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Published Dec 15, 2021
MSU's Recruiting Class: The Breakdown
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Jim Comparoni  •  Spartans Illustrated
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East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker will give his thoughts on the Spartans’ 2022 recruiting class on Tuesday afternoon.

In the meantime, SpartanMag.com offers its takeaways on the players expected to sign with the Spartans today.

SpartanMag.com believes Michigan State helped itself the most on the offensive line, and at quarterback, safety and possibly tight end with this recruiting class.

Michigan State tried to address its needs at defensive end and it will be intriguing to see how the Spartans’ choices will pan out.

History and trends indicate that approximately one third of the scholarship players in each program's recruiting class today will fail to earn more than one letter at the school with which they are signing. Despite those numbers, it's not hard to see what Michigan State coaches like about each of the players that will sign with the Spartans today.

A closer look:

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THE BREAKDOWN: TIGHT ENDS

At tight end, Michael Masunas is a big-bodied blocker from Arizona. Michigan State has had trouble identifying and developing strong blockers at the tight end position for several years. Masunas, listed as 6-5, 240 in the Rivals.com database, is a square-bodied mauler who provides a chance to make strong-side run blocking more palatable in the near future. As a pass catcher, he is more of a possession type receiver.

Jack Nickel (6-4, 230, Milton, Ga.) is a little stiff with the run after the catch but everything else looks good. He has pretty good straight-line speed and some twinkle-toes quickness.

As a blocker, Nickel is good with his lateral movement, can turn, log and seal.

He is a knee-bender as a blocker, and is solid with the base block. He can sink his hips, post, keep his heels on the ground and fight you.

He has good feet on his routes, decelerates effectively on the short curl. Good foot efficiency on the 12-yard out cut.

He looks like one of those Michigan Wolverine tight ends we’ve seen over the years, in due respect.

His hands are pretty good. His hands won’t be a project at this position the way they were for Jack Camper, Noah Davis and Matt Sokol. Blocking always needs work, but he doesn’t have as far to go as Matt Dotson.

Overall, SpartanMag likes his film better than Dotson’s when Dotson was a four-star recruit who played split end in high school and was tasked with trying to make the transition to TE in college.

THE BREAKDOWN: OFFENSIVE LINE

On the offensive line, Michigan State has gone after bigger frames than in past years, and reeled in some dandies at 6-8, 6-7, 6-5, 6-5 while still hoping to close on the biggest of them all, Kiyaunta Goodwin.

As for the commitments:

Braden Miller is one of the more underrated players in this class. At 6-7, 290, the native of Centennial (Col.) Eaglecrest High checked all the boxes with his junior film, and then followed up as a senior by doing all of those things even better.

He has frame, athleticism, fundamentals. He’s a nimble punisher. He looks like an offensive tackle prospect all the way, similar to an A.J. Arcuri, but further along at the same age. High ceiling of potential for Miller.

Gavin Broscious (6-5, 300, Surprise, Ariz.) was a standout left guard for his team this season. He’s a hefty mauler who was used as a pull guard on counters all season. He could get up and go with pretty good quickness, turn the corner and go head hunting. When he gets his hands on the shoulders of high school defensive linemen and linebackers, he swipes them down like little nephews.

That’s a tall guy for a guard, if he plays that position at Michigan State. We’ll find our more about MSU’s plans for him from the coaches on signing day. If he indeed stays at guard, he has the chance to be the type of guard we’ve seen at Wisconsin over the years.

Ashton Lepo (6-8, 275, Grand Haven, Mich.) is the most improved player in this class, year-over-year. Lepo was a tall-framed, athletic project at this time last year. He began growing into his frame and producing intriguing film over the winter and committed to Michigan State over offers from Baylor, Cincinnati, Indiana, and Arizona State in March. Michigan State latched onto him as an in-state, stock-on-the-rise candidate. And his stock has definitely continued to rise.

