Who’s on campus for Michigan State football’s first official visit weekend?

Michigan State football is hosting its first official visit weekend of the Jonathan Smith era and here’s who’s on campus.

That time of the year is upon us: the second-slowest time in high school recruiting. These next couple of days leading up to the weekend are when recruits are finalizing their official visit schedule for the month of June where programs like Michigan State football will host their top targets before hitting the ground running for fall camp.

This weekend marks the first official visit weekend for new Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith and the rest of his staff. Ever since Smith arrived on campus, he has focused on in-state recruiting and players who fit the ‘low-ego, high-output’ culture he’s building in East Lansing.

In the last couple of years, former head coach Mel Tucker brought a different spin to June visits than Spartan fans are used to. In an effort to go toe-to-toe with the recruiting powerhouses of college football, Tucker deployed strategies at these official visits centered around fancy cars, photoshoots, and farm animals (goats).

I’m going to venture to guess that isn’t what we will be seeing under the new regime. Honestly, I’m not sure these visits will be very public. I think we should be OK with that.

Let’s take a look at who is scheduled to be on campus this weekend:

• Darius Afalava, 3-star IOL from Lehi, Utah
• LaRue Zamorano, 3-star CB from Corona, Calif.
• Houston Kaahaaina-Torres, 3-star IOL from Honolulu, Hawaii
• Jayden Savoury, 3-star TE from Orchard Lake, Mich.
• Brad Fitzgibbon, 3-star DL from Chicago, Ill.
• Mykah Newton, 3-star EDGE from Newberry, Fla.
• Bradley Gompers, Unranked LB from Pittsburgh, Penn.
• Jon Denman, 3-star RB from Palestine, Texas
• Braylon Collier, 3-star WR from Sandusky, Ohio

It’s so funny how drastically different this year’s June visits will be compared to 2023. A year ago, I would have listed off three five-star visitors complemented by a flurry of four-star recruits. It is a completely different strategy this year as the highest-ranked recruit is Darius Afalava, listed at No. 425 nationally on 247Sports.

Not only is Afalava a name to keep an eye on, but fans should also do their homework on Houston Kaahaaina-Torres. The Hawaii native is seriously considering Michigan State football given the travel required to visit. The trenches are a priority for offensive line coach Jim Michalczik whose offensive line at Oregon State last year was named a semi-finalist for the Joe Moore Award.

This first weekend is filled with players from all over the country. The new staff has identified and prioritized the players at the top of their boards to get them on campus. I suspect this will be the biggest weekend for players outside of the Midwest. Smith and his staff still have relationships with high school players from their time at Oregon State and it makes sense for them to continue recruiting that bunch.

This is one of my favorite times of the year. It signifies how close we are to the kick-off of fall camp and ultimately the 2024 season.