SPARTANS

It’s a huge week for MSU camps, recruiting

Matt Charboneau
The Detroit News
Former Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes, now with the Minnesota Vikings, will be at Saturday’s Spartan Elite Camp.

East Lansing – While satellite camps have dominated football recruiting news for the better part of the last few months, Michigan State is gearing up for the prime time of its recruiting season this week.

More than 1,000 prospects are expected to be on campus over the next four days as Michigan State hosts 28 teams in a seven-on-seven camp on Wednesday, as well as a big-man camp for offensive and defensive linemen.

The week is capped on Friday and Saturday when 15 former Spartans that are now in the NFL return to help as instructors at Saturday’s Spartan Elite Camp, one that is expected to draw players who have already committed to Michigan State, as well as plenty of those still high on the Spartans’ wish list.

“This is our first camp and this is when our recruiting really takes off at Michigan State,” said Curtis Blackwell, director of college advancement and performance. “We like to see guys in person before we take commitments from them. For us, it’s synonymous with the NFL combine and NFL pro day. You can’t go to the NFL without going to pro day or the combine and you can’t come to Michigan State, for the most part, without being at one of our camps. That’s how we really evaluate and that’s how we find the Darqueze Dennards and Trae Waynes – because they came to camp.

“So this is really the beginning. This is our first camp of the summer. We went to other camps, but this is the first MSU camp on campus.”

The highlight of the week is the Elite camp, one that nine NFL players took part in last year, a number that jumps to 15 this year.

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Players that are schedule to take part include Garrett Celek (San Francisco), Kirk Cousins (Washington), Darqueze Dennard (Cincinnati), Kurtis Drummond (Houston), Bennie Fowler (Denver), Will Gholston (Tampa Bay), Taiwan Jones (N.Y. Jets), Jeremy Langford (Chicago), Tony Lippett (Miami), Keith Mumphery (Houston), Trenton Robinson (Carolina), Dion Sims (Miami), Drew Stanton (Arizona), Trae Waynes (Minnesota) and Jerel Worthy (Buffalo).

“It’s great to get everybody on board and come together to work with the recruits,” Blackwell said. “We’re the only university working like this and it will make for a real nice weekend. … Every year we’re making it bigger and better.”

Michigan State currently has nine commitments for the 2017 class and that number will certainly grow throughout the summer.

The Elite camp is one of several recruiting initiatives Blackwell and his staff have helped create at Michigan State, including the Spartan 300 event last fall the weekend Michigan State played Oregon, and the Presidential Primary event after the spring game that included a cookout at the home of university president Lou Anna K. Simon.

“You have to be creative in what you do,” Blackwell said. “You want to be able to make an imprint, whether it’s with the Spartan 300 or the Presidential Primary.

“We’re rolling right now. The summer is getting going.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

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