Pat Fitzgerald caps off early signing period with massive win, locking down key 4-star

This week couldn’t have gone a whole lot better for Pat Fitzgerald and the future of Michigan State football. It began with the new head coach’s introductory press conference, then he followed that up with the signing of a solid recruiting class that he was able to keep together, for the most part, and then he got his QB1 back for 2026.

While almost the entire 2026 recruiting class stuck with Fitzgerald, there were still some names that had yet to sign as of Friday morning.

Jeremiah Favorite is planning on signing on Friday (at least that’s what he said on X), Samson Gash is waiting until February and is being pursued by other programs until then, and Collin Campbell was the biggest name on the board without any public plans.

That changed on Friday afternoon.

The four-star offensive tackle was at the top of every Michigan State fan’s wish list during the early signing period, and it was concerning to see that he hadn’t submitted his NLI through the first two days. On Friday, he shared some news that eased everyone’s nerves. He’s officially a Spartan.

Campbell becomes the latest commit to sign with Michigan State, and he made sure to give a shoutout to the double decker McDonald’s that Spartan fans know and love. He also said that he liked what he heard from his conversations with Fitzgerald and he’s confident in the offensive scheme.

Huge win for Fitzgerald.

Michigan State’s 2026 class is a good start for Fitzgerald

Although Michigan State did lose guys like Tyren Wortham, Braylon Hodge, Jordan Vann, Chris Addison, Christopher Knauls Jr., and Fameitau Siale, the class finished in the top 50 during the early signing period, and there’s still a chance Fitzgerald could sign a few more guys in February.

This is a solid starting spot for the new head coach.

Fitzgerald has a quality group of recruits to work with, and now he has an idea of what he needs to do in the transfer portal. He’s still meeting with current players to map out his plan for them and the roster is still taking shape, but the portal is going to be where he really makes his mark this cycle.

The former Northwestern head coach was always limited in recruiting because he had to focus on guys who could qualify for the school’s rigorous academic standards. Now, he can focus on getting the best of the best and being able to develop them into All-Big Ten caliber players like he did at Northwestern with much less (not saying he won’t worry about academics, because he absolutely still will).

A strong portal class and a few more 2026 class signings, and Fitzgerald is going to have a roster that is set up to win starting next season.