EXCLUSIVE: Coach, Father of Elite MSU Target Has Incredible Advice
As one of the nation's best running backs in the 2026 class, Ohio four-star Shahn Alston has 24 offers and a plethora of programs interested and likely ready to offer.
Michigan State is the most recent offer Alston has received, picking it up during his gameday visit when the Spartans played Ohio State. Alston has plenty of unofficial and official visits in store. Gameday visits and non-gameday visits. It is typical for a prospect of his caliber.
Said visits will take him all over the country, down South to explore the SEC, the geographical region formerly known as Big 12 country, and even further west to what was the Pac 12. Alston will hear plenty of pitches and selling points. He will also garner plenty of offers. More than his current 24.
Whether or not those offers are genuine or "committable," likely won't be an issue for the Harvey product, a blue-chip prospect considered among the country's best.
Regardless, his father and coach, Rahshahn, picked up valuable advice from a Big Ten coach that I think all recruits and parents should know. The elder Alston told me the story.
"It was the Rutgers visit," Rahshahn told me. "We were with Coach [Greg] Schiano. He was a straight shooter, and he told us, 'I don't care about what a lot of these other schools are saying about this young man.' Then he looked at Shahn, he's like, 'You don't have to today, but this is a committable offer. You wouldn't be in my office, and I wouldn't be offering you a scholarship if you couldn't commit to it today.' He gave me the advice, he said, 'And dad/coach, I instruct you going forward -- any college that he visits and they come to him and say, Hey, we want to offer you a scholarship, first question you ask them is: Is it committable?' So, when he said that, that let me know that wow, here we are. Because we only had prior to that visit, we only had a handful of coaches come out and say 'We really like [Shahn], and we want him to be part of this university, and this is a committable offer,' and they stood on that out the gate. Not just let it be some foregone conclusion."
It validates what I've heard from some of the best coaches in high school football and the smartest recruits. Understanding the difference between committable offer and a glorified camp offer is essential.
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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