Michigan State football hosting 5-star OT this weekend

Jonathan Smith is putting in some work on the recruiting trail for Michigan State football as he’s hosting a five-star on Saturday.

Saturday was already shaping up to be one of the biggest days that MSU athletics has had in a long time. Michigan State hockey is hosting the Big Ten Tournament title game versus rival Michigan. Gymnastics is hosting the Big Ten Championship meet at Jenison as well. Then, of course, as you may know, the basketball team has a pretty important game tonight in the NCAA Tournament. But don’t sleep on Michigan State football.

With all these great things happening, it appears football did not want to be left out. It was reported on Saturday morning that the Spartans will be hosting a high-profile class of 2025 prospect today for an unofficial visit.

When I say high profile, I certainly am not exaggerating.

Per 247Sports’ Justin Thind and Corey Robinson, MSU is hosting offensive line prospect Andrew Babalola on Saturday. He is a 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive tackle who hails from Overland Park, Kan. According to 247 Sports, he is ranked as the No. 15 overall prospect in the 2025 cycle. He is also considered to be the No. 1 player from the state of Kansas and the No. 3 tackle in the country.

NEWS: #MichiganState is hosting five-star OT Andrew Babalola on campus today, per @C_Robinson247 & myself.

#15 player in the nation in the 2025 class.

Kansas native’s profile: https://t.co/sgbKqLcinA pic.twitter.com/Q0EJkOFWWr

— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) March 23, 2024

As expected, Babalola has a plethora of offers — 35 of them, to be exact. These offers include a who’s who of major college football programs. Some teams in contention for him are Oklahoma, Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Florida State, and Oregon. That certainly isn’t it. Pretty much every Big Ten School has offered him as well. So far, it remains early on in his process. He only currently has one official visit locked in for this summer. That is currently scheduled for June 21.

Jonathan Smith and offensive line coach Jim Michalczik are getting Babalola on campus Saturday with everything going on to make a good impression on him. If all goes well, look for the staff to hopefully try to get an official visit on the books for this summer.

Babalola is still developing but his potential is through the roof. Some scouts and analysts project him to have a higher ceiling than most 2025 offensive linemen. He certainly has the tools and potential to be a major impact player at the collegiate level. He also could translate into the type of lineman that could be playing on Sundays.

The five-star tackle has several other unofficial visits in mind. He is spending time with the school down the road this weekend as well. He also has already visited with Auburn and attended junior day festivities at Kansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee this year.

Let’s have a day, Spartans.