National Signing Day has came and passed, with Michigan State wrapping up its 2026 class this week.
New Spartans head coach Pat Fitzgerald put a bow on the 2026 class with a massive signing of four-star wide receiver Samson Gash on signing day. That signing of Gash helped bolster the Spartans’ class and provided a speedy playmaker to spearhead the Michigan State rebuild.
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But what was my overall thoughts on this class? Was it a success? How did Fitzgerald do in keeping the pieces together after taking over only a few days before the early signing period? Here are a few takeaways on this 2026 Michigan State football class:
1. Solid save by Fitzgerald and co.
For Michigan State to finish with 19 commitments, including some high-level guys at key positions, is a huge win by Fitzgerald and his staff. Especially considering that he was officially hired just a few days before the early signing period opened.
If you look at some of the other Big Ten schools that went through a coaching change this year, you’ll only see rival Michigan finishing with a better class than the Spartans. But that isn’t necessarily a fair comparison considering that Sherrone Moore was fired following the early signing period.
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2. Don’t worry about class ranking
If you’re looking strictly at the class ranking, then you could say that this was an underwhelming class for the Spartans. While I’m not going to say you should disregard the ranking — which was No. 47 nationally and No. 12 in Big Ten — I don’t think you should get too caught up in that number.
Again, Michigan State was in the midst of a transition period with Fitzgerald taking over only a few days before the early signing period. That’s a big factor and lead to a few of the Spartans’ verbal commits flipping during the period. Additionally, the smaller class number (19 signings) results in a lower ranking — again, this was impacted by the coaching staff changes right before the early signing period.
This time next year, I’ll be expecting a final ranking closer to the top 25, but for this “first” Fitzgerald class, I’m not too worried about it being in the bottom half of the Big Ten.
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3. Gash, Campbell, Coffman were major wins
It’s not a huge class for the Spartans, but there are some major wins at the top that excite me about the future of the Spartans.
Holding onto Gash over Penn State, Georgia and others was huge for Fitzgerald and his staff. Combine that with retaining four-star offensive tackle Collin Campbell and four-star quarterback Kayd Coffman, and we are looking at three very high-level players at the top of this class. There are some other gems in this well-rounded class as well, but being able to retain the commitments of these three guys will go a long way towards Michigan State’s rebuild.
Bonus: Time to look ahead to 2027 class
The book is essentially closed on the 2026 class now, and that means it’s time to look ahead to 2027 for Fitzgerald and co. This next class will have a huge impact on the future of Michigan State under his leadership.
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The Spartans have already picked up a pair of commitments — both three-star midwest guys on the offensive side of the ball — and I’m anticipating we will see a few more sprinkle in before we hit the summer when things really ratchet up. The next few months we will monitor how Fitzgerald is handling recruiting and get an idea of what kind of players he’ll be bringing to campus for summer official visits. This will be telling in both where Michigan State currently sits in the recruiting landscape but also the type of players Fitzgerald wants part of his program.
As I said earlier, I’m expecting a larger and higher ranked class this time next year than this year. While the transfer portal is a major part of team’s success and rebuilding a program, recruiting still leads the way in building a winning team. Michigan State needs to get back to having top 25 classes and hopefully it’ll start with this 2027 class.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Three takeaways on Michigan State football’s 2026 recruiting class
