Should we be concerned about Jonathan Smith's recruiting?

Since summer official visits kicked off last weekend, Michigan State football's 2026 class doubled in size. Jonathan Smith hadn't landed a commitment since February but that changed last week as he picked up commitments from Braylon Hodge and Brayden Thomas.

The Spartans added two more commits this weekend with KJ Deriso and Eliyjah Caldwell-Hardy picking Michigan State, canceling other visits.

Now Michigan State's class is up to eight commits but there is only one four-star in the group. Kayd Coffman, a four-star quarterback and one of the first MSU commits in the class, was bumped up to No. 259 in the class and he's the 19th-best quarterback, per 247Sports.

Michigan State now has the No. 52 class in the country after these four recent commits and it feels like momentum is finally back on Smith's side.

But when the official visitor list for the second wave of visits was released, fans saw an issue right away: there weren't many sought-after prospects headed to campus.

While three-stars can still be very good and exceed expectations, the lack of four-stars and blue-chip recruits was glaring. Most of these guys have offer sheets that leave a lot to be desired. And that's a problem for many Michigan State fans. The Spartans have been wrestling recruits away from MAC schools and other Group of Five programs.

Not ideal.

So should we be concerned about Smith's recruiting?

I would say he has the rest of this class to prove himself. If he continues to recruit against Central Michigan and Buffalo instead of other Power Four programs, the Spartans could be in trouble long term. But also, high school recruiting hasn't been as important as transfer portal recruiting in years so as long as he excels there, he should be fine.

I'm taking a cautious approach because I don't want to give up too soon. Smith has proven to be a really good coach but his recruiting needs to be better.

If this class finishes in the 40-50 range instead of flirting with the top 25 and the Spartans miss another bowl game, it might be time to move on. J Batt will ultimately make the decision he feels is best for the program, but he's already said that football will have all the resources necessary -- and that needs to come to fruition sooner rather than later.

You can't compete with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, or Oregon recruiting the way Smith is right now. That's just the honest truth.