Michigan State football picks up huge commitment from Andrew Dennis

Michigan State football has re-landed a former four-star offensive lineman who was committed in the 2024 class before picking Illinois.

Jonathan Smith is once again working his transfer portal magic for Michigan State football.

Just a couple of days after losing Geno VanDeMark and Ethan Boyd to the transfer portal, Smith has made a splash with the commitment of Illinois transfer Andrew Dennis.

Coming home! @Coach_Smith @FBCoachM @CoachLail pic.twitter.com/n5XpknXw1E

— Andrew (AJ) Dennis (@andrewdennis_08) May 2, 2024

Does the name sound familiar? It should because Dennis was one of the top commits in Mel Tucker’s final class at Michigan State (2024). He was committed early and he helped the staff recruit the class by showing up over all official visit weekends over the summer on his own dime. Dennis was as important as any recruit in the class.

So when he decommitted after the Tucker mess, it hurt, but it made sense. There was so much uncertainty surrounding the Michigan State football program at the time and he wanted to go to a more stable spot. He chose Bret Bielema and Illinois and enrolled early in January.

Dennis had been in Champaign all spring semester and went through practices but decided he wanted to enter the transfer portal and move closer to home to play college football. The most logical choice was Michigan State. And just a few days after hitting the portal, he re-committed to the Spartans, joining the roster ahead of the 2024 season.

So Smith lost VanDeMark and Boyd, but he gains a former top-175 recruit who was committed to Tucker before he was fired in Dennis. Not a horrible trade-off and one that will likely pay major dividends in the long run.

Dennis was a big loss for Illinois as he was one of their top 2024 class commits but the Mount Pleasant, Mich., native and No. 162 overall recruit in the 2024 class is coming back home to bolster that Spartan offensive line.

Huge get for the Spartans.