Pledge Week: Wide Receivers

The week draws to a sweet, merciful close with our star position group in this class, the Wide Receivers. This was Mark Dantonio's most impressive recruiting haul. DeAnthony Arnett write up will be very brief.

DeAnthony Arnett

Arnett transferred to MSU a few weeks ago from Tennessee. He is currently seeking a hardship waiver from the NCAA which would allow him to skip the customary transfer year. Arnett is very talented and provided the aforementioned waiver works out, will see the field in 2012. He'll play out of the slot quite a bit as his "shake and bake" is his main claim to fame.


Aaron Burbridge

Burbridge committed to MSU on 7/28/2011 over offers from OSU, ND, UM and pretty much any other school you can think of. He was ranked a four star recruit by all three recruiting services. At 6'1" and 175 lbs, he is basically the spitting image of former Farmington Hills Harrison standout Mark Dell. Burbridge appears to have all of the physical tools to dominate the college game at catching and running with the football. Doesn't look to be an elite blocker yet.


To the YouTubes!

Well, he's faster than every one else on the field. There's a disgusting one handed catch about two minutes in, not to mention a pretty nice grab on an endzone corner route. There's a reason he was nationally recruited and it's because his milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

2012 Prognostication: Barring injury will be a four year contributor, perhaps even a four year starter.

Kyle Kerrick

Kerrick committed to MSU on 6/23/2011 over offers from Illinois, Pitt, WVa and the MAC. He's ranked a three-star prospect by all three recruiting services. Kerrick figures to be auditioning for the BJ Cunningham role vs his main competition Monty Madaris. An advantage that Kerrick possesses is that he is MSU's only early enrollee for 2012 so he will participate in Spring Ball which means that when Madaris comes to town Kerrick will already have an extra 15 practices under his belt.



To The YouTubes!

He's more shifty than I imagined. When I hear a "big-bodied" wide receiver, I always imagine Derrick Nix with in pillow armor catching passes. This kid looks quick and shifty for a few steps but in a foot race his speed is pretty pedestrian. Perfect for a BJ Cunningham replacement.

2012 Prognostication: If you're a WR, you're in the mix to play this year. He'll be on the field no later than next year at least situationally.

MacGarrett Kings Jr.

Kings committed to MSU on 7/13/2011 over offers from Auburn, Georgia and Wisconsin. All three services have him ranked as a three-star WR recruit. So, in short, are you worried you might miss Keshawn Martin? You should be. Kings, can be a reasonable facsimile therein(I'm not going to say replacement). Unlike Martin, Kings has played WR and RB in HS and will not have to "learn to catch the ball". He could fit into the Keshawn position immediately.


To The YouTubes!

Just my suspicion, but Mr. Hill is going to have to work to keep the #1 KR job at a minimum. Kings shows nice hands on a catch around 1:35. Good adjustment to the ball and good hands to make the catch. It won't take him 2 seasons to learn to be a good wide receiver like the recently departed Keshawn. Excellent pick-up. What's not to love? His top end speed is not elite but his first few steps are as quick as anyone that I remember having seen. That's a nitpicking criticism though.

2012 Prognostication: Will return punts, kicks or both this year. Will see the field as a WR if Arnett's waiver is not granted.

Monty Madaris

Madaris committed to MSU on well today when he sent in his NLI. He committed earlier this week, but then there was much drama. All water under the bridge now. Madaris had functional offers at this point probably from just MSU and Cincy, although at one time had offers from Florida State, Nebraska and a disputable offer with Michigan. At some point, he could serve as a cautionary tale of holding out for an offer you're not going to get(I still think he wanted to play at OSU). He's ranked a four star recruit by Scout and 247. Rivals was stingier and only gave him very high three.

To The YouTubes!

