Michigan State’s 2025 class, at least based upon the rankings, isn’t going to amaze too many people. The Spartans’ first complete class under head coach Jonathan Smith currently sits at 14th in the Big Ten and 50th nationally.
But, that doesn’t mean MSU didn't have a positive showing on National Signing Day. Smith made a splash by getting East Lansing running back Jace Clarizio to flip back to Michigan State from Alabama and holding off Ohio State and others in the recruitment of defensive back Aydan West.
“(National Signing Day is) always an exciting day — kind of a finish line of a lot of work and (I’m) really pleased where we landed today,” Smith said Wednesday. “It’s one piece of the puzzle, putting your roster together, but it’s really an important one, no doubt.”
The way Smith built this class was with an “inside-out” approach — six of the signees today are from the state of Michigan to go with two from Ohio and one from Illinois. On the “out” portion, there are guys from places like California, Texas, Hawaii, Florida and elsewhere.
“I think there’s a recurring theme: these guys are coming from quality programs,” Smith said. “(There are) a lot of winners in this class, thinking about state championships, played in the state championship game, shoot, playing this weekend in the state championship. I think there’s value with that — guys that have spent their experience in high school at a program that values doing things right and won at a high level.”
Two schools in the MHSAA also have multiple MSU commits: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (OLSM) and Macomb Dakota.
For OLSM, tight end Jayden Savoury and linebacker Charles White both signed today. The Spartans also have OLSM’s Bryson Williams’ verbal pledge, but he isn’t planning to sign until February. The Eaglets just won the Michigan Division 2 state championship.
“It was awesome to follow their season and to (see them) finish it off like that with a championship,” Smith said. “Again, from the get-go, it might’ve been the first day on the road recruiting (was) going through that school and (seeing) some really good players and good people.”
As for Dakota, having just completed a 10-2 year, both of its Spartan pledges, offensive lineman Justin Bell and linebacker DiMari Malone, signed today.
It’s a concerted effort to try and establish a winning culture. But these days, that can only go so far in the NIL and transfer portal era. Smith does recognize that and adjusted accordingly.
“I think we’re open to the influence that (NIL) has, because it does have a part (in the) identification on the qualities and the people we’re trying to bring in the building,” he said. “Think of a pie chart, NIL is a piece of that pie, without question.”
Smith also made it very clear where much of the funds he needs to build the 2025 roster is coming from.
“I want to thank Spartan Nation NIL,” Smith said during his opening statement, “We all know the landscape as it’s going, that was a vital, vital part, not just of this recruiting class, but then you think about retaining your roster and then the transfer portal opens in the next week. Spartan Nation NIL was a huge part of (this) as we continue to build this program.”
As for the players, there are a few names that have the chance to impact the Spartans immediately next fall. Clarizio is one of them, particularly on special teams; which makes a lot of sense — usually guys head coach Kalen DeBoer and Alabama want are pretty good.
“(Clarizio was) high-profile, highly-recruited, for him to turn down a couple really good options to know his best fit is here adds to our confidence in what we’re building here," Smith said.
West, a guy head coach Ryan Day and Ohio State and several other programs wanted, is another guy Smith was extra complimentary of.
“It’s tough to point out a single one (immediate difference-maker),” he said. “Aydan West I think has an opportunity to impact the thing pretty early on in his career.
“(Four-star defensive tackle) Derrick Simmons at the line of scrimmage, where his body is at, coming at the mid-year opportunity.
“All 11 of these (early-enrollee) guys will get the opportunity (to earn playing time). I’m kind of anxious to see (quarterback) Leo (Hannan) throw the ball around. He’s really playing really well at the start of his senior year, but ran into an injury that got him sidelined there.”
But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done for Michigan State to return to true competitiveness and relevance next season. It’s a lot more rare now for true freshmen to come in and make an immediate impact.
That is because of the transfer portal. Essentially, Smith plans to build a whole other class from scratch via the portal. He said that he would expect the ratio of portal guys to high school recruits to be about one-to-one.
“I think philosophically, just where the landscape continues to go, it’s probably going to be closer to this 50-50 mark,” Smith said about the ratio of portal players to high school recruits. “I think early on, still like the idea of majority high school and you supplement through the portal, but just as this landscape (changes) and with so much movement and player freedom to move — we’re not going to just wake up (thinking we) have to get to 50-50, but I just think that might be a reality.”
The good part is that Smith has been able to hit the transfer portal hard before. MSU brought in a total of 28 transfers last year. Based upon Smith’s estimated ratio, the number shouldn’t be as high this time, but it should still hover in the high-teens or low-20s area. In essence, after a year on the job and having gained some better perspective about MSU, Smith is more prepared to go get some more guys, even after his first high school class is done.
“(Recruiting now is) definitely less stressful, because we had more time (than when we first showed up),” Smith said. “(We’re) much more aware of the roster (and) let’s face it, where the strengths of the place and what we’ve got building.
“I will say, a year ago, I look back on the thing, we’re pretty proud of the work we got done.
“I think about some of these guys we got in the portal that really turned into contributors in a big way: Jordan Turner, Kay’ron Lynch-Adams, Nikai Martinez, Wayne Matthews, obviously Aidan (Chiles), Jack (Velling), Tanner (Miller), Luke Newman; steady-eddy and a big-time player, Ed Woods played meaningful time for us. And so that goes back to a little bit of the confidence moving forward — we’re heading into another month and yeah, there’s going to be some movement on everybody’s roster across the country, but with our approach, I think we can do another nice job in the portal this next month.”
Smith and MSU are going to need it when the portal officially opens on Dec. 9, and while he doesn’t necessarily go berserk on the sidelines much, Smith is using how the end of the year went in front of a mostly-empty home stadium as fuel going forward.
“It was another piece of motivation,” Smith said. “You look around and where the game ended, how many people are in the seats — which I’ll appreciate everybody that stayed ‘til the end — but I’m using that as a motivator of how fulfilling it’s gonna be when this place is packed again and we’re playing for our 11th, 12th win.”
For a full look at Michigan State's 2025 recruiting class, click here.
Full Jonathan Smith press conference:
