Top Michigan State Football Targets Validates the Multi-Sport High School Athlete
When Spartan Nation spoke to 2025 Michigan State target Noah LaPorte, a tight end from Princeton, Illinois, the recruit discussed the workout he had with tight ends coach Brian Wozniak. LaPorte ran routes for Wozniak, went through the motions of blocking.
"But he wasn't putting me through any conditioning practice or anything because I got four baseball games this week, he wasn't trying to put me through anything crazy," LaPorte said.
LaPorte plays centerfield and pitches for Princeton High School. He told Spartan Nation his play on the diamond benefits his ability on the gridiron.
"I consider [my best ability to be] my ball-skills, being able to track a ball in the air -- to go from baseball [in] centerfield [to] playing football," LaPorte said.
LaPorte, like three-star tight end Jayden Savoury and four-star offensive lineman Darius Afalava -- spends his winters on the basketball court. LaPorte is 6-foot-6.
"I'm always going 100 percent," LaPorte said when asked what he does best on the court. "I don't give up on a play, I can step out and shoot if [opponents] leave me wide open, and I crash the boards, I find my teammates open. When it's not working out for me I'll find my teammates open. Try to do a little bit of everything to try to help my team out to win. I play defense as well -- it's kind of underrated, people don't play defense. I love blocking shots and getting steals."
Savoury played on Orchard Lake St. Mary's basketball team -- and help them win their first ever Division 1 state championship. Savoury played with top Michigan State basketball target Trey McKenney.
"A lot of people don't like to do the dirty work and don't like to rebound, block the shots and play defense. All people want to do is score. I think I do a lot of the dirty work -- and to be honest I think I do score a good amount, too ... I got a little skill," Savoury said.
Savoury and Afalava both played basketball first. Savoury started playing basketball in the third grade.
"Before I even played football, I played basketball. I played basketball since I was like, six-years-old," Afalava said.
Michigan State 2025 commit DJ White spoke about how he thinks specialization has caused multi-sport athletes to be overlooked -- especially in Michigan.
"I think Michigan athletes are probably one of the most underrated [groups] of football players just because of where we from and we do multiple sports except for just [football], like Florida, they're all football," White said.
Savoury, Afalava, and LaPorte play multiple sports -- it certainly has not hurt their game.
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