Madaris senior year highlights are outstanding. He doesn't slow down to catch the ball, his routes look really fluid, he gets up to speed quickly and doesn't get caught from behind, and best of all, he comes from Archbishop Moeller High School who has brought us such players as Greg Jones and Marcus Rush. Monty Madaris looks like he could be worth the wait and a nice compliment to Burbridge.


2012 Prognostication: Will compete with Kerrick to be the next BJ Cunningham. Kerrick has a head start, Madaris has more physical tools. One will redshirt this year unless the other is injured.

Pledge Week: Defensive Line

MSU took one defensive line recruit in this class. Our defensive line was what made our defense so damned good last year and we needs us some good defensive line. I will say despite how short we are of total recruits we're completely making up for it with the "motion of the ocean".

David Fennell

MSU Spartans

David Fennell committed to Michigan State on January 23rd over offers from no one else. He played his senior year in Portland, Oregon. He is Canadian so I cannot wait to see how evil he gets as a Defensive Tackle once he learns to be an impolite jerk like the rest of us Americans. Fennell was ranked a three star prospect by 247 Sports and two-stars by Rivals and Scout. At 1.905 Meters and and 124.73 kilos he's got the frame to grow, but the size to play already.

His father was "Dr. Death" of CFL fame, not of Kevorkian fame. The elder Fennell won the award of Most Outstanding Canadian in 1979*. So what does our new David Fennell know about playing football? To the Youtubes! 

*Most Outstanding Canadian of the CFL

How Many People Will Fennell Eat in the Big Ten?

Lots. He'll eat lots. I know this is high school ball, but I love his burst off the snap. Worthy-like burst against High School kids. He also does a nice job driving his blocker back and then getting of his blocks to take off after the ball carrier. Areas for improvement? Doesn't look like the surest tackler yet, but I'm really reaching.

2012 Prognostication and Beyond: I think Fennell redshirts in 2012. There's a logjam at the three technique that needs the cable fixed and I don't think it gets sorted out until after this year. Fennell sees rotational duty beginning in 2013.

2013 Needs: 2 DE and 2 DT minimum.

Bonus: As many of you may already know, Monty Madaris has yet to fax in his letter of intent. There are theories ranging from that he's not sure he wants to move the six hours to MSU all the way to Urbz is hiding in the bushes outside his house with a kilo of coke and a gaggle of hookers ready to tattoo him in his new 370z. For my own part, I don't much care what the hold up is, Madaris needs to make the right choice for him. This is all no longer true, but the below is about the next recruiting blow-up.


I'd encourage you in this era of internet transparency to avoid getting worked up about what the kid is or isn't doing. A friend of mine says that people pick their noses more when they're in the car because they think they're alone despite the fact everyone can see you. This is true of the internet as well, if you dog on a kid when you think he can't see you, he can. It only depends on whether he's looking on that message board at the time. Let him be, if he doesn't want to come here that's his choice.

Less Preachy Bonus Links:

Vannini recaps Signing Day in about seven fewer posts.

Official Signing Day Recap

Orson Swindle's Fourth Part on Signing Day: Starring Bret Bielema

Here's Your Shield, Monty Madaris

I had my doubts for a minute there that the Spartans were going to get anyone else this recruiting season, but it looks like the suspense was worth it. Today, the Spartans received a commitment from Ohio wide receiver Monty Madaris.  Folks, Madaris is an exciting pick-up.  All of the recruiting sites (except Rivals) consider him a 4-star recruit and they all consider him a top-60 receiver.  Scout rates him the highest, ranking him the 26th receiver in the country.  Madaris also had some pretty solid offers from places like Boston College, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Florida State, Illinois, Michigan, and Nebraska.  So basically, he's good.

Madaris has excellent size for a receiver (6'2" and 190 lbs.), but there seems to be some concern about his speed.  None of the sites have a 40-time recorded for Madaris and Scout lists his speed as area for improvement.  The only 40-time that is available come from one of his videos, which says he runs the 40 in 4.5 seconds.  

