Andrel Anthony is a highly regarded college football prospect.
Anthony is 6’2” and 175 pounds and he is ranked the #1 Receiver, and #12 player in the State of Michigan. He was also All State last season. Anthony plays football at East Lansing High School in the shadows of Spartan Stadium and he has been coached in High School by former Spartan QB, Bill Feraco. Anthony is lengthy and smooth and considered to be difference maker as a WR. By every measure, the Spartans had the “inside lane”.
Anthony had a bounty of offers from Power 5 schools but narrowed his options to Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Penn State yet for reasons cited above regarding his relationships in East Lansing and proximity to campus, the Spartans appeared to have the “inside lane”, that is until they didn’t, and on July 31, Andrel Anthony chose Michigan over Michigan State.
The loss of Andrel Anthony is a major blow to the Spartans first year coaching staff because the Spartans have now come up short in pursuit of 5 highly visible recruits. In addition to losing Anthony, the Spartans also lost Jamari Buddin (Belleville, MI) and Jaylen Reed (Detroit King), both 4-Star D-backs who picked Penn State; and Gabe Nealy, D-back from Miami who picked South Florida; and Koli Faaiu an O-Lineman from Seattle, who picked Utah.
So, the Spartans swung and missed at 3 highly prized recruits from “their backyard” in the State of Michigan including Anthony, Buddin and Reed. Of course, if you lose 1 or 2 recruits, it’s all in the game, but when you come up short on 5 recruits it’s a signal that problems are percolating. At the minimum, it signals a massive breakdown in communication between recruit, recruiting coordinator, and coaching staff.
Now, with the likelihood of playing college football in 2020 fading as fast as a winter sunset, it means the most important competition at the moment is building a recruiting class to compete in 2021 yet things couldn’t be going much worse for the Spartans first year coaching staff inasmuch as of August 1, the Spartans 2021 recruiting class is ranked #63 in the land, and #13 amongst Big Ten schools
A precipitous free fall:
In early April, the Spartans ranked a respectable #29.
Yet by late April the Spartans fell into the 30’s; in May they fell into the 40’s; on June 15 the Spartans fell to #50; on July 15 they fell to #60; and on August 1 they fell to #63. You could say Spartan recruiting is in free fall. As other schools have continued to add an abundance of recruits since April, on the other hand, since April the Spartans have only added 3 players.
What does all this mean? This is only the second time in the past 20 years the Spartan have ranked #60 or worse in recruiting and that means if the Spartans are hoping to build a Championship team, they are totally trending in the wrong direction.
Chalk it up to a first year staff?
It would be easy to chalk up the Spartans recruiting woes to the travails of a first year coaching staff, but the issues are greater than that.
When we compare recruiting rankings for other “first year” coaching staffs, it highlights that the Spartans are faltering badly. Immediately below, are 2021 recruiting rankings of other “first year” coaching staffs:
- Florida State #21
- Washington #22
- Missouri #24
- Arkansas #28
- Rutgers #30
- Miss State #42
Note: Recruiting Rankings courtesy of 24/7 Sports as at Aug 1, 2020
Think about that, Michigan State’s first year coaching staff has assembled a recruiting class ranked #63, while perennial doormat Rutgers and their “first year” coaching staff have assembled a recruiting class ranked #30. Meanwhile Rutgers has 21 verbal commits while the Spartans have just 12.
But it gets more dismal.
When we compare the Spartans recruiting class vs recruiting classes assembled by “first year” coaching staffs at Group of 5 Schools such as Memphis, Florida Atlantic and Appalachian State (in other words, non-Power 5 schools), the picture gets even bleaker because you don’t expect the Spartans to lag behind Memphis, Florida Atlantic and/or Appalachian State but they are. Take a look:
- Memphis #37
- Florida Atlantic University #43
- Appalachian State #51
Today’s recruits are savvy and exceedingly well informed, so their choice of schools send an unspoken message whether or not recruits are buying the recruiting pitch, and it would be fair to say, the Spartans recruiting pitch isn’t resonating
How much ground can the Spartans make up?
Recruits can’t sign “National Letters of Intent” until late December, that’s nearly 5 months, but how much ground can the Spartans make up between now and then?
Five months may seem like a lot of time, but let’s remember, most of the best players in the country have already been taken “off the board”. If the 2020 college football season is cancelled (and it seems highly likely it will be cancelled) that means the Spartans first year coaching staff won’t have an opportunity to impress on the field, and that means today’s recruiting rankings are likely to be representative of final recruiting rankings on National Signing Day.
Keep in mind, at the moment, the Spartans have “Zero” 4 or 5 Star players, while 4 of the top 6 recruiting classes in the country, including Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson and LSU, each have more 4 & 5 Star players than the Spartans have total recruits. Shocking would be an understatement.
I don’t assign the recruiting rankings, I simply report on them, and the recruiting rankings tell us the Spartans first year coaching staff has dug a huge hole, and it is highly unlikely the Spartans can improve their ranking, after all, the only way to improve their lot is recruiting a bounty of 4 & 5 Star players and yet most of the big name “Playmakers” have been taken off the table.
At the bottom line:
Recruiting the class of 2021 is the first opportunity for the Spartans new coaching staff to impress the public, yet in their first meaningful competition, their recruiting strategy is faltering badly and the Spartans are way off the pace.
If we put 2021 recruiting into Track & Field perspective, if this were an 800 meter race, the Spartans are in 63rd place with only a couple hundred meters remaining, and so it is clear the Spartans won’t be able to close the gap, and the best they can hope for is to not lose any more ground, and yet when I started writing this missive, the Spartans were ranked #63 on August 1, yet fell to #64 on August 3, and then fell to #65 on August 4. (Note: 24/7 Sports report the Spartan are ranked #65 as at Aug 4).
And when we compare recruiting results against “first year” coaching staffs at Rutgers, Florida Atlantic and Appalachian State of all places, we discover each is outperforming the Spartans, and so Spartan stakeholders, namely students, ticketholders, and alumni/donors are entitled to ask “what in the world is happening with Spartan recruiting?”. And just as importantly, stakeholders are entitled to know how the new coaching staff intends to correct course.
One thing is certain, teams don’t compete for Championships with recruiting classes ranked #60 or worse, and yet the Spartans are ranked #65 and falling by the day.
Thank you for reading: I always welcome your comments and opinions.
