during game days can always be a huge plus, but Izzo doesn’t love waiting that long to land his first commitments.
That’s why he takes advantage of some of the biggest preseason fall weekends of the year.
One of those weekends being the annual Grind Week. Izzo always makes sure to schedule a visit or two during Grind Week which is when MSU basketball alums come back to hang around the program, visit with the team, and scrimmage each other. It’s a great event that has gotten the Spartans some commitments over the years, the most recent being Jasiah Jervis (committed two months after) and Jase Richardson.
Izzo is hoping that elite top-40 point guard Antonio Pemberton is next.
Great news to get Pemberton on campus for grind week. #GoGreen https://t.co/yZlR8Q9Nn5
— Andrew Cumbow (@ACumbow) August 18, 2026
The four-star point guard from Massachusetts must be that high of a priority for Izzo that he’s brining him in for a weekend that usually helps him close on top recruits.
Michigan State fans have been hoping that Pemberton becomes a priority because he’s blown up this summer and arguably looks to have the most star potential out of the point guards that Izzo has been targeting. Joshua Tyson and Jaxson Davis are really good, but Pemberton looks like a point guard who could carry that torch for the Spartans. He could be the next in an elite line of point guards.
Pemberton is ranked the No. 34 overall recruit and No. 6 point guard in the 2027 class.
Antonio Pemberton could follow a long line of greats under Izzo
Izzo has had himself some great point guards not just on a Michigan State level, but on an All-American level. He’s had several record-breaking point guards — with one currently on the roster — and he knows that elite point guard play can be the difference between a first-round exit and a national title push. Izzo is going all-in for the latter.
Pemberton could join a lineage of elite Michigan State point guards under Izzo that really started with Mateen Cleaves and might legitimately end with Cleaves’ son in the 2028 class. Right before Mateen Cleaves Jr. gets to college, however, Izzo is going to need one more guy. Pemberton fits that mold.
Like the great Spartan point guards, Pemberton has a poise and quiet confidence about him. He’s crafty, can create for himself and others, defends well, plays with toughness, and can score from anywhere on the floor.
Going from Jeremy Fears Jr. to Carlos Medlock Jr. to Pemberton and then to Cleaves Jr. would give Izzo the best possible point guard transition to end his legendary career.
Grind Week is going to be huge for the Hall of Famer.
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