Couch: 2016 recruiting haul further proof of Spartans’ staying power

EAST LANSING — The evidence is overwhelming at this point — Michigan State’s football program isn’t about to fall off a cliff back into the early 2000s or ’90s or … pick your decade.

And yet still, the signing of this 2016 recruiting class is as significant as any moment in the Spartans’ rise from the weeds of dysfunction and mediocrity. It’s proof that teenagers are paying attention.

Never before has MSU’s success on the field so clearly elevated its recruiting — a program-best 10 four-star prospects, several of them loyally committed since last spring, highlighting coach Mark Dantonio’s 10th class at MSU.

Dantonio has already done what few thought could be accomplished in East Lansing — sustaining excellence.

In August of 2010, no right-minded soul could foresee a six-year run of 65-17 with three Big Ten titles. No one could have predicted that when college football finally adopted a playoff, MSU would be part of the annual conversation and, in Year 2, in the final four.

The odds MSU is in the conversation for the next half-decade increases Wednesday with each signature and fax arriving at the Spartans’ football offices.

MSU has landed a class that rivals the best of its rivals and one that can stand up to Alabama.

As of Tuesday evening, MSU’s 2016 class was ranked 10th nationally by Rivals.com — one spot behind ’Bama, which brutishly reminded MSU of the talent gap between the programs on New Year’s Eve.

Rivals ranked Ohio State No. 1 and Michigan 5 and Notre Dame 6.

MSU has never before been in this stratosphere in February.

Signing Day commits could secure top-10 class for MSU

Recruiting rankings can be overrated — as MSU has shown repeatedly. MSU’s 2013-14 team, made up primarily of its 2009, ’10 and ’11 recruiting classes, might have won a national title had the four-team playoff existed a year earlier. That was Dantonio’s best team, MSU’s greatest defense of the modern era, and featured a mixed bag of heralded and overlooked recruits.

The Spartans have played the Buckeyes evenly in recent years and, on the field, owned the Wolverines.

But for the most part, the best programs in college football tend to land the highest-ranked classes.

Kids follow winning. They’re finally pouring into East Lansing. MSU’s 10 four-star recruits this year are the same number of four-star (or better) recruits in Alabama’s class.

At least eight members of MSU’s incoming haul were coveted by Ohio State and Michigan. Four of the eight chose the Spartans over Alabama.

Cleveland receiver Justin Layne is the second Ohio kid in two years to spurn the Buckeyes for the Spartans. Running back LJ Scott was the first of the Dantonio era to do so.

And of the players MSU battled Michigan for head-to-head this year, Dantonio is 8-0 (8-1 if Detroit King cornerback Lavert Hill chooses Michigan Wednesday).

The most telling stat of MSU’s surge in brand — all but one member of the Spartans’ 2016 class is from the Midwest. A year ago, MSU made inroads in Texas, signing three from the Lonestar State, and recruited four others out West in Arizona, California in Utah.

MSU football signing day at a glance

This year, none of it was necessary — many of the best players from nearby wanted to come to East Lansing.

Five of them are from Michigan, eight from Ohio, five from Illinois, one from Indiana. The outlier is receiver Cam Chambers from New Jersey, who helped launch and build this class after his commitment in August of 2014, before his junior season.

Many of them committed early. Most of them honored that commitment, despite a plethora of choices.

There are no guarantees in recruiting. But the more recruits a program lands in the realm of Malik McDowell (2014) and LJ Scott (2015), the easier it is to be what MSU’s become.

There is no McDowell or Scott in this class. That’s only because there are too many of them to single out.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.