Michigan State football hits recruiting trail hard with flurry of offers 

Jonathan Smith and his Michigan State football staff have been hard at work offering 11 new players between the 2026 and 2027 recruiting classes.

I’m a huge believer in this staff’s evaluation process. It feels like they’ve been in early on players before other major programs.  

Cornerback signee Aydan West is a great example after securing his commitment and then fending off Ohio State on signing day.  

A more recent example is 2026 quarterback Kayd Coffman. Michigan State was the first Power Four school to offer him back in November. Fast forward two months later, Coffman picks up offers from Ole Miss and Iowa State in consecutive days.

Examples like these and many more get me excited every time the Spartans offer a new player.

Let’s take a look at the flurry of new offers:

Class of 2026

• 3-star EDGE Kamren Johnson (Virginia Beach, Va.)
• NR CB Kennedi Bailey (Atlanta, Ga.)
• NR IOL Jerald Mays (Pflugerville, Texas)
• NR ATH Kelsey Deriso (Fayetteville, Ga.)
• NR S Djimon McLEndon (Tucker, Ga.)

Class of 2027

• 4-star LB Amarri Irvin (Bradenton, Fla.)
• OT DeMarrion Johnson (Tyler, Texas)
• WR Tre Moore (Pflugerville, Texas)
• WR Trey Haralson (Tyler, Texas)
• ATH Victor Scott (Lancaster, Texas)
• RB CaDarius McMiller (Tyler, Texas)

The obvious pattern here is each recruit’s hometown. Likely stemming from a recruiting trip, it’s clear the staff has opened their recruiting radius a bit in the 2026 and 2027 classes. The recruiting methodology in the first year for Jonathan Smith in East Lansing appeared to be: to establish the region. Now it appears they’re comfortable enough to open things up and offer more players in Texas, Georgia, and other fertile recruiting grounds.

Most 2027 players don’t have rankings quite yet. Recruiting sites are still sifting through the 2026 class as well. Don’t worry if a prospect doesn’t have a ranking quite yet. As these players go to more camps, complete their junior and senior seasons, and pick up more offers these rankings will become established. That said, I wouldn’t put too much stock in a site’s original ranking. This staff appears to know what they’re doing from an evaluation standpoint.

I’m excited to see where all these guys rank as the recruiting cycles progress. We could see some notable prospects when it’s all said and done.