Michigan State football currently has a two-man 2027 class, but given how hard Pat Fitzgerald has been recruiting since he stepped foot on campus, I‘d expect that number to grow rather soon.
Fitzgerald landed an unranked running back named Savior Owens to begin the 2027 class for the Spartans, and shortly after he committed, he received his first recruiting ranking. Owens is now the No. 59 running back in the class and No. 728 overall recruit.
Just last week, unranked offensive lineman Grant Adloff committed to Michigan State, and now he, too, has his first recruiting ranking. Like Owens, Adloff got a nice bump into the rankings, but he is being seen as a more valuable recruit initially, coming in as the No. 438 prospect in the country and the 27th-best interior offensive lineman in the 2027 class.
Adloff is also the eighth-best recruit in the state of Michigan.
Michigan State’s 2027 class is now ranked No. 35 in the country with those two commits, and from the sounds of it via a “Pat signal” on Twitter recently, that could soon change.
So far, it looks like Fitzgerald has a pretty keen eye for talent, and he’s landing guys that may have been overlooked, but who are absolutely talented enough to play at the Power Four level.
This is how Mark Dantonio found success
I’ve said this multiple times since Fitzgerald was hired, but landing guys like Owens and Adloff is exactly how Mark Dantonio found success in East Lansing.
Coach D made a career out of finding hidden gems from the Midwest who were overlooked by Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, and he turned them into All-Americans and NFL All-Pros. He was one of the best at identifying overlooked talent, and that’s how he turned guys like Le’Veon Bell, Connor Cook, Kirk Cousins, Darqueze Dennard, Jack Conklin, and Trae Waynes into NFL players. All of those guys were overlooked as recruits from the Midwest — and Georgia.
Let’s hope Fitzgerald’s plan has the same result as Dantonio’s, but he has a long way to go before we can even compare the two. This recruiting technique is a good start, though.
Both Adloff and Owens’ first rankings are proof that it can work.