Elite OT schedules visit to Michigan State football

Jonathan Smith is once again flexing his recruiting muscles as he has one of the top players in the entire 2026 recruiting class scheduled to visit Michigan State football this weekend.

Visits during the season are the perfect time to bring in your top targets as they’ll get to see firsthand what it would be like to play at Michigan State on gameday. Especially for the first game of the season when Spartan Stadium is going to be as loud as ever to welcome Smith and his team to a new era of Michigan State football.

And this visit arguably is one of the biggest that Smith has scheduled all year.

Gregory Patrick is the big-time visitor who will be attending Michigan State’s first game against Florida Atlantic next Friday. According to the 247Sports composite rankings, Patrick is the No. 137 overall player in the country. He also is the No. 10 offensive tackle in his class and the No. 2 player from the state of Michigan.

Patrick is a recruit in the 2026 class so there isn’t any chance that he’ll commit on this visit, but that doesn’t mean this visit isn’t a big deal. Being that he’s a top recruit in Michigan, he likely could have visited many other schools in the Midwest if not the country next weekend, but he’s choosing to come to Michigan State which speaks to his interest in Smith’s program.

Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Washington are just a handful of other programs that have offered Patrick along with Michigan State. That group clearly shows how difficult this recruitment will be for Smith to win.

But so far Smith and his staff are making all the right moves and giving the Spartans a great chance to win this recruitment in the long run.