He played at about 245 as a junior. He played at 275 this fall. He says he is 285 this month. He has grown an inch since he committed to Michigan State. Through all of that growth, he hasn’t been awkward in the least. He has a mature build and moves well in a phone booth.

He’s physical with his down blocking and back blocking. He said he enjoyed feeling the extra strength provided by his added weight this season.

His film doesn’t reveal a lot of pass blocking, but in the brief highlights we’ve seen, he showed good lateral movement in pass protection against Rockford and Muskegon Reeths-Puffer.

Kristian Phillips looks bigger than the 6-5, 335 listed in the Rivals.com database. He’s a massive human being at left tackle for Conyers (Ga.) Salem High.

Phillips is vastly improved over his junior film. He needs to continue to improve his ability to bend his knees rather than being a waist-bender, which will help his balance. His lateral movement needs a lot of work, which makes it unlikely for him to be a tackle at the college level, unless he really improves in that area.

Michigan State is looking at Phillips likely as a mammoth guard prospect. He covers ground fairly well with decent straight-line speed when pulling. When he pulls, it doesn’t take him forever to get up and go, which is eye-opening for someone his size.

He is bug vs. windshield when he gets out on high school linebackers, and he’s the windshield. And he has heavy hands to go with it.

THE BREAKDOWN: WIDE RECEIVERS

Michigan State has good size with all three commitments and high ceilings of potential.

Tyrell Henry added an inch of height since committing to Michigan State last spring and stacked excellent senior film onto his quality junior film.

Henry, at 6-foot-1, has great ability to high-point the ball, and then is a shifty, tough runner after the catch. He’s our choice as the most underrated Power Five signee in the state, and the player most likely to make the people doing the rankings look bad.

With good moves, short-area burst and home run gears, he has some Jayden Reed qualities to his game. He can make sharp cuts with a single plant foot, which makes him dangerous with the ball in his hands on the fly, and gives him the potential to be a very good route runner at the college level.

Antonio Gates Jr. is a package of skill and athleticism which could explode at the college level if he embraces the demands of the conditioning program and if he sets out with the goal to become great. He has some thickness to him and smooth route running ability on the deep balls. He plays with good physicality as a player who attracted some attention as a safety. He’s a three-star player with four-star potential.

Jaron Glover is listed at 6-1 in the Rivals database and 6-3 on his Hudl film. Like Gates, he has some thickness to his frame, and has the potential to be a big, fast-moving target. He needs to improve his change of speeds and change of direction as a route runner. He also needs to work on his ability to high point the ball on deep passes. He has pretty good acceleration in the short area, as shown on the tunnel screen.


THE BREAKDOWN: QUARTERBACK

Michigan State got in early on a stock-riser in Katin Houser (6-3, 197) of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, just before Houser knocked people dead at the national Elite 11 finals. Houser followed up with an excellent season for St. John Bosco, one of the Top 10 teams in the nation.

In addition to the quick release, accuracy and arm talent he showed at the t-shirt camps, Houser appears to have a plus ability to read coverages. When going against athletic, sophisticated coverages in California - the type of which aren’t seen by quarterbacks almost anywhere else - Houser showed the ability to process things quickly, make one, two, three reads and deliver the ball with authority. That doesn’t guarantee that he will be able to do it at the college level, but he will hit campus more advanced in that area, and more tested in that area, than any quarterback Michigan State has signed in the SPARTAN Magazine era. That doesn’t mean he will progress as steadily as NFL players Kirk Cousins, Jim Miller, Tony Banks, Drew Stanton, but his starting point will be at a higher level.

THE BREAKDOWN: SAFETIES

Four-star safety Jaden Mangham (6-3, 185, Birmingham Groves) checks all the boxes. He is tall, fast, smart, strong and is a severe hitter. He converges on ball carriers hard and low with text book physicality.

Mangham has the ball skills of a wide receiver, and received recruiting interest from various schools at that position. He can climb and high-point it like a red zone mismatch.

As a middle safety in Groves’ defense, he showed good hip turn and fluidity. His speed looks pretty good. If it proves to be very good, then he will have a chance to be a difference-maker.

