Michigan State football recruiting stays hot with Derrick Simmons commitment

First-year Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith is red-hot right now.

After having zero commitments in his 2025 recruiting class just a few short months ago, the new head coach is up to 14. Before this week, he just snuck to double-digits but he has been hot on the trail over the past few days, landing Aydan West, Justin Bell, and Cal Thrush.

But he added another commit on Thursday in the form of three-star defensive lineman Derrick Simmons.

The three-star defensive lineman from Frankenmuth is ranked the No. 530 overall prospect in the class and the 57th-best defensive lineman, according to the composite. He held offers from Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern, Cincinnati, Boston College, and Vanderbilt but decided to stay close to home and commit to the Spartans.

Simmons immediately becomes the third-highest-ranked commit in Michigan State's 2025 class and he's one of those guys who could become a four-star before it's all said and done.

This commitment comes two weeks after his official visit to East Lansing.

Smith and Co. have been red-hot in the month of June during official visit season, landing nine commitments from guys like Drew Nichols, West, Bell, Thrush, Charles Taplin, Braylon Collier, Jayden Savoury, George Mullins and now Simmons. This is the type of momentum that could carry a team to a really solid finish to the class.

Although the Spartans don't have a star-studded group, they are still 40th in the nation and I could see them flirting with the top 30-35 range soon.