Michigan State football: Talented 4-star in-state ATH schedules visit

Michigan State football will be getting a visit from four-star in-state athlete Elijah Dotson at the beginning of February.

As the offseason continues full steam ahead, we continue to hear positive developments on the recruiting trail. This time it’s a talented athlete who has scheduled a visit to check out Michigan State football.

Michigan State to host four-star in-state ATH Elijah Dotson next month…

“I want to see a competitive, family environment.”
(On3+): https://t.co/Knp084DM8P pic.twitter.com/N4GRDCW8mS

— Jason Killop (@KillopOn3) January 12, 2024

Four-star athlete Elijah Dotson

Elijah Dotson is a four-star athlete from Detroit. According to On3, he is the No. 345 player in the country and the No. 17 player at his position. But 247Sports has him ranked a little lower as a three-star and the No. 456 player in his class.

Dotson is an extremely important target for Jonathan Smith and the Spartans. Not only because he’s an extremely talented player, but also because it’s important to earn commitments from in-state recruits. Both On3 and 247Sports have him as the No. 6 player in the state of Michigan and those typically are the guys you want playing for your team.

Recruiting the state hard and winning recruitments like this, especially in Detroit where a lot of college players come from, will only help us in the future. You never know how many good players will come from this area in the future, so if you can build good relationships with the high school coaching staffs, that will only help MSU in the future.

An unfortunate team might be the leader for Dotson

As with pretty much every recruitment right now, a lot is unknown as to who the leader is. Even if one team feels like the leader, a lot can change in the next 11 months. I hope that’s the case in this recruitment.

Dotson currently has three crystal ball predictions in favor of Michigan right now. To be fair, those predictions are a little old now, coming in July and November. Once predictions get that old they lose some value, but Michigan likely is still in the lead.

Dotson also holds offers from Wisconsin, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Indiana.

Hopefully this visit on Feb. 3 is a good sign for Michigan State football and it can use it to start turning the tide in Elijah’s recruitment. If we know anything in Smith’s short tenure as head coach, we can never count him out of a recruiting battle.