It's shaped up to be a pretty busy Sunday here at The Only Colors. First comes the shout-out from The Quad, and next is the commitment from Defensive End Marcus Rush from Cincinnati Moeller; you may remember Cincinnati Moeller from previous recruiting efforts, Greg Jones came from there. Rush becomes the 11th commitment to Michigan State's 2010 class. Rankings, measurables, depth chart analysis, and Geddy Lee puns can all be found after the jump.
As always, the recruiting rankings come first:
RANKINGS
- RIVALS: 3*, #46 overall in Ohio
- SCOUT: 3*, #77 DE in the nation
- ESPN: Grade of 78
Another recruit for Michigan State, another player that appers to have solid, but not spectacular rankings. Even though Rivals and Scout have him in the low three-star range, the ESPN grade of 78 is around where most of the Spartans' non-Gholston/Boisture recruits have been. His other offers were from Michigan, Nebraska, Minnesota, Virginia, and Kansas among others.
MEASURABLES
6'3", 225 lbs.
4.6 40 time
Bench Max - 325 lbs.
3.4 GPA
Rush has all the measurables of an OLB at this point, but in two more years one can easily see why he's being recruited for defensive end. He has the frame to put on 30-40 more pounds and assuming that none of the 4.6ish (40 times not down to the hundredths of a second always make me a bit skeptical, there's a distinct difference between 4.61 and 4.69) speed is lost, his transformation to a pass-rusher seems all but assured.
The commitment of Marcus Rush did come out of the blue. Cincinnati.com had him visiting Michigan as of two weeks ago and said that he would be visiting Boston College before school started. Let the speculation begin about what happened in between the Michigan visit (supposed, there's some hubbub that he didn't make it to Ann Arbor) and today's commitment, but Rush's head coach had an inkling he might commit to MSU:
He's either going to commit to Michigan, Virginia or Michigan State.
There's not really a whole lot of flavor in that quote, but the point came across loud and clear. Whether he did or didn't make it to Michigan, it's obvious for one reason or another that he cooled on them, and between Virginia and State, he chose State.
Rush most likely becomes the second defensive end (I don't think he'll end up at LB) in the 2010 class, and should fill up the class at that spot (Ed. Note - forgot about C.J. Olaniyan. If he commits, that'll be three DEs in the class, and then it will definitely be full - Pete). When Rush arrives in 2010, he'll be competing for playing time behind (all class designations respective to 2010) senior Colin Neely, another converted LB-to-DE in junior David Rolf, redshirt sophomore Tyler Hoover, and redshirt junior walk-on Johnathan Strayhorn. Current freshman Denzel Drone might also be a factor, and he'll have to contend with the other DE in his class, the much lauded WIlliam Gholston.
Despite all the depth I just listed, the chance to make an immediate impact on the two-deep at defensive end is more available than other positions on the team. For example, Rolf's listed as one of the co-starters at DE, and the current roster lists him at 6'4" and 228 lbs. That is very light for a DE in today's college football, and if Rush puts on a good amount of weight in a year, he should have the chance to earn some playing time as a freshman.
Another good recruit for MSU, even if there was no Distant Early Warning. Sorry, I wasn't going to make it through this preview without one Rush-related pun.