Michigan State is gearing up for a third official visit weekend of the summer, but Pat Fitzgerald is still recovering from weekend No. 2 which yielded five more commitments after two just days prior.
The final commitments of the weekend came late on Sunday night and into early Monday morning. Unranked Texas wideout Zach Forbish and three-star tight end Ryan Pankey committed to Michigan State over Colorado State, Oregon State, and Washington State.
Hearing that may cause some of us to have Jonathan Smith PTSD, but we have to trust the new staff until they give us a reason not to. Although Brian Wozniak was around during the Smith era, he was one of the better assistants on the staff and one of the few guys that the fanbase was willing to welcome back — along with Joe Rossi and Courtney Hawkins.
Wozniak has an eye for tight end talent and I think we’ll see that this season with Carson Gulker and Jayden Savoury — two guys who were added to the roster under his watch.
For those reasons alone, we have to look at this Pankey addition in an optimistic light because there’s a chance that he’s the lone tight end commit in the class. Four-star in-state tight end Anthony Cartwright is still an option but he’s got some big dogs in the mix.
Pankey has to be good enough for the staff to entrust him as potentially the lone tight end in the class.
What does Ryan Pankey bring to the table?
Pankey has excellent size at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, but he may be a little raw at the tight end position. He was primarily a defensive lineman for Montrose (Colo.) High in 2025, racking up 84 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, three sacks, and five pass breakups.
At tight end in 2025, he had just five catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns, according to 247Sports.
Wozniak and Michigan State clearly see something in him that screams Big Ten tight end and I think there’s more potential for him there than on the defensive side of the ball. Heck, the defensive line could use some help anyway, so why not using him on both sides of the ball? He’s shown that he can do that.
The Spartans are getting a 6-foot-6 athletic tight end who is a baseball star, played basketball so he has to have good footwork, and he can play both sides of the ball.
We’ll see if he can outperform his modest 247Sports ranking.
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