Couch: 3 quick takes on MSU football recruiting, Jonathan Smith’s first season and the hiring of Saddi Washington

Michigan State’s Jalen Thompson, left, and Khris Bogle work out in a drill during the Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

1. MSU football fans may never again feel alive about recruiting the way they did just two years ago

In Michigan State football years, two years seems like just about forever.

Two years ago this week, I led my column with this assessment of MSU’s program and coaching staff:

“It’s way too early to call Mel Tucker a $95-million bargain. But this is the sort of recruiting that might one day get him there.”

And a few graphs later …

“Tucker and his staff have created recruiting momentum in a short burst beyond anything this program has ever experienced. That’s not hyperbole.”

Not hyperbole, perhaps. Just didn’t age well. It didn’t last. He wasn’t worth it.

The Tucker era crashed and burned last September. But the height of it spanned from Miami in September 2021 through about this week in 2022. And while nine four-star high school prospects did ultimately sign with MSU the following December — and five of them remain with the program (offensive lineman Cole Dellinger and Stanton Ramil, linebacker Jordan Hall, tight end Brennan Parachek and defensive lineman Jalen Thompson) — it’s hard to imagine MSU fans ever again being as fired up about football recruiting as they were two years ago in June, as one high-profile prospect after another posed at Spartan Stadium with fancy cars and flashy gear.

The fading buzz over the months and year that followed, coupled with a changing college sports world, killed June for MSU football fans — and many college football fans. The sport changed on Tucker, too. His glitzy style of recruiting might have worked when the Lamborghinis were for show and didn’t have to actually be a gift upon enrollment….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/couch-3-quick-takes-msu-181213450.html

Author : Lansing State Journal

Publish date : 2024-06-11 18:12:13

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