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Michigan State football: Spring game visitor list is intriguing

Who will be on campus this weekend?

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Michigan State football
© Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2023 Michigan State football spring game approaching, the visitor list is growing. Who’ll be on campus?

Now that the spring schedule has arrived, Michigan State football is officially making its way to the forefront of fans’ minds. While we enjoyed the final weeks of the basketball season thoroughly, shifting the focus back to football has been a long time coming.

We won’t get a full spring game this year for the actual team. Unfortunately, injuries are preventing that once again. The spring practice is still a good way for MSU to showcase what it’s been working on and give the fans a taste.

The other important part of the spring game would be the recruiting aspect.

Michigan State uses the weekend as a big show for potential recruits, assuming this year will be no different. The list of confirmed visitors so far is growing and has some promising prospects attending this weekend.

The list is always growing but let’s take a look at some of the players coming to campus this weekend so far.

Familiar faces returning

The highlight of the spring visitor list would be none other than five-star defensive lineman David Stone. The IMG Academy star has already taken five other unofficial visits to Michigan State so far in his recruitment and has mentioned several times how much he loves it here. Stone is currently ranked as the No. 7 overall prospect in the 2024 class per 247Sports. He is the highest-ranked prospect on the list this weekend. Stone originally hails from Oklahoma and is close friends with current MSU player and 2023 signee, Bai Jobe.

Coming with Stone to East Lansing is one of his close friends from Oklahoma, Xadavien Sims who is a defensive lineman from Durant High School in Durant, Okla. He’s listed as the No. 121 prospect in the 2024 class and is the top prospect from Oklahoma, per 247Sports. Sims has been a priority target of Mel Tucker and Co. for a while now. He has visited East Lansing four times so far and we’re hoping this weekend goes well enough to lock he and his five-star friend in for an official visit this summer.

New faces with new offers

The next player on the list of attendees so far would be receiver Jordan Ross from Downey, Calif. He is the 26th-ranked wide receiver in the 2024 class and 247Sports has him rated as a four-star prospect currently. Ross is currently listed at 6-foot-0 and 175 pounds and is a very talented receiver prospect. He recently picked up an MSU offer and will be on campus for the first time. He also has offers from notable schools such as Notre Dame, Colorado, Auburn, Utah, and Washington.

Another prospect making his first appearance in East Lansing this weekend is running back Makhi Frazier. The prospect from McKinney, Texas, is not currently ranked by 247Sports but has been gaining momentum of late. Frazier boasts offers from Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas, and Michigan State, to name a few. Frazier is listed at 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, and could really add some good talent to the running back room.

An interesting name so far on the list for attendees is four-star athlete Lamason Waller who hails from Sultana High School in Hesperia, Calif. It should be noted that Waller is a 2025 prospect. He is a two-way player in high school, but is being primarily recruited as a receiver. He has a pretty impressive offer list so far. Notable schools include Texas A&M, Penn State, Oregon, Oklahoma, Georgia, Michigan, MSU, Notre Dame, and many more. Also to note, Waller has a crystal ball prediction for the school down the road.

The previously committed

The final two prospects I want to highlight are 2024 recruits that are currently verbally committed to MSU.

The first prospect is Jaylen Thompson. The Murfreesboro, Tenn., cornerback originally committed to Michigan State on Dec. 27 this past year. Since his commitment date, he has picked up offers from Oklahoma and from Deion Sanders in Colorado. Thompson has been listening to other offers and recently visited Ole Miss. He has been on record about how much he loves Michigan State and has remained verbally committed thus far.

The other commit confirmed for this weekend’s festivities is our newest 2024 commit, Andrew Dennis. The interior offensive lineman from Mount Pleasant, Mich., committed to Michigan State football a week ago. Since his commitment, he has been active on social media reaching out to other prospects and trying to bring them in. He is ranked as a three-star prospect but has a lot of upside. The commitment he made is a possible jump in the right direction to regain some recruiting momentum that MSU has lost in previous months. Hopefully Dennis can help convince some others to commit soon as well.

Overall, this list of players contains a lot of potential and the Michigan State football staff is hoping to continue to make great impressions on the returning visitors. The new prospects getting a taste of East Lansing for the first time will be in for a treat and hopefully this weekend is the first of many returning visits.

Those of you who can make it to East Lansing this weekend, should. Let’s show these recruits what Spartan Nation is like and get them excited to be playing at The Woodshed.

The festivities start at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, but events are happening all around campus all weekend.

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Brandon Jordan is still doing some social media recruiting for Michigan State football

Brandon Jordan still loves him some Michigan State.

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Michigan State football
© Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Brandon Jordan hasn’t been on the Michigan State football staff for months but he’s still doing some social media recruiting.

The month of June for Michigan State football is huge because it’s the start of official visit season.

This month is an opportunity for Michigan State to either make up ground on players’ recruitments or finish the deal with a commitment. One of the most important aspects of these visits is the connection between the players and the coaches. With a few coaches leaving Michigan State, building those connections between the new coaches and the recruits has been something the coaching staff has tried to do. Typically when coaches leave, they typically don’t try to help their old school in recruiting but this is not the case for Michigan State and Brandon Jordan.

After one year at Michigan State, Brandon Jordan took a job with the Seahawks but this doesn’t seem to affect the relationship he has with the Spartans, especially in recruiting.

While Jordan is not in that room anymore with the recruits, he still has his huge social media following. Jordan has used that following to not only show off his training but it has used it to help Michigan State a little bit in recruiting. One recent example was after four-star athlete Quanell X Farrakhan Jr. was offered by Michigan State. Jordan responded to the news by tweeting at him that Michigan State is the place to be and that Courtney Hawkins will get him right.

While Jordan might not do this often, this is something that will help Michigan State in a few different ways.

One of those ways this will be helpful is that it shows coaches seem to enjoy their time at Michigan State. Jordan would not be replying to a recruit with that comment if he did not enjoy his time in East Lansing.

The other main reason this will help is because of the impact that Jordan has had on many different players at all levels of football. He has worked with some of the best players on the defensive line in football which means that he knows what he is doing. While Farrakhan might not be on the defensive line, having a coach like Jordan respond like that could impact his or other recruits’ opinions on Michigan State football.

Overall, Jordan still lightly recruiting for Michigan State on social media could definitely be a positive thing for the program especially because it’s been quiet lately.

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Michigan State football: Previewing June 2 official visits

Who will be on campus this weekend?

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Michigan State football
© Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

This weekend kicks off the first weekend of official Michigan State football visits. Let’s take a look at who is attending.

Happy June, everyone. Schools are letting out everywhere. If you live in mid-Michigan like myself, we’ve had our first week of extended summer weather. The sun is setting after 9 p.m. now. This can only mean one thing: Official visit season is starting for Michigan State football.

So far for the month of June, MSU has 34 official visits locked in and are looking to add a few more as well. With the first weekend of visitors set to arrive in East Lansing tomorrow, let’s recap who will be on campus.

Here are the 12 recruits coming this weekend.

Brauntae Johnson, 4-star ATH

Brauntae is the highest-rated player visiting this weekend per the 247 composite rankings. He is listed as the 161st overall player in the 2024 recruiting class. He hails from Fort Wayne, Ind., and he is listed at 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds. He projects as either a wide receiver or defensive back at the college level. Brauntae also has aspirations to play college basketball potentially as well. As we’ve seen with Keon Coleman and Maliq Carr, that is something that sometimes can be possible at MSU. Can Mel Tucker use the prowess of MSU basketball to help land him?

Michigan State football is listed first on his official visit schedule. He will attend one at Notre Dame and then to Purdue after East Lansing. According to 247Sports, the Fighting Irish may seem to be the front-runners, but MSU seems to graining some ground recently.

