Rumored to have been a commitment since early in the week, Ft. Lauderdale wide receiver MacGarrett Kings made his verbal commitment official last night, making him the second wide receiver in the 2012 recruiting class and the 11th recruit overall. Here are Kings's rankings:
247 Sports: Three star, grade of 84
Rivals: Three star, 5.6 Rivals Ranking, #78 WR
Scout: Three star, #52 RB
ESPN: Three star, grade of 75, #121 WR
First, allow me to be skeptic of how recruiting services can rank up to and above 100 players at a position. I believe it's possible to get a nice top ten or 15, but when the rankings delve down to triple digits I find it hard to believe that there's a significant difference between the 120th and 121st player. Scout graded Kings as a running back, probably because Kings also functioned as one of his team's primary ball carriers, racking up double-digit carries in five games last season.
The 5'11", 180 lb. Kings chose the Spartans over offers from Wisconsin, Florida State, Wake Forest, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Boston College and others. That set of offers confirms Kings's consensus three-star ranking. I think he may be slightly underranked judging by the schools listed above, I believe he should be a high three-star recruit instead of a mid three-star one.
The key term when discussing Kings? Versatile. Kings rushed 104 times for 576 yards and 17 touchdowns. He had 49 receptions for 678 more yards and seven touchdowns. Kings's final rush this season was in the Florida 2B state title game, and it didn't go so well:
The game-defining moment occurred when Suns receiver Macgarrett Kings went for a two-point conversion try from a yard out and was stopped at the line of scrimmage by Trinity’s defense.
"I was supposed to sweep around the corner, but I decided to cut it up," Kings told the Sun-Sentinel. "I guess it wasn’t our time this year."
The stop meant that Kings's University School of Nova Southeastern University squad lost in triple overtime.
The obvious comparison here is to Keshawn Martin. Like Martin, Kings is a shifty, quick runner whose size makes him best suited to play in the slot. He's had success on kick returns with six touchdowns total (four punt, two on kickoffs). He was also excited to pick up the MSU offer last month:
"I was happy," King said. "I was like, Michigan State, wow! I told my mom and she was happy too, and my whole family was happy. I’m going to be looking into them real deeply. They’re a school that I’ve always wanted to go to in the back of my mind. Michigan State is my number one school."
Kings came up to camp at MSU this week, and made the commitment soon thereafter.
While two wide receivers is good in this class, I (along with many, many others) expect MSU to take one more. B.J. Cunningham, Keith Nichol, Keshawn Martin and Chris D. Rucker all graduate after this season, and with a couple talented recruits still out there (Cincinnati receiver Monty Madaris chief among them) I fully expect Michigan State to add another wideout to the class. Welcome aboard MacGarrett, we're glad to have you.