With three-star East Lansing wide receiver prospect Andrel Anthony having picked Michigan over Michigan State, Penn State and Notre Dame during a press conference on Friday evening, what’s the impact and fallout for the Spartans?

THE IMPACT: It’s a tough public relations bruise for the Spartans, but not a crippling loss in terms of roster building.

First-year head coach Mel Tucker made Anthony a recruiting priority, and told him as much soon after Tucker was hired in February.

At that point, Anthony wasn’t strongly considering the Spartans. Anthony grew up a Michigan fan despite living in East Lansing. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh made waves by scouting Anthony during the basketball season last winter. Former MSU head coach Mark Dantonio did the same and tried to keep up.

MSU made up a lot of ground when Dantonio retired and Tucker was hired as MSU’s new head coach. New wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins helped the Spartans rally.

MSU moved into the lead at mid-summer as MSU hit the recruiting gas pedal and Michigan tapered off a bit. Anthony, at times, indicated to MSU coaches and SpartanMag.com that MSU was likely to be his eventual choice.

However, Michigan began coming on strong in the latter stages of his recruitment. He visited Michigan on Sunday and made up his mind at mid-week to be a Wolverine.

THE SKINNY: Anthony is a good, three-star prospect, ranked the No. 15 player in Michigan for 2021. He’s slick and polished - so polished that he might be college-ready as a freshman, but there are questions about his ceiling of potential. He’s comparable, in skill and talent, to Trishton Jackson or Tre Mosley at the same stage, but could use some of Mosley’s toughness and grittiness.

MSU had a strong wide receiver recruiting class last year - signing Ricky White, Ian Stewart, Montorie Foster and Terry Lockett. Lockett and Stewart have the ability to play both ways. The Spartans are expected to take only one wide receiver for the class of 2021.

Anthony would have been a nice luxury addition to MSU’s good, young talent pool at WR. If I had to trade any of last year’s commitments for Anthony, I’m not sure which one I would pick, if any of them. Maybe Foster, because he’s a bit raw and new to the sport, but Foster has a high, high upside of potential. Maybe Stewart because he hasn’t spent much time at wide receiver, but again, his upside of potential is good.

As for the public relations hit, Michigan State will get criticized for letting Michigan come into the Spartans’ backyard and grab a three-star recruit. But Michigan State has rarely had success in recruiting the occasional top prospect out of East Lansing High School, going back to earlier generations when Randy Kinder (Notre Dame) and Kirk Carruthers (Florida State) turned down George Perles, not counting basketball player Brandon Johns (Michigan).

Anthony is a good prospect, but he's not Kinder or Carruthers - or Aaron Burbridge or Charles Rogers. This recruiting loss is a missed opportunity for late-summer recruiting momentum, but the long-term impact could end up being similar to losing Drake Harris or Antonio Bass to Michigan.

Anthony’s recruitment is a noteworthy one because he’s from East Lansing, and he marks the first time that a Tucker vs. Harbaugh recruiting battle has gone down to the wire. Harbaugh won this one. Tucker will be back, but Michigan State's coach got a taste for Michigan's recruiting power and ability to hit the accelerator and turn a recruiting race in an instant. Tucker will need some face-to-face recruiting normalcy, and success during the actual football season, in order to begin making the headway he intends to achieve.

WHAT’S NEXT: Look for Michigan State to increase its interest in Corey Palmer, a three-star recruit at Camden (N.J.) High School. Palmer played last year at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG, but has returned home this summer due to the nation’s health crisis and will play his senior year at Camden High.