Recruiting Spotlight: Kalon Gervin, post Notre Dame de-commitment

Kalon Gervin, a class of 2018 four-star cornerback from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, de-committed from Notre Dame earlier this month, and will now have several other schools vying for his services.

Gervin, who stands 5-feet-11-inches tall and weighs 180 pounds, originally committed to Notre Dame in February. He is currently ranked as the No. 12 cornerback in the 2018 class by Rivals, and the No. 21 player at that position by 247Sports. Gervin is also ranked as the second-best overall prospect in the state of Michigan in 2018 by both outlets, while Rivals has him ranked 100^th nationally.

The Cass Tech product has tremendous speed, with a verified 40-yard dash time of 4.38 seconds, according to Scout.com, while his Hudl account lists his 40 at 4.41 seconds. Either way, Michigan State, and many other schools, will gladly take that.

Gervin made the Detroit News’ All Detroit first-team in 2016, and was also an honorable mention on the Detroit Free Press’ edition. According to the Detroit News, Gervin did not allow a single reception on passes thrown to his side last year. He finished his junior season with 23 tackles, 14 pass deflections and one interception.

The Technicians won the Division 1 State Championship in 2016, and Gervin’s role as a shutdown corner helped the team reach that goal.

So, now that Gervin has de-committed from the Fighting Irish, is Michigan State an option?

The Spartans offered a scholarship to Gervin way back in February 2016, and he has taken several unofficial visits to East Lansing, including four since the offer. His last visit was on Jan. 29.

However, 35 different schools extended an offer to Gervin. To say there is a lot of competition for him would be an understatement.

In an interview with Irish247, Gervin mentioned that MSU is likely a school he is “going to hit up,” among others.

“I’m probably going to hit up Virginia Tech again,” said Gervin. “Florida. Oklahoma. I’m probably going to hit up Michigan State. I don’t really know right now. I don’t really know where I’m headed right now. There’s a bunch of schools. I really don’t know where my head’s at right now.”

The only thing that is clear with Gervin is that everything is unclear. He mentioned in the interview linked above that he felt he rushed his decision to commit to Notre Dame, so he’ll likely be taking time to sort through the few dozen schools interested in him.

It seems like he has no favorite in mind at this point, but he did list Virginia Tech first in that quote above, followed by Florida and Oklahoma.

Even the major recruiting outlets are having a difficult time determining where Gervin may land. His 247Sports profile currently cites his interest as “cool” for all schools on his list. Meanwhile, Rivals and Scout say “medium” interest for nearly every school connected with him.

Keep in mind, the Spartans have already added one 2018 commit who will likely play the cornerback position in Xavier Henderson. Henderson is a four-star prospect out of Pickerington, Ohio. He is currently ranked as a top-15 athlete by 247Sports and the No. 20 cornerback by Rivals. Coupling Henderson and Gervin could make for an exciting cornerback duo in the future.

With Gervin just announcing his de-commitment from Notre Dame 11 days ago, and a whole season of high school football left for him to play, it is too early to guess where he’ll be playing at on Saturdays. But the fact that he is now available, at a premium position, is going to make him a coveted recruit once again.

It may be a long shot that we see him wearing green and white, but from his comments, it sounds like he at least wants to get back in touch with Mark Dantonio and company and re-connect with the program. We also know he doesn’t want to be hasty with his decision this time, so we’ll likely be waiting a while to find out, folks.

Update: Gervin tweeted this from his account on May 18. Just a tease, or a hint toward his future?