Recruiting Roundup: 2018 Michigan State Football Class

We’re still fairly early in the 2018 recruiting process, but let’s take a look at where Michigan State currently stands with its 2018 football recruiting class, and where each recruit ranks within some of the major recruiting outlet websites, namely Rivals, 247Sports and Scout.

Quick note: It is important to understand that 247Sports has two different sets of rankings – the website’s own rankings, as well as the composite score of every major media recruiting website. Either ranking, or both rankings, may be mentioned throughout the article for all prospects.

Four-star Recruits

Name: Trenton Gillison

Position: Tight End

Recruiting: 18 scholarship offers (per his Twitter account)

School: Pickerington Central (Ohio)

Height: 6-foot-5

Weight: 230 pounds

Gillison is the 10^th ranked tight end in his class, and eighth best overall player in the state of Ohio, according to 247Sports composite. He is the No. 2 ranked tight end in the Midwest according to Scout.com, and the No.4 tight end overall by Rivals.com. Gillison gave a verbal commitment to the Spartans via Twitter on Jan. 29. He is currently the highest-rated commit in the Spartans’ class.

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Name: Xavier Henderson

Position: Athlete/Cornerback

Recruiting: 12 scholarship offers (per 247Sports)

School: Pickerington Central (Ohio)

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 190 pounds

Henderson was the first to commit in the 2018 class, doing so back in September 2016. Henderson and Gillison are actually high school teammates at Pickerington Central in Pickerington, Ohio. Rivals lists Henderson as the 20^th best cornerback in the 2018 class, and 11^th best player in Ohio, while the 247Sports composite ranks him as the 14^th best athlete in the country and 13^th best player at any position in his state. Scout.com, however, not only lists him as the No. 1 cornerback in Ohio, but also in the Midwest.

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Three Star-Recruits

Name: Theo Day

Position: Quarterback

Recruiting: 13 scholarship offers (per 247Sports)

School: Dearborn Divine Child (Michigan)

Height: 6-foot-5

Weight: 197 pounds

Day is the first and only 2018 in-state recruit to commit to MSU thus far. The 6-foot-5-inch quarterback led Divine Child to an appearance in the Division 3 State semifinals. Rivals ranks him as the 14th best quarterback in his class. He is listed as the No. 1 quarterback in the Midwest by Scout and ranks eighth in 247Sports ratings, and 17^th in the composite rankings.

Update: Day was moved up to a four-star recruit on 247Sports as of June 1, 2017 and jumped from No. 489 to No. 310 in the national composite rankings.

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Name: Christian Jackson

Position: Cornerback

Recruiting: 11 scholarship offers (per 247Sports)

School: Lassiter (Georgia)

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 185 pounds

Jackson announced his allegiance to the Spartans on March 1. He turned down offers from Michigan, Virginia Tech and others to wear green and white. Scout lists him as the No. 26 cornerback in the South region, and No. 8 in Georgia. His 247Sports composite score is 0.8515, which ranks 65^th out of corners nationwide. Meanwhile, Rivals sees him as the 48^th best cornerback in the 2018 class.

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Name: Edward Warinner

Position: Inside Linebacker

Recruiting: 13 scholarship offers (per 247Sports)

School: Olentangy Liberty (Ohio)

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 222 pounds

Warinner was the most recent player to commit, doing so last month. The linebacker from Ohio ranks fifth in the Midwest region, and third in his state, at his position, per Scout.com. Rivals lists him as the 42^nd best overall player in Ohio. According to 247Sports, he is ranked as the 43^rd best inside linebacker in the country, but his composite score ranks him as No. 53.

Update: Michael Dowell, brother of current Spartans Andrew and David, committed to Michigan State on May 29, bringing the current total for the 2018 recruiting class to six.

Again, this article is just a recap for those who follow MSU recruiting, and an introduction for those who may want to learn more about next year’s recruiting class. It should be interesting to watch how the class grows from now until February.

Stay tuned for individual features on each recruit, starting with tight end Trenton Gillison, whom I had the pleasure of speaking with recently!