Actually, whether his speed is a concern or not depends on which of his videos you watch.  In one video, his speed does seem to be less impressive and then there is this one: 

In this one Madaris looks like he possesses all the tools to be a great receiver.  He looks athletic.  For a 6'2" guy, he looks quick and elusive; he is able to put moves on tacklers and has the burst to get by them.  When he gets to the second level he shows great top-end speed.  He also shows the ability to go up and win jump-balls and shows some grit, diving into the end-zone.  I am hoping that this video is from Madaris' senior year and the other video I saw was of his junior year.  That would show some serious development on his part.

Madaris' commitment wraps up the Spartans' wide receiver recruiting.  The Spartans picked up four wide receivers in this class, including two 4-star guys.  Aaron Burbridge is the most likely of the four to see playing time as a freshman, but to me, the Madaris in this video looks like someone that could compete for some playing time.  We'll have to see.  Even if he doesn't play as a freshman, Madaris should eventually become one of the Spartans' best receivers.  

Weekly Wednesday Wrecruiting Wrap

Commitments, We Has Them.

- Safety Mark Meyers decommitted from Toledo over the weekend and committed to MSU! Should you be excited about a kid who decommitted from Toledo to play at Michigan State? Eh, not as excited as you should be if Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu signed up to play ball at MSU, but his film is respectable.

The kid looks like he has a lot of experience playing centerfield in a zone defense. How convenient for a team like ours that tends to run exactly that kind of pass coverage.(Narduzzi used to say our base defense was quarters, but it's been less distinctly so since Wheel-Route-A-Palooza in 2009.)

His offer sheet is less than spectacular, his next best offer being Toledo. Since Toledo's HC left to go die at Illinois, Illinois showed interest but had not yet offered. Same for Nebraska. Based off of the video above he seems to have good ball-hawking skills(plus), good speed(plus) and plays in read and react defense(huge plus). Some areas he'll plainly need to work on before seeing the field at MSU are, his read and react doesn't seem to be THAT good. His 40 is plainly not the advertised 4.46. He's a solid late-season pickup at a position of need.

- Defensive Tackle David Fennell of Portland, Oregon will be joining MSU next fall as our first Oregonian recruit that I can recall. His father, Dave "Dr. Death" Fennell is in the CFL Hall of Fame. Should you be excited about a kid who literally has no other offers? In this case, yes. Usually, no. Here's why.

The kid pretty much lives in Beast Mode. Get up in the morning. Beast Mode. Have a glass of milk. Beast Mode. Knock over other High School kids. Beast Mode.  Based off the video above, he seems to get good push, slips blocks well, can move his guy around as needed. What could he improve? He seems to overpursue a bit. That's really all I got on him. This will be another in the tradition of Keshawn Martin, Le'Veon Bell, Darqueze Dennard type players.

Scholarship Count

MSU has one, MAYBE, two scholarships left. More on this in a skosh.


Official Visits For This Upcoming Weekend

Marcus Horne - RB(Uncommitted) - Horne is a kid that MSU is probably looking to take with a greyshirt. A greyshirt is when a kid pays one or more years of their college while they wait for a scholarship. Think of it like walking-on, except you're really a preferred walk-on, except you're more preferred than a preferred walk-on.

Kid has very good speed although not elite. Size-wise he's about the same size as Tompkins, our 2012 RB. Honestly, I think he gets a full-ride offer if we didn't already have another back with this one-cut skill set.

Terrell Jackson - DT(Uncommitted, Formerly Committed to Duke) & Jaleel Johnson - DT(Committed to Iowa, loosely) - It's difficult to talk about Jackson without talking about Johnson. Expect the recruitment to play out roughly like this.

Johnson is the preferred candidate between Johnson and Jackson. Johnson took his official to Iowa this past weekend and had a great time, but will still take his official to MSU. Jackson as of right now does not have an MSU offer. Jackson received an offer from Iowa late yesterday.

