"I was born in Michigan and I have lots of family there. It would mean a lot to receive an offer from my home state Spartans."

2026 WR Kenyon Alston made his debut visit to MSU in mid-June.

He details the visit, discusses what an offer from the Spartans would mean to him, and more:

A source close to 2025 Indiana four-star power forward Trent Sisley tells Spartans Illustrated that he has tentatively set an official visit date of Oct. 12 with the Michigan State men's basketball program. We are told this date is "penciled in" for now, but not yet 100 percent locked in just yet.

Sisley has previously taken multiple unofficial visits to East Lansing. He also is looking to take official visits to Purdue, Indiana and Notre Dame this fall, and he already took an OV to Iowa last September.

Sisley has been a longtime target for MSU and ranks as the No. 67 overall prospect and the No. 12 power forward in the 2025 cycle.

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Nfm

I read a piece talking about how a Spartan legacy ended up in Ann Arbor. Granted I can only assess the story by granting a certain level of veracity to that author. However, the essence, regardless if it is not fully accurate was immensely disturbing to me. His dad is a Spartan alum and player, he was raised on Spartan football and dreamed of following in his fathers footsteps, but the Mel fiasco sent him searching other schools. With our current staff, his would-be position coach told him he would call weekly, and then never called again. His rationale, he didn't think we could land him with who else was recruiting him????? What? I was wondering why we're only landing three-star players, and four-star kids are strangely missing. The idea to coach-up players can work to an extend, but talent does matter. I hope I'm wrong. I'm 76, so my tomorrows aren't guaranteed like with young folks.

Japan defeated the US 41-20 at the IFAF U20 World Junior Championships.​

The shocking upset drew a fierce reaction from American football fans on social media, and several of them wondered what had happened.

"The beginning of the game was good for us, but then, after that, the energy of the U.S. team gave them a chance to fight back, but we were able to answer every time they scored," head coach Makato Ohashi said, via the IFAF website.

The victory gave Japan its first crack at a gold medal.

"I’ve got to give Japan a lot of credit because they won both sides of the line of scrimmage," U.S. head coach Mike Kelly said, according to the website. "Their defensive line was better than our offensive line, and their offensive line was better than our defensive line. And that’s what it came down to.

12-minute clip...game highlights
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Japan TD run...
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Don't get too excited if you think big comfort changes are coming to fan areas, though. The MSU Board of Trustees on Friday approved the Administration to plan for renovation of selected areas of the office tower at Spartan Stadium occupied by the University Advancement office.

The second and third floor of the West Stadium tower is currently occupied by the Advancement Office and lacks space for fundraising and donor engagement events. The office space occupied by staff will be shrunk by roughly 25% under the renovation planning and the new vacant space utilized for hosting alumni and donor events, giving a better first impression to would be donors. The planning stage is estimated to cost and has a budget of $1 million for the work.

Some renderings provided by MSU are below:






Full approval details can be found on MSU's website:

Michigan State hired Jonathan Smith as its 26th head football coach on Nov. 25, 2023.

There were many tasks to get done for Smith and his staff once they arrived in East Lansing, including re-recruiting the current roster, looking for targets in the transfer portal and focusing on the 2024 recruiting class ahead of the early signing period on Dec. 20, 2023. However, once the recruiting contact period opened not even a week after Smith's hiring, one of the first stops the Spartans made was to Orchard Lake St. Mary's Preparatory. It was clear from the get-go that OLSM was an in-state high school the new staff — known for it West Coast ties — wanted to prioritize.

The staff quickly built a relationship with St. Mary's head coach Jermaine Gonzales, associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Greg Dixon and the rest of the OLSM staff, along with the players. MSU went on to offer several St. Mary's players and currently has two committed in the 2025 class, with potentially more to come.

Something a little different for you all this morning, looking at the new's staff connection with St. Mary's. This includes quotes from Gonzales, MSU linebacker commit Charles White, MSU tight end commit Jayden Savoury and MSU athlete target Bryson Williams.

Much more here:

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The Buffalo Sabers drafted Patrick Geary in the sixth round of the NHL Draft. The Buffalo native gets drafted by his hometown team and joins teammate Maxim Strbak.

A bit of an exclusive here for Spartans Illustrated subscribers. I caught up with Kaden Strayhorn and Jason Strayhorn to discuss Kaden landing at Michigan, why MSU wasn't in the picture at the end, and what it's like for a Spartan family to be recruited by UM. Also, Kaden dispels a narrative that's been popping up lately on social media and Jason talks about what it will be like broadcasting a game with his son on the opposing sideline.

Tonight is the NHL Draft in Las Vegas. Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov is expected to be one of the top defensemen taken off the board this year.

ESPN will broadcast of the draft beginning at 7 p.m.

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Rioux, who played for IMG, has gone from 7'6" and now has reached a height of 7'9", making college basketball history.

He is from Montreal but loves the State of Florida and was focused on the offerings from the University of Florida, Stetson, and Florida Atlantic before picking the Gators.

