Four-star running back Ronnie Walker commits to Indiana over Michigan State

Ronnie Walker, a four-star running back from Hopewell, Virginia and a big Michigan State football target, elected to play his college ball at Indiana University.

Last week, Walker narrowed his final three schools down to Michigan State, Indiana and Virginia. He also let the Twitter world know that his big announcement would come today.

Michigan State desperately needed help at the running back position for the 2018 recruiting class, so this one hurts a bit. L.J. Scott is a junior with a possibility of entering the NFL draft with a strong season. Gerald Holmes will be graduating.

For next season, that leaves Madre London (current junior), Saginaw Valley State transfer Noah Sargent (current sophomore) and two unproven and untested freshmen in Connor Heyward and Weston Bridges.

This move was relatively expected (despite my optimism). While the Spartans have been a much more successful program than Indiana, and especially recently, it’s not surprising that Walker chose Indiana because he named them as one of his frontrunners earlier this summer and built a special relationship with running backs coach Mike Hart.

Walker’s rankings in the 2018 class have him as the No. 13 running back in the nation, No. 5 player in Virginia and the No. 319 overall recruit, per the 247Sports Composite.

This is disappointing news for the Spartans, but the program will now focus its recruiting efforts at the position to Harold Joiner (four-star), Elijah Collins (three-star) and DeMarcus Townsend (three-star).

At. No. 319 overall, Walker is IU’s highest-rated recruit since wide receiver Dominique Booth in 2014 (245).

Here is just a taste of what the Spartans are missing out on with Walker.