Quavian Carter and Malcolm Jones were teammates at Lee County High in Leesburg, Ga. Carter was injured for much of his senior year but has size, range, decent change of direction. His film doesn’t show a lot of pass defense but he is a hard hitter when he arrives.

Jones, at 6-foot-1, hits like a linebacker. He has uncommon upper body pop. He showed good change of direction on a kickoff return for a TD, which should translate well to pass defense. He is a wrecking ball with the shoulder tackle, but Michigan State coaches will want him to wrap.

Three-star DB Malik Spencer starred as a nickel corner for Buford High, the 6A state champion in Georgia. At 6-1, 195, he plays smart in leveraging blockers and setting the edge with good force.

On his highlight tape, he showed the ability to turn his hips and accelerate when chasing down a halfback option. Also, he showed good gears from the back side of the play in tracking down a loose receiver down the sideline.

For a safety, he shows the ability to ragdoll a guy when he gets his grappling hooks into them. Georgia Tech worked hard to try to flip him down the stretch.

THE REST OF THE CLASS

Four-star defensive back Dillon Tatum (5-10, 193, West Bloomfield High) has a good build and outstanding running ability with the ball. He was a highly-touted tailback before declaring that he wanted to focus on defensive back in college.


As a DB, Tatum has a long way to go in order to get his game ready for the college level. He has good change of direction, but he needs to have more of a physical mindset on the defensive side of the ball.

Four-star defensive tackle Alex VanSumeren could turn out to be the most productive player in the class. His quickness, change-of-direction and motor at 300 pounds are just plain uncommon. He was dominant in the t-shirt camps and versus lesser competition at the high school level. Will all that translate to the college level? We see no reason why it wouldn’t.

At 6-foot-3, he’s physical and a non-stop combatant. His arms aren’t the longest, but he packs barrel-chested power and plays like he loves the sport.

At defensive end, Chase Carter and James Schott are tall-framed guys with good traits but have work to do. Carter (6-6, 215, Minneapolis) has long levers and pretty good explosiveness.

He is somewhat like current Spartan Michael Fletcher. Pretty good dexterity, maybe not the best ability to turn the corner and run the hoop on the pass rush. But Carter can anchor and strike better than Fletcher could at the same age.

Carter is quick with the take-off, whether trying to rush from the outside or crossing face to the inside. He is pretty good with hand placement and disengaging to play the run. His best move right now is a head-and-shoulder fake to cross face and slant as a one-gapper.

The ability to turn the corner as an edge rusher is something he might be able to develop. That’s the only thing keeping him from being a four-star prospect at the moment.

Meanwhile, Michigan State needs natural edge rushers. The Spartans entered today hoping to get a signature from 6-foot-6 Georgia defensive end Zion Young.

As for Schott, his junior film was impressive despite his low ranking. It was so impressive that I wondered if the film speed on that thing might have been quickened a bit. When he committed to Miami (OH), SpartanMag stayed in contact with him because we suspected that he could end up becoming a Big Ten prospect. Eventually, Iowa and Michigan State engaged in a good recruiting battle for him with Michigan State winning out.

Schott plays low for a tall guy. He has a good rip move and the ankle flexibility to run the hoop real well. He just needs to put some meat on his bones make that edge talent work against college blockers.

He is tall and thin like Tyler Hoover was in high school, but lighter on his feet. Quicker and more athletic. Schott is a max effort guy from a very good program. He’s a project, not a guy who is likely to help right away, but the ability to turn the corner as a pass rusher makes him a keeper for long-term development.

At place kicker, Jack Stone is ranked the No. 11 kicker in the Class of 2022 by Chris Sailer Kicking. Michigan State needs a kicker with Matt Coghlin graduating. The extra-year COVID rule has led to a lot of kickers hanging on longer in their careers, and led to a scholarship shortage for place kickers, making it a buyer’s market for programs offering scholarships to players at that position. Michigan State was in that market and feels good about Stone.

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