Michigan State Recruiting: Welcome Aboard- Tyler Higby

Offensive Lineman Tyler Higby

From

Houston, Texas (Kinkaid)

Height/Weight

between 6'4'' and 6'5'', 284 and 285 lbs

Ratings

Consensus 3* to all four sites.

Notable Offers

Louisiana State, Oklahoma State, Houston, TCU, Louisville, Ole Miss

Thoughts on Offer List

Solid. Opinion on him seems to be higher outside his state than within it. Hometown Houston and TCU offered, as well as Texas State, while Baylor, Tech, A&M, and Texas all apparently passed for now. Outside the lone-star state, Oklahoma State, LSU, Louisville, and MSU is a strong quartet of offers for any player. Fellow Big Ten programs Maryland and Illinois also threw their hats into the ring.

Thoughts on Film

Nimble, quick, feet for someone his size, which will be important if he wants to play offensive tackle at the next level. From what I can tell, the reason why everyone chases those 6'7 OT types is they're mostly chasing those player's naturally longer arms, as you want your guy to be able to reach out and grab the defensive guy before he can get grabbed himself. But as Higby shows in his film, if you can reset your feet well and always keep yourself between the man and the ball (which Higby seems really good at, particular watch him adjust to keep his defender inside of him on QB roll-outs and the like), it doesn't matter if you're 6'4'' or 6'9'', it's going to be near impossible for the defender to make a play.

Keeping along with our theme of nimble, he does an excellent job of seeking out and destroying blockers at the second level in the line-backing corps and secondary. If, as is entirely possible, he eventually grades out as an OG at MSU, it's worth noting that he also looks very good at pulling into the center of the line on Power running plays. If he stays at OT, it's worth noting MSU likes to pull its tackles as well.

'Meaness' in terms of willingness to stick with his blocks seems present, though he's really only pancaking players who look to be quite a bit smaller than him.

In that line, level of competition could be a concern. It can be a little hard to take too much away from Higby clearing out a player who clearly ways about 120 pounds less than he does. How will Higby look against players who are near his size, or even bigger than him? Hard to say. And for what it's worth, the rest of Higby's line looks very good as well, seems like his school's OL development is doing something right.

Outlook for the Rest of the Class.

Higby is the 11th commit, and the third offensive lineman in this class alongside Stallworth and Listermann. I think Listermann is probably a pure OT, and one of Stallworth or Higby is probably a pure guard, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the other of the two play an OG/OT utility role, particularly with how MSU rotates linemen. It also wouldn't surprise me if this was a wrap on the OL class for MSU at three players.

Michigan State has put together a pretty powerful offensive recruiting class (of all things!) here as we reach the end of July. Obviously, they'll have to hold onto these players in the coming months, but it's still impressive to see right now. Felton Davis III, Josh Butler, and Higby all visited the same weekend and all committed to MSU within the next two weeks or so. So whatever the staff did, feel free to hit ctrl-s on that recruiting pitch!

MSU is still likely chasing at least a safety, a defensive tackle, a linebacker, a running back, and a wide receiver in this recruiting class, with a couple of 'flex' spots likely open beyond that.

Higby apparently stopped by MSU while visiting family in Michigan. Here's to hoping East Lansing can become his second home. Congrats Tyler, and welcome!