Thursday marked the first time Mel Tucker has been able to leave Michigan State’s campus in order to recruit since being hired as head coach nearly 16 months ago. He spent the day with most of his staff scouting players at the Big Rapids Showcase camp at Ferris State.
Now, a day later, he and the largest Michigan State football support staff in program history is ready to play host to their first official visit weekend as Spartan coaches.
Ten recruits are expected to make official visits to Michigan State this weekend, as the NCAA is allowing official visits now through June 27.
“We will have 48 hours to show what Michigan State is all about and we look forward to it,” Tucker said. “We’re going to be sure the recruits and their families have a great time.
“There’s a lot of planning that takes place with our on-campus recruiting staff and all of our coaches and everyone in our organization. We’re going to be efficient, we’re going to be organized.”
The list of visitors is expected to include:
* Chase Carter, 6-6, 215, defensive end, Minneapolis (Minn.) Minnehaha Academy. He is ranked the No. 3 player in Minnesota.
The Race: He has official visits scheduled to Iowa State and Iowa.
* Shannon Blair, 6-0, 175, defensive back, Knoxville (Tenn.) West. He is ranked the No. 35 player in Tennessee.
The Race: He has no other visits scheduled at this time, with Liberty, Duke and Coastal Carolina involved.
* KJ Winston, 6-2, 190, defensive back, Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha. Ranked No. 16 in Maryland.
The Race: This will be a difficult task for the Spartans. He has official visits scheduled with Penn State, Notre Dame and home-state Maryland.
* Nicco Marchiol, 6-3, 230, Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton. Ranked No. 4 in Arizona, and the No. 11 pro style quarterback in the country.
The Race: He decommitted from Florida State on Wednesday while on an unofficial visit to Arizona State. MSU appears to be no worse than in his top two at this time, with a puncher’s chance to get him to fall in love with the Midwest campus during a lovely June weekend. A TKO visit is possible.
Jack Nickel, 6-4, 230, Milton (Ga.) High School. He is ranked the No. 34 tight end in the country and No. 52 overall in Georgia.
The Race: He decommitted from Notre Dame in April. Tight end recruiting for Michigan State has been spotty in recent months but running backs coach Will Peagler, an energetic recruiter, is assisting in the pursuit of Nickel and is having success. Tight end is an area of need, Michigan State wishes to make full pro-style utilization of the tight end position, and Nickel knows it.
He also has visits scheduled for California and Virginia Tech. His high school quarterback is committed to Virginia Tech.
* Braden Miller, 6-7, 290, OT, Centennial (Col.) Eaglecrest. He is ranked the No. 4 player in Colorado.
The Race: Michigan State offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic began building a relationship with the Colorado native during Tucker’s days in Boulder. Miller camped at Colorado three years ago. His brother plays at Stanford and he has an official visit set with Kansas State for June 18.
“I look forward to seeing the campus as a whole in its entirety, along with the football facilities,” Miller said.
* Alex VanSumeren, 6-2, 300, DT, Essexville (Mich.) Garber High School. Ranked No. 4 in Michigan and No. 172 in the nation.
The Race: VanSumeren took an unofficial tour of Clemson in May and is considering visits to Alabama, Kentucky, Oregon and Texas A&M.
His brother transferred from the University of Michigan and enrolled at Michigan State last month.
* Jaylen Lewis, 6-2, 175, Brownsville (Tenn.) Haywood High. Ranked No. 19 in Tennessee and No. 35 at safety by Rivals.com.
The Race: Michigan State is trailing Arkansas, Auburn and Indiana, with Memphis also in the mix. All five are getting official visits this month. A top-notch official visit to Michigan State could tighten things up considerably.
* Antonio Gates Jr., 6-1, 175, wide receiver, Dearborn (Mich.) Fordson. He is ranked No. 13 in Michigan and No. 31 at the athlete position.
The Race: Gates’ official visit to Michigan State was a secret until he revealed the news on Thursday at the Big Rapids Showcase camp. He took an unofficial visit to Michigan on Wednesday. He is leaning toward taking official visits to Florida and Tennessee.
* A 10th official visitor is expected to make the trip for an official visit as well. He is a national Top 250 wide receiver from Big 12 country.
The Spartan staff is coming off a productive week of unofficial visits to the Michigan State campus for the first time March of 2020.
“We were really excited about the opportunity to show everyone what Michigan State football is all about, on the field and off the field,” Tucker said. “We really haven’t had this opportunity. It’s been a long time so our staff has been very excited and our doors are open.”