REPORT: Interesting Take on Jonathan Smith's First Year of Recruiting at MSU

Compared to other Power-Four first-year head coaches, Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith is considered to be behind on the recruiting trail in his first offseason at the helm.

Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith talks the media on the first national signing day for college football recruits Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. / Nick King / USA TODAY NETWORK

Any first-year head coach will have a tough time bringing in a great recruiting class. The only first-year head coach to bring in a top-15 recruiting class, per 247Sports, was Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, who had the No. 2 class in 2024.

First-year Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith brought in the 42nd overall recruiting class in 2024, according to 247Sports, while also bringing in the 12th-ranked transfer class. Smith's highlight of the freshman class is wide receiver Nick Marsh from River Rouge, Michigan.

247Sports' Carter Bahns discussed the current state of Michigan State recruiting following the Spartans' summer official visits.

“It is still early enough in the recruiting cycle to avoid sounding the alarms, but Michigan State has the lowest-ranked 2025 class among all power conference programs with new head coaches," Bahns wrote. "Jonathan Smith was never a world-beating recruiter at Oregon State, but one would expect him to build better classes at his new program. He does not yet have a four-star commit in his debut haul. The transfer class, however, is far more exciting. Prized quarterback Aidan Chiles followed Smith to East Lansing and should be one of the top first-year starters in all of college football, and there are plenty of talented newcomers around him.”

This summer, Coach Smith has brought in 10 commits in an effort that has the Spartans with the 62nd-ranked class for 2025, per 247Sports. That's not too bad for a brand-new regime.

It's not an ideal start for Michigan State, but Smith has never been someone who will always get the top high school players. Smith is, however, capable of being like former Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio, in that he can develop players who are lower-ranked and mold them into star players on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. 

Spartan fans should be excited to see how well Smith and his staff do during the rest of the summer recruiting season.

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