So, in summary. MSU will get Jackson or Johnson. Iowa will get Johnson or Jackson. Jaleel Johnson is deciding where he and Terrell Jackson will be going to college. Johnson will go to either MSU or Iowa and Jackson will go to the other.

Jackson Footage

All I could find was a video of a different Terrell Jackson. This one was 5'11" and 170.

Jaleel Johnson Footage

Either will do. I'd prefer Johnson because he is already more built at almost 280 where Jackson is smaller. Also, Iowa fans hate MSU football. They hated us before we beat them at Iowa in 2011 despite Ferentz's 3-1 record against them at the time, they hated us for stealing David Barrent even though they stole Cedric Everson from us on Signing Day, they hated us having Keshawn Martin pass on them down three scores at home even though Marvin McNutt did the same thing to us last year.

So if they're going to hate us let's have it be because we flat out stole one of their commitments, eh?

JaMichael Winston, DE(Committed to Arkansas) - I don't know why the hell this kid is listed as committed, he's taking more official visits than many uncommitted kids. Frankly, he's smitten with Clemson and not coming here. Here's some video anyway so you can covet what you can't have.

The kid is lightning quick, but he looks pretty damn pedestrian at shedding blocks. When he actually gets blocked, which is rare.

Other Notes

- Monty Madaris will decide between MSU and Cincy. I'm thinking Cincy honestly. More on this after his decision.

- Kyle Dodson took his official this past weekend and was the subject of some Izzone chanting when they weren't picking on Robbie Hummel. A funny story on this after Signing Day.

- JP Holtz decides tonight between MSU and Pitt on Pittsburgh TV. As Mike from The Little Brother Blog said, you don't decide on local TV to pick the out of state school.

Best Guess to Round Out The Class

- Jaleel Johnson DT, Monty Madaris WR

Meta Note: Starting effective immediately, Leonidas from What Is Your Profession will be taking over as recruiting guru for A Beautiful Day For Football. Recruiting is one of his passions and strengths as an MSU blogger and we're damn glad to have him. More elaborate intro when his first post goes up.

Weekly Wednesday Wrecruiting Wrap for January 18th, 2012

Quick explanation of how the recruiting cycle works at the beginning of this article.

Early Defections & Scholarship Count

Transfers are looking more and more unlikely by the day. If you haven't enrolled for classes at most universities by Tuesday the 17th, you pretty much can't anymore. So if you're in today, you're likely in for the remainder of the semester. Which is cool with me, I like our team.

Still think that MSU has three schollies to go although there would be no shame in quitting while ahead.

Official Visits Lined Up For This Weekend


It's a big thing for Dantonio to have a huge weekend where he gets a bunch of his committed prospects on campus along with a couple of key uncommitted prospects to try and get them to sign up. This year, that weekend is this upcoming weekend. Lots and lots of great prospects.


Riley Bullough(Committed) - Riley Bullough is a LB prospect from Traverse City. He comes from a long line of Bullough's that have attended Michigan State University. They pretty much are the closest thing that college football has to a lineage of family members playing a position. Bullough currently projects as a strongside linebacker and will likely take Denicos Allen's place when he leaves in 2013.

Zach Higgins(Committed) - Zach Higgins is an Offensive Tackle prospect out of Marlington High School, Ohio. Higgins in true MSU Offensive Tackle prospect fashion has already injured himself in a career-jeopardizing sense. The rumor being he tore an ACL and MCL. For a lament I wrote on our Offensive Tackles click here. Anyway, Dantonio honors scholarships, if the injury is recoverable and since 17 year olds are built out of rubber it may well be, you want him here. If it is not, he'll get a medical scholarship. Higgins has impressed when on the field and we can never have enough Offensive Tackle prospects.

