Michigan State football: Previewing June 2 official visits

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.