Elijah Collins of U-D Jesuit.
One of the players from the class of 2018 that is seeing his recruiting stock take off this fall is Elijah Collins of U-Detroit Jesuit High School. On Saturday, he traveled to East Lansing for an unofficial visit.
Collins is having an outstanding junior campaign for the Cubs. His play has helped the team to a 5-1 record. This past weekend, he found the end zone four times as U-D Jesuit defeated Warren De La Salle, 49-35. It was the first victory over their rival school since 2005. On the season, Collins has scored 15 touchdowns and accounted for nearly 800 all-purpose yards.
Collins recently picked up his first two scholarship offers.
“Iowa State and Central Michigan have offered me,” he said. “Michigan State seems very interested, and Wisconsin emailed me and came to my school. Western Michigan has invited me to come to their games along with Toledo.”
Collins indicated that most teams see him as a running back at the next level. While at Michigan State, he informed me he had the most contact with support staff assistant Javon Ringer. The former Spartan All-America tailback certainly knows something about playing the position.
“My visit was great and I like the program a lot,” he said. “Michigan State is a place I could see myself at possibly in a few years. I am looking for program that can allow me to be a play-maker and fits me academically.”
Running back recruiting will likely be a top priority for the Spartans in 2018, as all three main ball carriers will be upperclassmen. The fact that a local player is emerging as a game-breaker is a positive development. Current Spartan Gerald Holmes is an in-state product, as was Jeremy Langford before him.
Divine Child QB visits again
Michigan State is evaluating several quarterbacks for the class of 2018, one of which is Theo Day of Dearborn Divine Child. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound prospect already has scholarship offers from Kentucky, Toledo and Central Michigan. Day was back on MSU’s campus this weekend.
“It was great, I love going up to Michigan State,” he said. “I talked with multiple coaches throughout the day.”
MSU is not the only program that is actively recruiting Day, as Cincinnati, Arkansas, Northwestern as well as several other Power-5 programs are taking a close look.
Day has helped Divine Child to a 5-2 record so far this season. The Falcons will look to lock up a playoff spot this weekend when they take on Gabriel Richard.
Matt Dorsey is a recruiting analyst for SpartanMag.com and Rivals.com.