Advertisement
Premium content
PREMIUM CONTENT
Published Dec 30, 2022
Andrew Depaepe's mother takes us behind his recruitment to MSU (SP)
Ryan O'Bleness  •  Spartans Illustrated
Managing Editor
Twitter
@ryanobleness

Editor's Note: This article mentions the influence of Michigan State defensive line coach Marco Coleman in Andrew Depaepe’s recruitment. Coleman is leaving MSU to return to his alma mater, Georgia Tech. The article was originally published before the news of Coleman's departure.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

By now, Michigan State fans are plenty familiar with 2023 four-star strong-side defensive end signee Andrew Depaepe. Many expect Depaepe – a 6-foot-5, 240-pound Iowa native – to eventually be the next great pass-rusher for the Spartans.

What is easy to forget when it comes to recruiting, though, is the fact that the industry is “relentless” and “ruthless,” especially in the days of name, image and likeness (NIL).

What is also often lost in the conversation around recruiting is that high school students, teenagers, are being contacted daily by football coaches, staffers, reporters and others, which can become a large burden for such young people, while other kids are just simply hoping to get noticed.

For highly-touted prospects such as Depaepe – who Rivals ranks as the No. 3 player in the state of Iowa, No. 17 strong-side defensive end and No. 177 player overall in the 2023 class – that process, while a blessing, can be overwhelming for them and everybody close to them – especially for their family members.

Tenya Losching, Depaepe’s mother, spoke to Spartans Illustrated via a telephone interview. She talked about how Depaepe’s recruitment started and gained momentum, how Michigan State got involved, her love for the MSU coaching staff, why Depaepe chose to become a Spartan and more.

As Losching explains it, Depaepe had a “phenomenal” junior year at Pleasant Valley High School and posted a few highlights on Twitter. Within 24 hours or so of the tweet, Depaepe started to get phone calls and his recruitment took off from there.

While it was certainly exciting, Losching felt certain programs could have handled it better by speaking to her directly.

“All these people (and schools) were extremely relentless, like calling (Andrew) almost on a daily basis,” Losching said. “I can see how overwhelming this is for a kid. I mean, he was 17 years old (at the time). You know, to a 17-year-old, it's a head coach of a football (program) at a university, that's a pretty big deal.

“But it really kind of bothered me because nobody called us (the parents) – they contacted (Andrew) directly. And I understand both sides of the coin there, but I did not like that, but every school did it.”

Subscribe to read more.
Unlock Premium news from the largest network of experts.
Say your piece in exclusive fan communities.
Dominate with stats, athlete data, Rivals250 rankings, and more.
Go Big. Get Premium.Log In
MichiganState
FOOTBALL
Scores / Schedule
footballfootball
5 - 2
Overall Record
0 - 0
Conference Record
Upcoming
N. Carolina
4 - 2
N. Carolina
Michigan St.
5 - 2
Michigan St.
Finished
Michigan St.
63
Michigan St.
Memphis
71
Arrow
Memphis
Michigan St.
72
Arrow
Michigan St.
Colorado
56
Colorado
Advertisement
Michigan State
2025Commitment List
Updated: