A Look at Michigan State's 2008 Recruiting

[MSUsportz1]

Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State has gone very hard after top notch recruits such as defensive end Tyler Hoover (4 star, committed to MSU), runningback Jonas Gray (4 star), defensive end Nick Perry (4 star), wide reciever Fred Smith (4 star) etc. etc... But with a whole new coaching staff excluding Dan Enos (RBs coach) you would think Mark Dantonio and his staff would have a hard time getting in-state talent away from the grips of their big time rival in the University of Michigan, but that hasn't slowed them down at all. Mark Dantonio had gotten a verbal committment from saftey Charles Burrell (3 star). With that committment, it help them drasticly to catch up with the recruitiment with Charles' good friend Fred Smith. Fred Smith said with Charles committing to MSU, it would play a pretty big impact on his decision. Dantonio didnt stop there for recruiting best friends, as he gave out official offers to Jonas Gray, and OLB Kenny Demens (3 stars). They have both said a numerous amount of times that they are going to be a package deal. Wether that will play to be true, they are both down to MSU, and Nebraska. On to defensive end Nick Perry. He has just released his top 3 (in oreder) MSU. PSU, UM. He said he is pretty much down to MSU and PSU, and MSU feel's very confident in landing him. Coming from the same position as Nick, is Tyler Hoover (4 star, talked about above), who recently committed to MSU. He and Nick Perry could be a big part of MSU's future as they both could drasticly help MSU's poor defense. Another man who could help a struggling MSU defense is Justin Staples, a MLB from Lakewood St. Edward HS in Ohio. MSU thinks Justin could be in the bag as one of his best friends is an MSU basketball commit (Delvon Roe) for Tom Izzo. One last person the Spartan staff really wants to land is 3 star conerback Jonathan Dandridge (3 star). MSU desperatly needs help at conerback, and Jonathan could really help out the Spratans secondary. That is a break down of the most recruited players on the defensive side. Here is a total offer list from the defensive side of 08':

DEFENSE

Defensive Line
'08 MI DE Nick Perry
'08 OH DL Dawaun Whitner
'08 MI DE Chris McDonald
'08 CA DE Courtney Campbell
'08 MO DE James Moore
'08 OH DE Whitney Mercilus
'08 IL DE Glenn Foster
'08 OH DE Whitney Mercilus
'08 GA DT Cordian Hogans

Outside Linebacker
08 OH LB Taylor Hill
'08 KY LB Dexter Heyman
'08 MI LB Kenny Demens
'08 OH LB Fred Craig

Inside Linebacker
'08 OH LB Justin Staples
'08 TN LB Marlon Walls

Cornerback
'08 MI CB Jonathan Dandridge
'08 GA DB Khiry Battle
'08 Wash D.C. DB Tavon Wilson
'08 SC DB Cartier Rice
'08 TX DB Ugo Okpara
'08 NJ DB Grant Mayes
'08 GA DB Neiko Lipscomb
'08 NJ DB Reuben Johnson
'08 OH DB Donnie Fletcher
'08 OH WR/DB D.J. Woods
'08 PA CB Mike Jones
'08 OH DB Donnie Fletcher

Safety
'08 FL DB T'Sharvan Bell

Now onto the offense... I have already touched on Jonas Gray (4 star), who is said to be a MSU lean. He is not the only one who could really help out MSU's offense. A couple other guys that could help turn MSU around would be Fred Smith (4 star, also listed above), and Corey Johnson (4 star). They are a pair of very talented wide recievers that could help out a "could-be" Spartan quarterback in MarQueis Gray (3 star). Gray is cousins with Jonas Gray, and I think his recruitment for MSU could depend on Jonas' decision. If Jonas heads else where, MSU can kiss MarQueis goodbye. One of MSU's most needed improvments is the offensive line. They got their most recent committment from Ethan Ruhland (3 star). But MSU isn't done yet, as they are very close to getting a committment from Deon'tae Pannell (3 star), and are in the running for Jimmy Bennett (4 star). Not much more to be said on the offensive side, as most of the recruiting for MSU this year was for defense, but they went after what they needed. Here is the full offensive offer list for MSU in '08:

OFFENSE

Quarterback
'08 PA QB Terrelle Pryor
'08 IN QB MarQueis Gray
'08 NC QB Braden Hanson

Runningback
'08 MI RB Jonas Gray
'08 FL RB Jeffery Binson
'09 MI RB Larry Caper

Wide Receiver
'08 PA WR Ed Tinker
'08 MI WR Fred Smith
'08 MI WR Corey Johnson
'08 IL WR Supo Sanni
'08 PA WR Julian Harrell
'08 NJ WR Nadir Brown
'08 VA WR Kerry Boykins
'08 IL WR Brandon Green

Tight End
'08 PA TE Quentin Williams
'08 NJ TE Chris Pantale

Offensive Line
'08 IL OL David Young
'08 MI OL Deon'tae Pannell
'08 OH OL Chad Hounshell
'08 VA OL Jimmy Bennett
'08 TN OL Barrett Jones
'08 CA OL Ryan Dannewitz
'08 DE OG Chad Davis

Now as for the rest of MSU's offer's (59 to date), some recruits have been offered as "Athletes", and could play wherever the coaches want them to play. A big one in the mix is a probable wide reciever in Morgan Carter (3 star), who could definantly help the recieving core at MSU.

ATHLETE

Athlete
'08 PA ATH Cameron Saddler
'08 MI ATH Mark Ingram
'08 NJ ATH Ed Imeokparia
'08 VA ATH Morgan Carter
'08 MI ATH Caulton Ray
'08 CA ATH Erin Madden
'08 FL ATH Terrell Colston
'08 OH ATH Johnny Adams

Get the latest Spartans recruiting info by visiting the Michigan State forum on Recruiting Planet:

Michigan State Spartans Team Discussion Forum

[LordJeffBuck]

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[OSwho?]

On to defensive end Nick Perry. He has just released his top 3 (in oreder) MSU. PSU, UM. He said he is pretty much down to MSU and PSU, and MSU feel's very confident in landing him.


Ummm...I think you are thinking of Deon'te Pannell there.

Perry was this close to committing to Michigan on his last visit which was about 10 days ago, and named Michigan the heavy favorite following the visit and even going on record as saying that hopefully he'll commit to Michigan soon.

[Bernini]

Originally Posted by OSwho?

saying that hopefully he'll commit to Michigan soon.

Does he have multiple personalities? Is he like that guy on ski school who has three different heads: the regular guy, the wild man, and the conservative one? "I want to commit Michigan". "Be quiet...I need more time". " Be a man...we're going down that hill". " No, it's too steep...what if we break something".

If he was hopeful he'd commit to Michigan, he would have already committed to Michigan. That doesn't make any sense.

[OSwho?]

Originally Posted by Bernini

Does he have multiple personalities? Is he like that guy on ski school who has three different heads: the regular guy, the wild man, and the conservative one? "I want to commit Michigan". "Be quiet...I need more time". " Be a man...we're going down that hill". " No, it's too steep...what if we break something".

If he was hopeful he'd commit to Michigan, he would have already committed to Michigan. That doesn't make any sense.

hey man, he said it and less than 2 weeks ago....

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