Dylan Williams, 4-star LB

The linebacker prospect from Long Beach Poly (Calif.) has been talked about a lot in recent weeks. He is one of the highest-rated linebackers in the 2024 class. As of right now, he has four official visits scheduled/completed. He went to UCLA on May 5, will be in East Lansing on June 9, and after that he is planning to head to Eugene for his Oregon visit on June 9 and then to Miami on June 23. Texas and Michigan are the schools that appear to be fighting it out for a final visit from Dylan.

Williams is very active on social media and has been seemingly excited for the trip to East Lansing this weekend. Dylan ranks No. 171 overall in the class.

Xadavien Sims, 4-star DL

Speaking of highly-talked-about prospects, Spartan fans have became very acquainted with the name Xadavien Sims over this recruiting cycle.

The defensive line prospect from Oklahoma is listed as the 25th ranked defensive line prospect in the 2024 class. He is a product of the C4 training camp in Oklahoma. This gym is the same one that has produced several big prospects recently including class of 2023 MSU signee Bai Jobe. Xadavien is also extremely close with 2024 blue-chip prospect David Stone. The two of them have visited East Lansing several times during this recruiting cycle.

Sims recently committed to Oregon on May 20 but stated that he will continue to attend his official visits as well.

After East Lansing this weekend, Sims will have two more visits remaining. He plans to travel to TCU and Vanderbilt for those. Despite the Oregon commitment, Michigan State football has always been closely connected with Sims. Let’s hope Tucker and staff have some juice left to maybe force a flip to the top-200 prospect.

Jordan Ross, 4-star WR

The next prospect visiting this weekend is Jordan Ross. The 6-foot wide receiver from Downey, Calif., is returning to East Lansing as one of the more highly sought after prospects for the Spartan coaches. He currently holds 11 offers from schools.

According to some experts, MSU has a lead in the recruiting prospect and many believe a commitment from him could be on the horizon if all goes well this weekend. Jordan is a dynamic route runner and is extremely efficient with his movement. He and MSU receivers coach Courtney Hawkins have a great relationship and he could be a great addition to a deep receiving corps.

Kwazi Gilmer, 4-star WR

Another receiver prospect arriving on campus this weekend is Sierra Canyon prospect Kwazi Gilmer. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound wideout is ranked 271st in the composite rankings and has been turning a lot of heads lately. He has been heavily recruited on the west coast.

His official visits are all spoken for and MSU is the only school west of the Pacific Coast to get a visit locked in. He visited UCLA on May 26. After this visit he will be spending the next three weekends at Stanford, Washington, and Cal, respectively.

Kwazi holds 17 total offers and has some good size to make a difference at the next level.

Marcellus Barnes Jr., 4-star ATH

Marcellus is another prospect who has been getting a lot of attention in the recruiting world of late. He currently holds 16 offers including MSU, Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida State, and Baylor. Most of the big school offers have came in the last couple of months. Marcellus is a 6-foot-2 athlete who most likely will play corner in college. Michigan State football is the only program he has locked an official visit in with so far so look for Tucker to make a big early impression.

Kahnen Daniels, 4-star RB

Daniels is a name that has been talked about a lot recently as well. The 5-foot-11 running back from West Point, Miss., is currently committed to Florida but it appears a chance to flip could potentially happen. The Gators certainly remain the front-runners and will have Daniels back on an official visit the weekend of June 16.

That being said, MSU has kept in close contact with Daniels and getting a visit locked in is big for the Spartans. So far, Daniels only has the Spartans and Gators locked in for visits so it appears the Spartans would be the only other team seriously in consideration for Daniels’ services.

Eric Karner, 3-star TE

Eric is a big target for MSU, literally and figuratively. Tucker has recruited the 6-foot-5 tight end prospect heavily, and staff recently and getting an official visit locked in was a good start. The three-star prospect has also set visits with Iowa and Florida for later weekends in June. Alabama and Texas A&M were among other schools expressing interest in visits as well. Karner is ranked as the 28th-best tight end in this year’s class and would be a nice get for the Spartans.

Henry Hasselbeck, 3-star QB

The newest name on this weekend’s official visit list is one that comes with a familiar last name for football fans. Henry Hasselbeck is a three-star quarterback prospect from Westwood Mass.

