There’s been new Michigan State football recruiting storylines just about every day since National Signing Day, and most of it has been positive with Pat Fitzgerald scheduling several major visits.
The first-year head coach has some big-time in-state targets like Bryce Kish and Myles Smith schedules to officially visit over the summer and both are ranked in the top 60 nationally by On3. Fitzgerald is prioritizing the Midwest, and especially in-state recruiting.
Fitzgerald just locked in another official visit with a coveted in-state recruit who plays a position of need.
According to the top-500 recruit himself, Jack Carlson will be visiting Michigan State this summer.
📍East Lansing #GoGreen @godogs_football @CoachKlaus68 @CoachTabacca @coachfitz51 @SeanLevyMSU @MalikGill5 @ryanobleness @C_Robinson247 pic.twitter.com/msPOU96KM1
— Jack Carlson (@88jackcarlson) February 28, 2026
Carlson will be on campus for the first official visit weekend of the summer. This is a good chance for Fitzgerald to make some inroads with one of the top 10 prospects in the state of Michigan.
The three-star offensive lineman is on the borderline of four-star status as the No. 467 recruit in the country and 37th-best tackle in the country in 2027. He’s also the state of Michigan’s No. 8 overall prospect. This would be a nice recruiting win for Fitzgerald and Co.
Carlson has been offered by a slew of MAC schools as well as Northwestern, Cincinnati, and Northwestern. It feels like he’s being way undervalued in the Power Four ranks.
Pat Fitzgerald needs to focus heavily in state
Fitzgerald needs to be focusing heavily on the state of Michigan in the 2027 recruiting class because it’s absolutely loaded. The Spartans have several top 65 targets from the state of Michigan in 2027 and they’re in a good spot with them.
Bryce Kish and Myles Smith will be on campus this summer on official visits, and I’d assume Gideon Gash and Dakota Guerrant will also be scheduling officials in the near future.
Getting a top-500 in-state recruit like Carlson is a good move because these were the types of players who saw a ton of success under Mark Dantonio.
I’ve said this several times before, but it feels like Fitzgerald is following the exact Dantonio blueprint.