Latest Michigan State football commit skyrockets in rankings

I’m usually one of the first people to tell you that recruiting rankings don’t mean all that much. Sure you obviously want Michigan State football to get as many four and five-star guys as possible compared to three stars, but you never really know how a recruit will pan out.

But when one of MSU’s recruits sees a huge increase in their ranking, that’s usually a sign that they are a very good player.

And that’s exactly what just happened to one of Michigan State’s most recent commits.

Derrick Simmons is a three-star defensive lineman from Frankenmuth, Mich. He just recently committed to Michigan State on June 27 soon after his official visit to East Lansing on June 14.

Simmons initially was not a highly ranked recruit by any means, barely making the top 1,300 in the class. That however just changed, and changed in a big way.

As of June 28, Simmons has jumped all the way up to No. 530 in the country, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He also is the No. 9 player from Michigan and the No. 57 defensive lineman in the country.

This is about as massive of a jump as you’ll ever see a player get, and this increase was so much that it almost landed Simmons the coveted fourth star -- 247Sports has Simmons rated an 88 out of 100, which is one spot lower than typical four-star status at 89.

Whether he ends up a four-star or not however doesn’t really matter to me. This massive increase tells us that the recruiting sites are very high on Simmons, which at the end of the day is the only thing that truly matters.

Jonathan Smith and his staff appeared to have gotten a good one, so now let’s hope they can keep this momentum up on the recruiting trail throughout the rest of the summer.