Marcus Horne(Uncommitted) - Horne is a RB prospect out of Milwaukee. At 5'10" and 190 he's built very similarly to our already committed Nick Tompkins. Tompkins was promised that he would be the only running back we take in the class of 2012, however, I don't think anyone counted on Edwin Baker leaving the program after this year. Horne was talking a grey-shirt with MSU, but with Baker leaving obviously that changes things a bit. (A grey-shirt is when a kid pays their own way the first year, but then gets put on scholarship as a sophmore or beyond). Horne doesn't have an offer for a full-ride, if he gets one, I think he jumps, if he doesn't, I don't think he commits.

Terrell Jackson(Committed, to Duke) -  Terrell Jackson is a DT prospect at 6'3" and 255 he does not meet the requirement needed to Be An Instant Worthy Replacement. Frankly, his offer sheet is kind of eh and if MSU takes him this would fall into the bucket of "might be a reach". He is currently committed to Duke which honestly is nice. I'm a little tired of the notion that MSU doesn't recruit players who are committed. MSU recruits kids who are interested in being recruited, "committed" or otherwise. That's what they should do.

Evan Jones(Committed) - I could copy and paste the description of JP Holtz I did last week, but I won't. Jones is a 6'6", 240 lbs dude who could end up playing a host of positions in college. He will likely end up at Tight End though since Tight End is among our more thin positions in the upcoming year or two. Jones offer sheet isn't stunning, but he also committed very early in the process.

Jamal Lyles(Committed) - Lyles is a DE prospect that will have kind of a similar trajectory to Lawrence Thomas IMO. A big-bodied dude who has the frame to put on a lot of good weight. Lyles is one of two Rivals four star recruits committed to MSU. He will continue to improve our already impressive Defensive Line.

Benny McGowan(Committed) - Here's what you need to know about OG/C prospect Benny McGowan, he is the first Offensive Lineman to ever score over 100 on the SPARQ rating. What is SPARQ? It's Nike's moderately unsuccessful attempt to create a standard scoring mechanism for all positions in football to measure Quickness, Agility, Strength and something else that starts with P and R. The fact of the matter is that you cannot reasonably compare the physical attributes of an offensive lineman and a defensive back. That said, no Offensive Lineman has scored over 100, ever. Except this one. Even in a flawed rating system, that speaks to a positive outlier.


Mark Meyers(Committed, to Toledo) - Meyers is a safety prospect currently committed to Toledo. With the departure of Tim Beckman to Illinois Meyer started waving his commitment around. Currently he is pursuing offers from MSU and Illinois and currrently he has offers from neither. Meyers is coming to MSU in the hopes of getting an offer and if he does, he will be in green and white.

Tyler O'Connor(Committed) - O'Connor is the MSU QB commit for 2012. He has a very nice but not elite offer sheet and selected MSU over Northwestern. It's a damn good thing he did too, he is the NW QB that makes you want to throw a brick through your TV. Accurate with quick feet that can get you a few yards on the ground, he'll provide a nice challenge to Cook in the QB battle of 2014 which is as ridiculous to type as it is to read.

Josiah Price(Committed) -  When constructing the two-deeps due to go up over at the Only Colors this week, Price and Burbridge were my picks for kids who will not redshirt in the class of 2012. Burbridge because he'll choose not to, Price because the staff will need him catching passes and playing Tight End. Price is one of the gems of the 2012 class.

Anfornee Stewart(Uncommitted) - What can I say? This kid's recruitment has Keshawn Martin/Le'Veon Bell written all over it. A kid who sends out film after his senior season and gets looks from a bunch of schools.

Rumory Rumor Internet SOPA Rumors

- Monty Madaris will decide sometime this weekend or shortly thereafter. He is rumored to be planning a visit to MSU.



- MSU is getting involved with another 2012 Safety recruit, Jordan Moore, at the 11th hour.


- The kid at the top of MSU's Safety board, Demetrious Cox is rumored to be visiting OSU this weekend.

