How 3 Jonathan Smith, MSU Football Commits Became Teammates at Prep School

Orchard Lake St. Mary's gave three recruits to Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith. In this Spartan Nation exclusive, the Eaglets' recruiting coordinator Greg Dixon explained how they landed on his radar.

Trey Cosnowski signals Orchard Lake St. Mary's recovered a fumble against Catholic Central. Detroit Catholic Central falls to Orchard Lake St. Mary's 13-0 in the Catholic League Bishop Championship on Oct. 26 at Eastern Michigan. Trey Cosnowski Signals His Team Recovering Football On Cc Fumble / Tom Beaudoin | Special to

Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith made it his goal to recruit the state of Michigan and rebuild the Spartan pipeline. That goal was part of the larger overall goal to re-establish the Spartans as a recruiting power in the Midwest.

For Smith, Orchard Lake St. Mary's has been a big help on the recruiting trail. Three of Smith's seven in-state 2025 commits are Eaglets -- linebacker DJ White, tight end Jayden Savoury, and athlete (wide receiver once he gets to East Lansing) Bryson Williams.

Greg Dixon is an assistant head coach and the recruiting coordinator for St. Mary's. I spoke with him at The D Zone's 7-on-7 shootout at University Liggett High School on Tuesday. He has a special relationship with the three future Spartans, who all appeared on his radar at different stages, he told me.

"DJ, we've known since he was little, since little league," Dixon said. "Real close friends with the family. Jayden Savoury, through AAU, things like that for basketball, Jayden was initially playing basketball and we looked at his body, looked at his frame, so we were like, 'We gotta get this kid to come out.' So we actually ended up sending him a presentation, just kinda what we saw of his future and potential. Sold it to his parents, said just trust us, come out. We had him come out to a couple of college camps and he started getting offered right away. So they just saw his potential and it kind of grew from there. Just developing Jayden, and he's all in on football and you know, the rest is history.

"Then Bryson, our kids played MYFCC football, Bryson was a kid who was kicking our butt in little league, so we knew of him, he was No. 4, that tall kid that's killing us, so getting Bryson over was just amazing. He did sit out his sophomore year, transferring over to here, but he's a kid that was killing everybody ... just a smart, intelligent kid. It's been great, the three of them, kind of the heartbeat of our team, leaders, they set the tone for other guys, so it's been wonderful."

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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