Michigan State hosted a wide-range of 2024 recruits, along with a few from the 2023 class, over the weekend for their second-annual Spartan Dawg Con recruiting event.

The event included Rivals100 prospects from Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and more, along with a large group of Midwest prospects from Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.

Most recruits visited East Lansing on Saturday, but some trickled in late Saturday evening to begin their visits on Sunday.

Michigan State hosted 2024 four-star David Stone for his first trip to East Lansing over the weekend. Stone, originally from Oklahoma, before transferring to Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy this offseason. While in Oklahoma, Stone trains with C4 Sports Performance, owned by trainer Sean Cooper. Michigan State 2023 commit Bai Jobe also trains at the C4 Sports facility.

Stone visited Oklahoma before traveling to East Lansing, and the Sooners seem to be a major threat in this recruitment.

Elijah Rushing, a 2024 four-star defensive end, ranked the No. 64 overall recruit in the class, and the No. 5 WDE in the country made his first Michigan State visit.

“I loved it. I toured the facility and campus and talked with some coaches. I took some pictures too,” Rushing said.

Rushing told SpartanMag.com before the visit that he was looking forward to spending time with Pass Rush Specialist Brandon Jordan.

“It felt good to talk to him, I gained a lot of information and small tips and tricks.”

SpartanMag.com plans to have more from Rushing after his travel home.

2024 in-state four-star Nick Marsh was a late addition to the visitor list after arriving back home from a trip to Alabama.

“Michigan State was great yesterday. The best part was being in the offensive meeting and being able to hear some of the alumni stories. Also getting to know how their experience was," Marsh said. “I also had a sit down with coach Hawkins talking about things the can help improve my game.”

Marsh also sat down with Mel Tucker. The two have sat down quite a few times over the last couple of years.

“It was really comfortable, you know it’s not my first time talking to him so it was a level of comfort there,” Marsh said. “We were just having a conversation about the championship game in 2020 and how he was watching me and how he was telling everyone that we needed to get this kid offered and we were just laughing at that.”

River Rouge (MI) High WR Jaylen Watson made the trip alongside his teammate, Nick Marsh. The 5-foot-10, 155-pound three-star does not hold a Spartan offer yet.

“(It was) one of the best visits I have been on! I had so much fun. We learned about MSU football and they had all the former players in town so that was pretty dope,” Watson said. “I talked to Javon Ringer and a few of the top wide receivers that played there too. I can’t remember everybody’s name, but I was talking to everybody I could. I have never seen a school bring back all the alumni like MSU did, that was awesome and the vibes were amazing.”

Watson briefly spent time with Mel Tucker, who was busy hosting many recruits, former players and more.

“We talked for a little bit, he was all over the place and I think they were doing a charity event as well, so he really wasn’t around much. I saw him at the beginning and ending of the day but Tuck is a big reason why I love what’s going up there at MSU.”

Watson plans to return to Michigan State for the home-opener.

New Jersey native Jalen McClain, a three-star defensive back in the 2024 class, also visited East Lansing.

“It was really nice I liked it. The best part was the campus tour,” McClain said. “I like how the campus is big and looks nice because of the agriculture.”

The three-star cornerback spent most of his time with Harlon Barnett and defensive GA Gerren DuHart.

“I got to spend the most time with Coach Duhart and Barnett, but I also spent time with Coach Tucker and Hazelton,” McClain said. “It felt good to actually see everyone in person and just get to feel everyone’s energy and get more comfortable.”

The defensive back got to spend time with Mel Tucker, who talked about being hands on specifically with the cornerbacks.

“I spoke to him for a while and that was a good talk because I got to know him a little as a person and a little bit more about Michigan State and what they bring to the table in college football,” McClain said. ”I like that because it shows how the head of the program likes to be involved with the position I play.”

Deontae Armstrong and his twin brother Devontae Armstrong also made the trip up-north to visit Michigan State on Saturday. The two three-stars hail from Lakewood (OH) St. Edward, home of current MSU defensive end Jeff Pietrowski.

“It was great! I had a fun time meeting more of the staff and former players,” Deonte Armstrong said. “We spent time with Coach Tucker, Coach Kap, and a lot of other position coaches and the recruiting staff.

Deontae spoke highly of MSU's head coach Mel Tucker:

“I really liked his personality and his core values, his staff treated us (twin brother & dad) like family with all the hospitality. I really enjoyed my talk with him.”

SpartanMag.com also caught up with Devontae.

“It was a very good experience, I learned a lot about the program and also it was a way to strengthen relationships with the coaching staff. Also talking with the alumni there that already walked in my shoes with the recruiting process and knows the culture of the program from a players perspective helped a lot as well.”

2024 Chicago (IL) Morgan park four-star ATH Tysean Griffin was impressed with his first visit to Michigan State.

“The trip was amazing. The best part when I got to eat and sit down to talk to the alumni and listen to their stories about the school,” Griffin said.

“What I was thinking was how I was around these legends, some that I didn’t know of until my coach told me about all of them. I was really thinking it was great how Michigan State cares about all of their players and doing things for them like the event yesterday. I was with the running back Javon Ringer, a cornerback and a lineman that knew Javon.”

Griffin also spent a large amount of time with running back coach Effrem Reed.

“I was their hanging out with coach Reed and coach Freeman most of the day, I also got to meet Coach Tucker,” Griffin said. “I think coach Reed is a really great coach and a great person. He has talked with me about life also instead of just football.”

Rivals150 four-star DE KingJoseph Edwards from Buford (GA) High took in Michigan State this weekend for the first time, like many others.

“My visit was excellent. The coaches support staff and Mel Tucker are all excellent. Very personable.”

Edwards tells SpartanMag he had a quick tour, followed by a photoshoot, and some meetings.

He sat down with Marco Coleman to review film.

“They reviewed my film and gave me some things to work on this season. I appreciated that,” Edwards said.

Edwards also met with Mel Tucker.

“I spent most of my time with coach Coleman and Tucker. He’s so laid back. Real calm and cool! I like him,” Edwards said. “Keep working. Told me he’d be down to a watch a game. He was interested in my nonprofit and told me there was a market for that in Michigan…to help the homeless.”