The poor rating of Wolverines recruiting on Michigan State’s website backfires

The difference between the Michigan and Michigan State football programs is astronomical right now. The Wolverines have won three consecutive Big Ten championships and a national title to cap off a great three-year run. The Spartans, meanwhile, fired their previous head coach. Mel Tucker amid an embarrassing scandal and are starting over with Jonathan Smith in 2024 after going 4-8 last year.

Oh, and Michigan beat Michigan State 49-0 in East Lansing last season in a game that was nothing more than a sideshow for the Wolverines en route to the sport’s ultimate prize.

But even that is not enough for some in the MSU circle to understand a hint. This is the case with Spartan Nationone of our sister sites in the Sports Illustrated network. The site has recently published several articles discussing the development of Michigan and Michigan State’s 2025 recruiting classes, and to say they missed the mark would be an understatement…

Spartan Nation published the above article pointing out that Michigan is missing out on players like the defensive lineman Maxwell Roy (Ohio State), offensive lineman Hardy WattsEdge striker Marco Jones (Texas A&M) and Offensive Lineman Dear Alofaituli (Miami) Early July. At the time of writing, the Wolverines’ 2025 recruiting class was ranked 21st in the country, while the Spartans’ was ranked 53rd nationally. But that’s just the beginning…

While Michigan missed some targets in early July, Michigan State had its own problems landing even much less valued talent. The Spartans watched linebacker Grant Beerman commit to Purdue, Offensive Linemen Darius Afalava And Houston Kaahaaina Torres commit to Oklahoma and Nebraska respectively and Running Back Jon Denman to commit to TCU – all players that Michigan State was heavily pursuing.

Meanwhile, Michigan did a great job of recruiting players on Monday, transferring the four-star safety from Winter Garden, Florida, out of West Orange. Julian Taylor from rival Notre Dame and gets the four-star tight end from Southern Lehigh in Center Valley (Pennsylvania) Andrew Olesh within about an hour. These two new additions have pushed the Wolverines’ 2025 class up to 11th in the country. The Spartans, meanwhile, are still waiting for their first signing in July.

When you have doubts and are struggling, you should use the coping mechanisms. Yes, it is true that some of the best players from the Mark Dantonio era were overlooked talents that Michigan State developed and turned into good players. The reality is that even if Jonathan Smith can accomplish something similar in East Lansing, it will take years for the Spartans to see the benefits. Smith and MSU will likely rely heavily on the transfer portal in the coming years to be competitive in the new, tougher Big Ten Conference, but the Spartans have a ton Ground must be made up to have a chance at the top of the conference table.

Recruiting rankings may not be the be-all and end-all of college football, but they absolutely matter. Programs that regularly played in the four-team College Football Playoff were regularly littered with four- and five-star talent. Sure, Michigan had its own share of overlooked high school talents who became stars, like former three-star recruit Mike Sainristil. But the Wolverines also had certified stars in cornerback Will Johnson (Five Stars), Quarterback JJ McCarthy (four/five stars), Donovan Edwards (four/five stars), Blake Corum (four-star) and numerous other guys on the offensive line and on defense who were promising four-star caliber talents.

Jonathan Smith is a good football coach and I think that in time he can turn Michigan State back into a program that shouldn’t be overlooked in the Big Ten. However, the Spartans are not in the same league as the Wolverines in terms of the current state of the two programs. Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has yet to prove himself as the leader of a top-tier program, but the 38-year-old is off to a strong start in Ann Arbor with the recruiting team and class he has assembled so far.

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