Four-star athlete Jaden Mangham commits to Michigan State

In a bit of a surprise turn of events, the Michigan State Spartans have landed another big time prospect in the 2022 class. Mel Tucker and his staff have received a verbal commitment from four-star athlete/safety Jaden Mangham.

Mangham visited the East Lansing campus last weekend as part of Michigan State’s big time recruiting event called “Spartan Dawg Con,” and the staff apparently wowed him, as Mangham previously was considered by many recruiting analysts to be a lock to commit to West Virginia.

Mangham, out of Wylie E. Groves High School in Beverly Hills, Michigan, checks in at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds. He is ranked as the No. 15 athlete in the 2022 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Rivals also ranks Mangham as a four-star recruit, and lists him as the No. 19 athlete in the country.

He is expected to play free safety for the Spartans, but is a two-way star on offense and defense for Groves. Additionally, Mangham is ranked as the No. 285 prospect overall and No. 7 player in the state of Michigan in the 2022 class, per 247Sports. Mangham is the third four-star prospect that Michigan State has gotten a verbal commitment from in the past two weeks, joining wide receiver Antonio Gates Jr. and defensive tackle Alex Van Sumeren, which also gives the Spartans verbal commitments from three of the top-eight prospects in the state of Michigan in the 2022 class thus far.

In addition to Michigan State and West Virginia, Mangham had scholarship offers from many big-name programs. Other schools that offered Mangham include Alabama, Notre Dame, Florida, Miami (FL.), Florida State, Oregon, Tennessee, Baylor, Iowa State, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Penn State, Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, Nebraska, Minnesota and many others.

Mangam’s older brother, Jaren Mangham, was a standout athlete/running back at Detroit Cass Technical High School, and a big target for Mark Dantonio and Michigan State in the 2019 class. Ironically, Jaren Mangham ended up signing with Colorado and playing under Mel Tucker in 2019. The older Mangham played for Colorado again in 2020 before transferring to South Florida this past offseason.

Jaden Mangham joins Malik Spencer, Shannon Blair, Ade Willie and potentially Tre Holloman (if the MSU point guard commit chooses to also pursue football) in the defensive backfield for Michigan State’s 2022 group. Quavian Carter, while listed as a safety by many recruiting services, is expected to play linebacker for the Spartans.

Michigan State’s 2022 recruiting class is now at 19 commits (counting Holloman, as both 247Sports and Rivals currently do), and currently ranks in the top-15 nationally, according to both 247Sports and Rivals.