The other day, I ranked the five-star commits under Tom Izzo, so I decided it was time to rank the five-stars that the Michigan State football program has landed since 2000.
Unfortunately, there haven’t been many five-star football commits over the years.
Nick Saban recruited a couple before he left for LSU, John L. Smith even landed one, and Mark Dantonio also recruited a couple but there’s a debate about whether or not Lawrence Thomas belongs in that conversation as a former top-30 recruit. He’s not listed as a former five-star, though, so he just misses this list. He can be the honorable mention.
As for the actual five-star MSU football commits? Here’s how I’d rank them.
1. Charles Rogers, WR
The former No. 3 overall recruit in the 2000 class was arguably the most electric player in modern Spartan football history and he’ll go down as the best receiver since 2000 without much of an argument. Charles Rogers was a freak at Michigan State, totaling 125 catches for 2,551 yards and 25 touchdowns. He averaged over 20 yards per reception and held an NCAA record for most consecutive games with a touchdown catch (14) before Larry Fitzgerald promptly broke it a year later. Unfortunately, Rogers never panned out in the NFL for various reasons and ultimately passed away tragically in 2019.
2. Jeff Smoker, QB
If we’re going solely based on stats, Jeff Smoker simply has to be here at No. 2 behind Rogers because he was the offense for Michigan State for the better part of his four years in East Lansing. Besides famously beating Michigan with that last-second touchdown pass to TJ Duckett, Smoker is known for being a flat-out gunslinger. He finished his career with 8,556 passing yards and 58 touchdowns over 40 career games. The “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” motto with Smoker and Rogers was a core memory for me as a young Spartan fan.
3. William Gholston, DL
Outside of a quiet freshman season in 2010, former five-star defensive lineman William Gholston rose to stardom almost immediately as a sophomore starter in 2011. He had 70 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, and five sacks as a sophomore before putting up even gaudier numbers as a junior with 59 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and a Big Ten-best 10 pass deflections. He turned those two All-Big Ten seasons into a long NFL career.
4. Malik McDowell, DL
Malik McDowell was arguably the most controversial commit on this list because he nearly wasn’t a Spartan despite appearing to sign his NLI on National Signing Day back in 2014. His commitment wasn’t received well by his mother and the rumor was that she refused to sign it before eventually giving in to her son’s wishes. At Michigan State, he was a star, totaling 24.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks in three seasons. He left after the nightmare of a 2016 season and if that year hadn’t gone the way it did, he would have been remembered much more fondly.
5. Roland Martin, OG
The three-year starter along the offensive line from 2006-08 after redshirting in 2004 and then appearing in seven games as a true freshman was just an honorable mention All-Big Ten lineman as a senior under Dantonio. I would bet you that most Michigan State fans had no idea that Roland Martin was a five-star but he was a coveted offensive lineman in the 2004 class out of Chicago.
Add us as a preferred source on Google