Tom Izzo and Michigan State have the No. 1 recruiting class for 2026, but the Hall of Famer isn’t done hunting for elite recruits in future cycles to help him win No. 2.
While being able to recruit nationally is much more important in college basketball, securing the top recruits from the state also has to be a top priority. Unlike football where you can focus on one region to get most of your recruits, basketball recruiting is much different. The best players are usually spread out, and rarely will you have a wealth of top targets in one specific area.
Still, Izzo has made recruiting the state of Michigan a priority over the years because it’s good to land OKGs who understand the program’s culture and who grew up rooting for the Spartans.
Izzo is already pushing for the state’s top recruit in the 2027 class, per reports.
It was reported that, for the top-10 showdown against Illinois last Saturday, Eden Vinyard, the state’s No. 1 prospect, was on campus for an unofficial visit.
Vinyard would be a nice recruiting victory for Izzo, but he may be the only target from Michigan in the 2027 class considering it’s a rather weak year for the state, prospect-wise. Other than Vinyard, the only other true Division I prospect that we currently know about for 2027 is Cass Tech point guard Stevie Hall. Vinyard would have to be Izzo’s top in-state priority in this case.
Kingston Thomas, David Thomas’ son, from East Lansing has been made a priority, too.
Tom Izzo will have to cast another wide net in 2027
It’s still very early in the process, but given the fact that the state of Michigan doesn’t have a handful of elite prospects, Izzo will have to cast a wider net once again.
If you look at the 2026 class, Michigan State only landed one guy from the state of Michigan, and he’s now playing in Missouri. In 2025, neither Jordan Scott nor Cam Ward were from Michigan. In 2024, none of the three commits were from the state, and before that, the last commit from the state was Carson Cooper who played high school basketball at IMG Academy.
It’s hard to believe that the state of Michigan hasn’t contributed much to Izzo’s program over the past few years, but that could change with Vinyard in 2027 and Mateen Cleaves Jr. in 2028.