Top 8 recruits visit Michigan State football during Spartan Dawg Con

Michigan State football and Jonathan Smith will host their first Spartan Dawg Con of Smith’s tenure on Saturday, July 27. The annual event brings many of the nation’s top recruits from the high school’s junior class to East Lansing for one of the largest on-campus recruiting events all year.

Smith brings a lot of exciting visitors to campus this weekend, including over 110 former Spartan legends and Mark Dantonio. But the most exciting visitors he brings to campus are the extremely talented recruits.

Spartan Dawg Con IV is finally here.#MichiganState receives 5 4-star, 25 priority targets + other prospects today.

Additionally, more than 110 former players will be in town for an event that defines MSU’s resilient culture in times of change.

Example: https://t.co/iYfAltq3v9 ⬇️

— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) July 27, 2024

Smith has a long list of recruits visiting Michigan State on Saturday, including 25 priority targets. Here are the top eight, according to On3.

Michigan State welcomes a host of high-profile visitors this weekend for its annual SpartanDawg Con event. Below is the full list of attendees.

(Op3+): https://t.co/6oYXaIRJVg photo.twitter.com/STLGyacQhL

—Jason Killop (@KillopOn3) July 26, 2024

According to On3, Michigan State has an impressive eight players coming in that are ranked in the top 500 of the 2026 recruiting rankings. When you compare that to the Spartans’ current 2025 class, you can see that Michigan State currently has just one commit in On3’s top 500. So it’s pretty easy to see how Smith is changing his recruiting tactics for the 2026 class.

The highest-ranked recruit visiting is four-star wide receiver Mason James, who is the No. 190 player in the class. Smith also has four other four-star recruits visiting campus this weekend, which is a very large number.

While a commitment from a recruit visiting this weekend is possible, it probably won’t happen. Most of the recruits visiting are in the 2026 class, meaning they still have a year and a half left in their recruitment. So they’re probably in no rush to end their recruitment with a commitment this weekend.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible though. We’ve seen players commit after Spartan Dawg Con in the past, so it’s a possibility. But if I were a betting man, I’d bet on no player committing.

This event is still extremely important though. Smith and his staff can lay the groundwork with all the recruits in town to hopefully earn some commitments in the future. So hopefully the coaching staff can do that and see the benefits of their hard work in the future.