Michigan State football trending for top CB target LaRue Zamorano

Michigan State football is trending for one of the top cornerbacks left on its board, LaRue Zamorano from California.

Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith and his staff’s recruiting strategy is as follows: dominate the state of Michigan and leverage their West Coast relationships whenever appropriate. As it stands today, seven of 15 2025 commits come from the state of Michigan. The crown jewel, quarterback Leo Hannan (as well as interior lineman Drew Nichols), hails from California.

On Sunday, cornerback LaRue Zamorano received two crystal balls — Both in Michigan State’s favor from a couple 247Sports national recruiting insiders. Not long ago, it was expected that the California defensive back would stay on the West Coast and sign with Washington.

As of this past weekend, those predictions were out the window.

Zamorano stands 6-foot-1, weighs 170 pounds, and possesses very fluid movement in pass coverage. This is what folks in the biz call ‘oily hips’. Fluidity is a skillset that scouts seek out at both the college and NFL levels during their defensive back evaluations.

LaRue has been highly sought after during his recruitment, holding offers from USC, Oregon, Washington, Penn State, and many others. Washington presumably being the preferred landing spot even following his May 31 official visit to East Lansing.

The high three-star cornerback is rated an 88 on 247Sports’ composite rankings with a four-star rating on Rivals.

If Zamorano were to commit to the Spartans, he would be the highest-rated recruit in MSU’s 2025 class ahead of Hannan. As a top-500 player, he would also be Jonathan Smith’s highest-rated commit in his short time with the program. I’m excluding Nick Marsh since he is almost exclusively a wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins product.

Zamorano’s primary recruiter is none other than cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin, an exceptional addition from Oregon.

We don’t have a timeline for when Zamorano plans to announce his commitment but insiders believe it could be sooner rather than later.