Tom Izzo might be 71 years young, but he’s still recruiting like the spunky kid who took over the job 31 years ago.
He’s continuing to lay out the foundational work to keep Michigan State as a top-tier school in college basketball for another 30 years.
Advertisement
In a world full of teams who only want the oldest and most experienced players, Izzo continues to live in a world of yesteryear, going all out for his high school recruits as opposed to going all out for his transfer portal recruits.
The Izzo way may not be the fastest or best way to win a championship, but maybe it is. That debate is for another day, but what we do know is that Izzo isn’t slowing down on the recruiting trail and just made another major splash.
Late Thursday evening, it was announced that Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans extended an offer to 7-foot-1, 205-pound center Akol Nyok.
Currently playing for Miami Columbus High School in Miami, Florida, Nyok is from Ellicott City, Maryland, and is ranked as the class’s 14th-best center via 247Sports. His 90-point ranking gets him just enough to qualify as a four-star recruit, though he sits on the very back edge of that ranking.
Advertisement
Still, Nyok is as talented as they come. 247Sports goes on to rank Nyok as the 144th-ranked player nationally in the 2027 class and the 23rd-best recruit out of the state of Florida.
For Nyok’s consensus ranking, or composite score, he sits with a 0.9353 score, which ranks him 132nd nationally, 16th-best center and 23rd-best recruit in the 2027 class out of the state of Florida.
Nyok is not currently listed on the SportsCenter NEXT Top 100 list for the 2027 class, something all four of Izzo’s 2026 recruits were on, as well as all of the 2027 offers sent out so far. That makes Nyok the first player outside of that list to receive an offer from Izzo this year.
Though Nyok may not be looked at as a top-100 recruit in the class, his 7-foot-1 frame is too tantalizing not to go after. Izzo can teach a player how to put on muscle, stay down low and succeed. We’ve seen Izzo calibrate mid-level recruits and turn them into stars over and over.
Advertisement
He can teach basketball. He can’t teach height.
And being as tall as Nyok, there’s a really good chance he could become an elite player a few years down the road.
Izzo, though, isn’t the only one who’s noticed Nyok’s size. Even with the Spartans extending an offer, they’re really just putting their hat in a ring already full of hats.
Nyok’s offer list has a wide array of teams, including Marquette, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida Atlantic and more.
Per Adam Finkelstein, director of scouting at 247Sports, Nyok has tremendous defensive tools while being extremely mobile and able to run the floor like a gazelle. His defense is ahead of his offense for now as he continues to work on his balance and hands.
Advertisement
Though, in due time, Nyok will build up his size, and when he gets his frame locked down and develops better balance when knocked around, he could turn into a nightmare for opposing teams.
We will see where he lands, but one of the places could be East Lansing.
