5 Michigan State football recruits lead according to On3

Michigan State football’s 2025 class currently stands at 16 commits. While that’s a very solid number for late July, it’s certainly not enough for a complete class. This means Jonathan Smith and his staff still have some work to do on the recruiting front as the season approaches.

In addition to finishing out the 2025 class, Smith and his team also need to continue working on next year’s 2026 class. Michigan State doesn’t have a commit in that class yet (which isn’t a concern), but they need to keep pushing hard to land those recruits long-term.

Fortunately, it appears the Spartans are moving in the right direction with many of their targets. According to On3, Michigan State currently leads the pack for these five recruits.

Michigan State’s first acquisition is Christian Pierce from Chicago.

Pierce is a three-star linebacker in the 2024 class and is the No. 533 overall player in the nation. He is also the No. 57 linebacker and No. 15 player out of Illinois.

So far, Pierce has had a very quiet recruitment. According to his 247Sports and On3 profiles, he hasn’t taken any official visits this summer, which is very odd. However, Pierce did take an unofficial visit to Michigan State in April, which shows he does have some interest in MSU.

On3 gives Michigan State a slight edge in his recruiting with a 25.1% chance of earning his commitment. Rival Michigan currently sits in second place with a 21.9% chance of winning.

Even though his recruitment has been extremely quiet, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have elite offers. In addition to the two Michigan schools, Ohio State, Penn State, Ole Miss, Texas, Texas A&M and many others have also extended offers to him.

A short-term commitment from Pierce would be shocking considering he hasn’t taken many visits, but I expect him to take visits during the season this fall. So expect Smith to be aggressive and try to get him on campus for a game later this fall.