Tom Izzo seen with interesting coach in recent video

Tom Izzo has been doing what Tom Izzo does best recently, out working everyone in the country. That’s part of what makes Izzo so great because nobody out works him during the season or in recruiting.

That’s what makes following Michigan State basketball so much fun in the offseason because Izzo is constantly out on the road recruiting the next Spartans. He’s always indirectly telling us who his priority targets are, so just tracking Izzo’s movements each day tells us a lot.

One prospect in particular has been at the top of Izzo’s wish list for quite some time now, and a recent video posted by Overtime on X shows you just how hard Izzo is working to get this recruit.

Skipping ahead to the 12-second mark in the above video, you’ll see Izzo answering a question about what he looks for in his recruits. But did you notice who is sitting next to him in the background?

The head coach of La Lumiere high school.

This may seem random on the surface, but I promise it’s calculated by Izzo. Five-star forward Jalen Haralson is potentially Izzo’s top target this recruiting cycle. And he just so happens to go to La Lumiere. So not only is Izzo recruiting Haralson hard, but he’s also getting to know his coach. Also, top five-star target Darius Adams also attends La Lumiere.

Haralson and Adams obviously spend a lot of time with their high school coach right now, so Izzo developing as close of a relationship with him as possible will only help recruiting efforts.

Michigan State basketball history with La Lumiere recruits

Michigan State and Izzo have found a lot of recent success recruiting La Lumiere players. Both Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jeremy Fears Jr. are products of La Lumiere. So Izzo clearly already has good connections with the school, and he’s hoping to improve on them even more.

Will Haralson or Adams be the next great recruit from this school to commit to Michigan State? Time will tell. But the Spartans are in the thick of the race to get them, and based on Izzo’s history and how close he’s getting with their coach, I think MSU stands a very good chance.