Keon Coleman still helping Michigan State football recruit
Sometimes it’s a matter of who you know and not what you know. Have you heard that saying before? It’s 100 percent relevant in today’s world, sometimes even more so in recruiting.
That saying appears to be helping Michigan State football's wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins this offseason.
Now we all know that Hawkins is an elite coach, so the last half of that saying isn’t really applicable to him. There’s a reason he’s one of the few coaches Jonathan Smith retained. But Hawkins is also using an endorsement given to him by current NFL player and former Michigan State Spartan Keon Coleman in his recruiting efforts.
A 2027 wide receiver Dakota Guerrant spoke about his recruitment with Coach Hawkins after Spartan Dawg Con this weekend, and he shared first hand how Keon Coleman is impacting his recruitment.
"Keon credited Hawkins for turning him into the NFL receiver he is today in the video and it just opened my eyes a little how I could be developed by him."
- Dakota Guerrant
Michigan State priority 2027 WR target Dakota Guerrant recaps Spartan Dawg Con visit
— Kenny Jordan (@Kenny_Jordan5) July 31, 2024
WR coach Courtney Hawkins and GA Cordale Grundy have pitched the family environment HC Jonathan Smith is building at Michigan State as well as NFL development..
Former MSU now Buffalo Bills… pic.twitter.com/cRyB3KXvRg
I’m not going to speculate how Coleman could be impacting this specific recruit since his recruitment still has over two years left in it. However, there’s no denying that what Coleman shared about Hawkins isn’t helping Michigan State’s recruiting effort.
Almost every recruit wants to go where they have a chance to be developed so they can make the NFL. So if the 33rd pick in the NFL draft (which is where Coleman was selected) credits Hawkins for getting him to the NFL, yeah that’s going to matter to a lot of recruits.
It’s also pretty remarkable that Coleman is still willing to help MSU in this way. Sure he left the program for Florida State last year, but the Spartan inside him has never left. That’s why he came to the Breslin Center for senior night this year and why he’s willing to help Michigan State in their recruiting efforts.
We’ll have to see what kind of talent Hawkins is able to bring in, but my guess is the wide receiver room will be very healthy partially because of this glowing review from Coleman.