Considered a late-riser in this class, Henry has been getting some recent offers. MSU offered him on May 27 and was able to lock in an official visit almost immediately. He also has visits scheduled this month with Boston College and Pittsburgh.

You may recognize his name as his dad Matt Hasselbeck played in the NFL for 17 seasons and is currently an analyst on ESPN. Henry is a very gifted athlete. He has accolades in both lacrosse and hockey to go along with football. He is currently committed to play lacrosse at Maryland but could change his mind to follow dad’s football footsteps.

Justin Denson, Unranked S

The last of the visitors this weekend that aren’t currently committed to MSU would be none other than Justin Denson. The 2024 safety prospect is currently not ranked on the major recruiting publications but is generating a lot of recent offers. In total, he holds 27 offers including MSU, Oklahoma, Florida, and Arkansas.

So far he has three visits locked in. He will be in East Lansing this weekend, Florida on June 9, and then Oklahoma on June 17. The Rhode Island product seems eager to get to campus and MSU will look to make a great first impression.

Currently committed visitors

The final two visitors of the weekend are prospects that are already verbally committed to MSU. While having them committed already is nice, as we all know in today’s recruiting world, nothing is final until the prospect signs his NIL. Even then it can be dicey. Continuing to recruit your own players is the nature of the game now and Mel and Co. are continuing with that theme this weekend.

Commits Jaylen Thompson and Logan Bennett will be on campus again this weekend and hopefully can add to the recruiting pitch the other 10 visitors will receive.

Thompson and Bennett have stated they remain committed to MSU and both seem anxious to help persuade others to join them. Thompson has been committed to the Spartans since December 2022 despite picking up offers from other big name programs afterwards. He is a 6-foot-0 corner and hopes to help eventually anchor MSU’s defensive backfield. Bennett is the most recent MSU commit — he committed in April 2023. The interior offensive line prospect is looking forward to come East Lansing and get to visit with potential teammates this weekend.

With so many potential impact players coming to campus this weekend, the coaching staff is working relentlessly to put out the best possible presentation. Fans should be encouraged by the list of prospects visiting.

Hopefully a couple commits come shortly after this weekend. There are a few players that seem to be trending in the right direction for MSU. Landing a couple would help generate some much-needed momentum for the Spartans on the recruiting trail.

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Michigan State football receives prediction to land 4-star RB

This would be a nice pick-up.

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Michigan State football
© Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Michigan State football received a prediction on On3 to land one of the best running backs in the 2024 class.

With official visit season getting under way this weekend, Michigan State football will be hosting its share of top prospects. Efforts to build up their 2024 recruiting classes are in full swing. With visits comes the chance to get commitments. Now we are still months away from signing day. As we are coming to harshly realize, any verbal commitment now does not really mean anything until players sign their letters of intent in December. That being said, the next few weeks launch the recruiting world’s most exciting time.

With the visits being scheduled, national recruiting experts are starting to log their predictions on where certain prospects are going. On3’s Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons is no different. Simmons has logged a couple predictions today and one of them has the Spartans landing a major target of theirs.

On3 tweeted today that Simmons believes four-star running back Anthony “Scoota” Carrie will commit to MSU.

Simmons’ prediction was placed with a 60 percent confidence level. Carrie is currently scheduled to be on his official visit to East Lansing on the weekend of June 9. He moved that visit up on Thursday after initially planning on coming up the last weekend in June.

Carrie holds 42 total offers and currently has three official visits locked in. He had plans to visit Notre Dame, North Carolina, and MSU. There is some speculation now that he is forgoing his Notre Dame visit cause it was scheduled for the weekend of June 9 previously. The announcement that he is now going to East Lansing that weekend could be considered a good one.

A new date for the Notre Dame visit has not been announced yet.

Further information about Carrie’s schedule as well as a possible looming commitment should be following in the coming days. Stay tuned with Spartan Shadows for the latest updates.

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