Michigan State football: Former 4-star OL commit back on the market

Former Michigan State football commit Andrew Dennis is back on the market after transferring from Illinois.

Good things come to those who wait. And for Michigan State football, that could be in the form of a former four-star offensive line commit.

On Monday, former 2024 class commit Andrew Dennis entered the transfer portal after enrolling early at Illinois this winter. According to the report from Allen Trieu, he wants to play closer to home.

Illinois freshman OL Andrew Dennis has entered the transfer portal.

Dennis cites a desire to be closer to home as a reason. 

Was a four-star prospect in the 2024 class who enrolled mid-year at Illinois and was working at center.https://t.co/e509gTEpjV pic.twitter.com/vaqfOAR3ia

— Allen Trieu (@AllenTrieu) April 29, 2024

The good thing about this desire to move closer to home is the fact that Dennis is from Mount Pleasant, Mich., which is just 79 miles away from East Lansing. He originally committed to Michigan State after developing a solid relationship with Mel Tucker, but with all the uncertainty this past year with the head coach getting fired, Dennis decommitted.

It didn’t take long for him to get interest from major programs as Utah, Clemson, and Penn State were all involved before he ultimately chose Illinois on Nov. 27 before Michigan State hired a new head coach. He signed with the Illini less than a month later and enrolled early.

Fast forward about three months and Dennis is back on the market, citing his desire to play closer to home as a reason.

And that’s why Michigan State has to be a top option for the former four-star. He was originally committed here and decommitted before the program hired a new coach. It probably wouldn’t take much from Jonathan Smith and Jim Michalczik to get him on campus and if that does happen, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him commit (again) shortly after.

Seeing that Michalczik just developed a first-round NFL draft pick on the offensive line, Dennis has to be intrigued about the idea of being developed by him.

Dennis was the No. 162 overall prospect in the class and seventh-best interior offensive lineman, per 247Sports. He was also Michigan’s No. 3 recruit.

It’d be great to see him join an offensive line group that should only get better.