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Recruiting: What's next for Michigan State in 2022?

Coach Tucker finalized his first signing day as the Head Coach at Michigan State getting letters of intent from 16 of his 19 commitments.

Outside of a couple players we're waiting on to sign and a few other prospects we're still recruiting in the 2021 class and through the transfer portal, a lot of attention will now be on the class of 2022.

The Spartans already have two commitments in the class of 2022 in Kristian Phillips and Gavin Broscious and looking to add to that in the coming months as Tucker has a year under his belt as the Spartans head man.

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Brown is a talented running back and safety in Tennessee who Tucker has made a priority so far in the 2022 class.

Brown has other offers from Alabama, Duke, Memphis, Tulane, and Central Michigan.

Another "ATH" prospect that's considering the Spartans, Mangham is the younger brother of Jaren Mangham, who committed to coach Tucker while he was at Colorado in the class of 2019 and offered Jaden at Colorado back in June of 2018 and again at Michigan State in April of 2020. Mangham is a good size receiver and corner back at 6-foot-3, 185 pounds and excels on special teams as well with his speed and length blocking several punts in his film.

Mangham holds 30+ offers including Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Penn State, and Oregon among others.

Another prospect that excels on both sides of the ball as a running back and outside linebacker.

Tatum has been a 1-2 punch behind Donovan Edwards the last two seasons at running back but has always excelled on both offense and defense. I see him playing defense at the next level, he covers well and and has good hands with the ability to step up and make a hard tackle when necessary.

Two SpartanMag staff members, Corey Robinson and Justin Thind put in Futurecast predictions for Tatum to Michigan State back in early November while The Wolverine's recruiting insider EJ Holland put a Futurecast in for Michigan almost one year ago back in January of 2020.

Tatum also with 30+ offers is considering Arizona State, Florida, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Wisconsin among others.

Son of the 8-time pro bowler Antonio Gates, Gates Jr. has solidified himself as one of the top recruits in the state of Michigan with a quick step off the line of scrimmage and ability to get separation down the field with a double move that is hard to defend.

Many analysts such as myself along with Corey, Justin, and Ohio Spartan all predicted Gates to pick Michigan State as well as Bryan Munson who covers Nebraska. Gates was set to commit in October before delaying the announcement. I still like the Spartans chances here.

Gates Jr. has 19 offers including Cincinnati, Iowa State, Ole Miss, Penn State, and West Virginia among others.

Tucker loves size especially at quarterback, at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds Denegal has plenty of it. An ability to make throws down field and extend plays with his legs, Denegal has a high ceiling as Tucker looks to expand nationally in recruiting and has connections out west from his time in Colorado.

Sam Spiegelman and Rob Cassidy who both cover recruiting in the southeast and southcentral part of the country put in FutureCasts for Denegal to Utah back in September.

Denegal has nine offers including Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, and Utah among others.

When Tucker was hired he was quoted saying and has said it multiple times since that winning the state and especially Detroit was going to be his first priority and he proved that on the field in his first year as Head Coach beating Michigan this fall. He now looks to win some major in-state recruiting battles this winter and spring.

There are plenty of other prospects in the class of 2022 that the staff is actively recruiting and this is just a short list of some of the hotter names they're going after in this cycle.

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