The first (kind of) recruiting class of the Pat Fitzgerald era at Michigan State is officially in the books. And it ended up being a solid class given the circumstances.
National Signing Day was held on Wednesday with a small number of players making their final decisions on where they’ll be playing next fall, including a monster signing of four-star wide receiver Samson Gash for the Spartans. That signing helped Michigan State finish with a top 50 recruiting class nationally.
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According to 247Sports composite rankings, Michigan State finished the 2026 cycle with the No. 46 class nationally. That ranked No. 12 in the Big Ten — put that was the best of any school in the league that went through a coaching change pre-early signing period.
You can see the rankings of all the Big Ten teams in the post below:
The Michigan State recruiting class was once ranked in the top 25 nationally, but struggles on the field in the fall and an eventual coaching change ultimately took a hit on that once stellar class. However, for Fitzgerald to finish with 19 signings after being hired only a few days before the early signing period is still an impressive accomplishment. Him and his staff were able to successfully retain most of their initial verbal commitments, and that led to the class not completely falling apart like we saw with some other schools in the Big Ten.
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Now the focus will turn to the 2027 class where I personally will be expecting Fitzgerald and co. to assemble a class close to the top 25 than where they landed this year. They’re off to a strong start already with a pair of commitments, so let’s hope they can keep that momentum going to get Michigan State football back on track.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: MSU football finishes with top 50 recruiting class amid coaching change
