Courtney Hawkins' Unique, Wildly Successful Approach to Recruiting For MSU Football
Michigan State's football staff is full of coaches with NFL pedigree. They send players to the NFL. Perhaps no coach is more successful in that regard than Spartans wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins.
Hawkins was a holdover from the Mel Tucker era, and for good reason.
In one of his smartest moves, head coach Jonathan Smith decided to keep the man who developed Jalen Nailor (now a star with the Minnesota Vikings), Jayden Reed (on his way to becoming one of the best in the league with the Green Bay Packers), and Keon Coleman (a standout rookie for the Buffalo Bills).
It looks like Hawkins potentially has his next superstar with freshman, 17-year-old Nick Marsh.
Marsh, a former four-star and the gem of the 2024 recruiting class, announced himself to the college football landscape with an eight-reception, 194-yard and single-touchdown performance against Maryland.
When talking to reporters on Tuesday, Hawkins was asked about Marsh. He was asked about his stars, now grown in the NFL. He smiled. It all started with recruiting for the former Spartan-turned-coach.
"I'm recruiting guys to knock me out of the Top 10 (for school receiving records)," Hawkins said. "There's no way after 30 years or however many years it's been, that I should be in the Top 10. Especially with the kind of offenses of today's offense versus the offenses then. So everybody I'm trying to get here at Michigan State should be able to knock me out, hopefully."
Hawkins spent nine seasons in the NFL between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1990s. He was a second-round draft choice in Tampa. Some of the biggest value in Hawkins is his ability to spot talent and judge the potential a given player has.
He told reporters that he looks at "everything" through the lens of his NFL experience.
"I can't help it, I mean, I think sometimes maybe as a fault," Hawkins said. "But knowing what I know and the guys that I've been around and the rooms that I've been in during my nine-year career playing, being around some great quarterbacks, [Marsh and quarterback Aidan Chiles] have the gifts and the talent to play at that level."
Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.
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MICHAEL FRANCE