The ESPN piece focused on some of the tallest players in college baseball history. Which includes:

7-7

Kenny George, 2006-2008, UNC Asheville

Mike Lanier, 1988-1993, Hardin-Simmons/UCLA

7-6

John Hollinden, 1976-1978, Oral Roberts

Mamadou Ndiaye, 2013-2016, UC Irvine

Neil Fingleton, 2001-2004, Holy Cross/North Carolina

Shawn Bradley, 1990-1991, Brigham Young

Tacko Fall, 2015-2019, UCF

7-5

Chuck Nevitt, 1978-1982, NC State

Greg Ritter, 1989-1991, Portland

Jamarion Sharp, 2021-2024, Ole Miss/Western Kentucky

Sim Bhullar, 2012-2014, New Mexico State

Will Foster, 2006-2010, Gonzaga

7-4

Alan Bannister, 1985-1990, Arkansas State/Oklahoma State

Blake Vedder, 2010-2015, Kent State/Rhode Island

Chase Metheney, 1995-1998, Virginia

Jakub Kusmieruk, 2008-2013, Idaho State/UCF

Christ Koumadje, 2015-2019, Florida State

Lonnie Boeckman, 1973-1977, Oklahoma State

Mark Eaton, 1980-1982, UCLA

Matt Van Komen, 2019-2021, St. Mary's (CA)/Utah

Naheem McLeod, 2021-2024, Florida State/Syracuse

Ralph Sampson, 1979-1983, Virginia

Rik Smits, 1984-1988, Marist

Riley Sorn, 2019-2022, Washington

Rolf Mayr, 1987-1988, Duquesne

Steve Turner, 1969-1973, Vanderbilt

Zach Edey, 2020-2024, Purdue

The Spartans will take on Niagara at the Breslin Center on Nov. 7, 2024.

This will be the first game between these two programs.

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Good news coming at about 6:30 (15 minutes or so)…

After talking to a source, I've placed a FutureCast for Michigan State to land three-star CB Aydan West who was on campus for an OV this weekend.


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Some clips from yesterday and today at Wayne State for the SoundMind SoundBody 7-on-7 Showcase.

We’ll have some articles coming out of this event as well.

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A Michigan State men's basketball spokesperson has confirmed to Spartans Illustrated that point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. was granted a medical redshirt ahead of the 2024-2025 season.

On Dec. 23, 2023, Fears was shot in the left leg while at a friend's home in his hometown of Joliet, Illinois. After undergoing surgery, he missed the remainder of the 2023-2024 season.

As a true freshman, Fears appeared in 12 games and played 15.3 minutes per game. He averaged 3.5 points, 3.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game. He also shot 50% from the field.

While Fears could still opt to leave college early, he will now have the option to return for a fifth year of college basketball when that time comes.

The Spartans and Fighting Irish will renew their rivalry in 2026 (South Bend) and 2027 (East Lansing).

I'll have a full article on this shortly.

Michigan State is bolstering the future of its defensive line, as class of 2025 three-star, in-state defensive tackle Derrick Simmons committed to the Spartans on Thursday.

Simmons returned to East Lansing for an official visit during the weekend of June 14. He was also on campus for an unofficial trip in April. The Spartans offered the Frankenmuth High School standout in May, and quickly worked to get him back to campus for the official visit.

Since the offer came in, Michigan State made Simmons a priority target and the Spartans were able to secure his verbal commitment.

More here:

Class of 2025 three-star offensive tackle Justin Bell is fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a Spartan. The in-state offensive lineman out of Dakota High School in Macomb committed to Michigan State on Wednesday.

Bell took his official visit to MSU this past weekend and left the trip knowing that East Lansing is where he will call home when he enrolls in college.

"I chose MSU because when I got there, it just felt different from everywhere else," Bell told Spartans Illustrated. "It felt like a place I can call home and be able to compete in the best conference in the country."

Much more here:

As you may have already noticed, Rivals is implementing a significant overhaul of its national brand and our site, including new branding and a new fresh look. I'm told this is the most significant update in the history of Rivals.

A few glitches are happening here and there, but we expect the rollout to be complete soon. If you are experiencing any significant issues, though, send me a DM or an email (SpartansIllustrated@gmail.com).

I am heading to Jacksonville tomorrow morning for the Rivals Five Star event and a publisher's conference to discuss Yahoo's investment in Rivals and what that will look like going forward. Things are definitely exciting around here and I can't wait to continue building this community with you all.

An annual look at high school facilities in Texas...

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BREAKING: Michigan State picks up a commitment from 2025 Macomb, MI OT Justin Bell, a 6-foot-8, 300-pound tackle

Offers from West Virginia, Kansas, Indiana, and many MAC schools, including Western Michigan.

I was wondering if there could be a thread with when msu targets commitment dates? (all I know right now is Fitzgibbon is announcing tomorrow and he’s looking like he’s going to Iowa)