During last night's SpartanMag LIVE! podcast, I was asked about high four-star Indiana offensive lineman Kiyaunta Goodwin.
Goodwin has offers from Ohio State and everyone else. He is ranked the No. 69 player in the country.
I was asked what I thought about Mchigan State's chances with him.
Michigan State is one of the top seven to 10 schools that seem to have his eye right now.
As for MSU's chances with him, last night I basically said I'll need to see it to believe it. MSU beating OSU for a kid like that? Some of it might depend on if OSU fills up, but then there are other blue bloods in on him too.
I also mentioned that I'm coming at it from a many-decades bias against Michigan State in terms of MSU's chances of pulling an out-of-state kid like that from a blue blood. So I guess I need to work through that bias a little bit, but I'm also an I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it guy.
That being said, there are differences this time.
1. Mel Tucker is presiding over the situation, rather than the young Nick Saban, Bobby Williams, John L Smith or Mark Dantonio. Those guys all had their moments in recruiting at Michigan State, but we're still watching Tucker get his footing and establish a recruiting base line. Tucker's ceiling of potential in attracting these type of recruits is a bit higher than those gentlemen when they were here. Tucker certainly plans for that to be the case.
2. Tucker is calling and reaching out to Goodwin. Tucker doesn't do that with every recruit, at least not at this stage. Tucker is a lead recruiter in this recruitment. He isn't a lead recruiter in every recruitment. But for big-timers like this, Tucker is recruiting from the front. That has helped Michigan State get a foot in the door with Goodwin.
So while I am biased AGAINST Michigan State's chances to get a player like this, based on program history, I'm also aware that it's a different shooting match with Tucker at the helm. We have no frame of reference for how this will end up, no baseline of info in relation to Tucker as a head coach at Michigan State. But it's worth watching, and we'll gain an idea for the strength of the new calculus over the course of the next few months and years. As for now, Goodwin is an interesting case study. A big-timer from a border state, and Tucker is taking on Ohio State and the big boys with aggressive communication.
Goodwin has offers from Ohio State and everyone else. He is ranked the No. 69 player in the country.
I was asked what I thought about Mchigan State's chances with him.
Michigan State is one of the top seven to 10 schools that seem to have his eye right now.
As for MSU's chances with him, last night I basically said I'll need to see it to believe it. MSU beating OSU for a kid like that? Some of it might depend on if OSU fills up, but then there are other blue bloods in on him too.
I also mentioned that I'm coming at it from a many-decades bias against Michigan State in terms of MSU's chances of pulling an out-of-state kid like that from a blue blood. So I guess I need to work through that bias a little bit, but I'm also an I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it guy.
That being said, there are differences this time.
1. Mel Tucker is presiding over the situation, rather than the young Nick Saban, Bobby Williams, John L Smith or Mark Dantonio. Those guys all had their moments in recruiting at Michigan State, but we're still watching Tucker get his footing and establish a recruiting base line. Tucker's ceiling of potential in attracting these type of recruits is a bit higher than those gentlemen when they were here. Tucker certainly plans for that to be the case.
2. Tucker is calling and reaching out to Goodwin. Tucker doesn't do that with every recruit, at least not at this stage. Tucker is a lead recruiter in this recruitment. He isn't a lead recruiter in every recruitment. But for big-timers like this, Tucker is recruiting from the front. That has helped Michigan State get a foot in the door with Goodwin.
So while I am biased AGAINST Michigan State's chances to get a player like this, based on program history, I'm also aware that it's a different shooting match with Tucker at the helm. We have no frame of reference for how this will end up, no baseline of info in relation to Tucker as a head coach at Michigan State. But it's worth watching, and we'll gain an idea for the strength of the new calculus over the course of the next few months and years. As for now, Goodwin is an interesting case study. A big-timer from a border state, and Tucker is taking on Ohio State and the big boys with aggressive communication.
