2024 five-star DT David Stone sets Michigan State official visit
David Stone, a five-star recruit and one of the most coveted prospects in the entire 2024 recruiting class, will take an official visit to Michigan State during the weekend of June 23 through June 25.
On Sunday morning, Stone teased a countdown clock on Instagram with a picture of him in a Michigan State uniform at Spartan Stadium, accompanied by a green heart and axe emoji. He later took to Twitter to announce the news as well.
Stone, who is originally from Oklahoma, currently attends IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He ranks as the No. 2 defensive tackle, No. 2 recruit in the state of Florida and No. 10 prospect overall in the 2024 class.
Stone has visited East Lansing multiple times. He was most recently on campus for the "Spartan Football Kickoff" event in April.
Stone has well over 30 scholarship offers. He has already taken official visits to Florida (the weekend of June 2), Miami (the weekend of June 9) and Oklahoma (the weekend of June 16). Michigan State now gets a chance to host Stone for his final official visit during the month of June.
The 6-foot-4, 280-pound Stone was named to the 2022 MaxPreps High School Football Junior All-America Team as a first-team selection last season. At Rivals Camp Series Miami in March, Stone took home defensive line MVP honors.
Michigan State originally offered Stone a scholarship in April of 2022. The Spartans have built a strong relationship with the elite defensive lineman ever since then. In fact, Michigan State was considered to be one of the leaders in Stone's recruitment for quite some time. However, staff changes along the defensive line this offseason made things more unclear about MSU's standing with Stone.
In January, Michigan State lost defensive line coach Marco Coleman to his alma mater, Georgia Tech. Then in March, pass-rush specialist coach Brandon Jordan took a job in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. The recruiting department also had an overhaul as Saeed Khalif, Michigan State's former general manager/executive director of player personnel and recruiting, was not retained.
Due to these changes, many national analysts believed the Spartans' chances with Stone may have been slipping. With that said, Michigan State hired new defensive line coach Diron Reynolds in late January. Reynolds, head coach Mel Tucker and the rest of the staff has worked to keep the relationship with Stone strong.
Back in February, Stone told Rivals that the only official visit he knew for sure he would take was to Michigan State. He was true to his word and now has the dates locked in.
With newly-hired executive director of player personnel and recruiting Mark Diethorn now running the department, MSU will look to strengthen the bond with Stone even further during his official visit.
The fact that Michigan State has secured Stone's last official visit in June proves that the Spartans are still in great position with the IMG Academy standout. However, Oklahoma is still considered the team to beat for Stone's eventual signature as of right now, with Florida and Miami (FL.) in the running as well. Oregon is another team to watch.
In addition to Stone, Michigan State is expected to host several other visitors during the weekend of June 23 through June 25. Those who are scheduled to be on campus include four-star wide receiver and former MSU commit Nick Marsh four-star offensive tackle DeAndre Carter, four-star running back Jason Brown, rising offensive linemen, and twins, Mercer Luniewski and Charlton Luniewski, three-star defensive back Justin Denson Jr. and three-star safety Jason Cross. There could be additions as well.
Michigan State's 2024 recruiting class currently has five commitments. The group includes four-star cornerback Jaylen Thompson, three-star offensive lineman Andrew Dennis, three-star offensive lineman Logan Bennett, three-star defensive back Reggie Powers III and three-star cornerback Camren Campbell.
Dennis also plans to be on campus this coming weekend in an unofficial capacity to help recruit the official visitors. He took his official visit during the weekend of June 9 through June 11.