Best Guess On Finishing Out The Class

TE - JP Holtz, WR - Monty Madaris, S - Anfornee Stewart

It's pretty obvious with how hard MSU has been hitting the safety types in the past week that getting a safety is high priority right now. I don't think the big-bodied kid to replace Worthy is there right now, so MSU will address their most pressing defensive need.

Wednesday Weekly Wrecruiting Wrap

There are a few people who read this blog who aren't real familiar with the recruiting cycle, so I'm going to briefly walkthrough this. If you already know how the actual process of recruiting works, skip ahead a bit, if not I'll keep it brief.

Our example class is the class of 2012 and their timeline goes like this.

• Unofficial interest by a school can begin at anytime. Barry Sanders Jr. was receiving recruiting attention as early as the eighth grade.
• Throughout high school beginning at any time, students can attend summer camps put on by college football staffs.
• Unofficial offers can be made at anytime, typically no earlier than after sophmore year, even for the most talented prospects.
• Official written offers can go out September 1st of the prospects junior year. For the class of 2012, this was 9/1/2010.
• A prospect can "commit" anytime after receiving one of these written offers.The commitment must be accepted by the staff after being offered by the prospect. However the commitment is not binding by either party until National Signing Day. 
• An official visit is the one time a school is allowed to fly the prospect and the prospect's family into town to visit the campus. The number of official visits is limited for a school to I believe 56. Typically, regional prospects commit to a school and then take an official visit later. National recruits or VERY highly rated recruits use the Official Visits to make their decision. For the MSU staff, official visits almost always occur after the season prior to National Signing Day. For the 2012 class, this is the period between the Big Ten Title Game and February 1, 2012.
• National Signing Day is the first Wednesday in February. Commits receive a National Letter of Intent which they then sign and fax(LOL) back to the football offices.
• A commit can enroll early. This means they begin classes the Winter prior to the year their class. For example in the 2012 class, Ezra Robinson and DeAnthony Arnett(transfer) have begun classes, but will not see the field until 2012.

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Early Defections & Scholarship Count

With Edwin Baker and Jerel Worthy announcing their departure and Johnny Adams announcing he'll be back for his senior year, I think MSU is done with dealing with early defections for this year's recruiting cycle. Anyone looking to transfer probably would have done so by now.

Currently, MSU has 14 commitments for the 2012 class, I won't be counting Arnett because he is technically a transfer. I think they're looking to take 17 in this class. A team can have 85 scholarship players, unless they're Ohio State for the next couple of years. ZING! 17 is actually the ideal number of players to take in a class because if they all redshirt then you have 17 kids coming in all five years to total your 85 scholarships. Blame JLS for lots of things failure-oriented, this was a trend he started at MSU we should be grateful for.

Official Visits Lined Up For This Weekend

JP Holtz - Holtz was on my wish list I made a few weeks ago because he is another one of those 6'6", 240 lbs DE/TE types that schools like MSU, Iowa and Wisconsin love to stockpile. These kinds of athletes can play TE/DE/DT/OT/OG at the next level. They get brought in and find a position over the first couple years. Previously committed to Pitt, but with offers from Michigan, Arkansas and Penn State, Holtz is a guy you should be excited about if he comes to play at MSU.

Addressing the Other Positions of Need

WR - Seems deep in this class, but it is not deep overall in 2012. Monty Madaris is a player who seems close to making a decision and would fit the MSU offense very nicely. Coupled with our WR commit from over the summer, Kyle Kerrick both excel at WR and Safety. If Madaris commits to MSU expect him to go to WR and Kerrick to Safety.

DT- With the departure of Worthy, MSU is looking to find a big-bodied DT for 2012. I'm frankly skeptical that there is anyone on the radar that fits the bill of a 6'3", 300 Worthy Replacement. Maybe if there's a late decommitment?

OL - We could always use more OL, but again, I'm not seeing anyone who jumps out at me as a likely-to-have player at MSU.

Best Guess On Finishing Out The Class

TE - JP Holtz, WR - Monty Madaris, OL/DL to be named later.