Trieu: New MSU DE commit Kyle King has power, elite pass-rush ability
Michigan State earned a commitment from New Palestine (Ind.) defensive end Kyle King on Friday. The Spartans offered just over a week ago and immediately rose to the top of his list, ultimately beating in-state programs Indiana and Purdue for his verbal.
“When I visited, right away I felt like this different feeling. I know it sounds cheesy, but I don’t know, it just kind of felt like a home away from home,” King said. “It’s so close to being like my high school program. They’ve got gritty workers, really hard-working coaches and just a great program. They’re not flashy. It was just a really good choice. It just felt like home. It’s just like my high school program, so it was an easy decision.”
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound King was a major part of his team’s state championship as a junior. He finished with 71 tackles (26 for loss) and 18 sacks.
“He’s a great, hard worker,” Dragons head coach Kyle Ralph said. “Good leader for our team. I think (he has) a lot of the measurables people like, 6-4 with big hands and long arms. He plays both ways for us and never comes off the field. When you look at what he does on film that’s probably playing twice as much as kids on his level and I think that makes him more impressive.”
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King’s sack numbers also make it evident that he has polish as a pass-rusher.
“He has good burst off the ball,” Ralph said. “I think the good thing, like I said with his hands and his arms, he uses leverage really well. He has a great long-arm bull-rush. He’s really powerful when he sinks both his hands into your chest. He has a good arsenal of pass-rush moves and he’s really good against the run as well. He’s one of those kids that always had a knack for getting to the quarterback.”
The Spartans now have five commitments in the 2020 class.
King is the first defensive lineman in the class.
Spartans extend two offers at camp
Michigan State held its lineman camp on Thursday and offered two 2021 prospects who had great camps in offensive tackle Connor Colby of Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Kennedy and Streetsboro (Ohio) defensive tackle Michael Hall.
In addition, the Spartan staff also evaluated a handful of class of 2020 defensive linemen such as Dearborn’s Ali Saad and Mount Pleasant’s Tyler Huenemann.
Two other defensive linemen, Muskegon 2020 Billie Roberts and Bettendorf (Iowa) 2020 Griffin Liddle, came into the camp already holding offers from the Spartans.
Other notable performers at the camp included Detroit Country Day’s 6-foot-8 junior offensive tackle Caleb Tiernan and Orlando (Fla.) Faith Christian Academy’s T.J. Shanahan, who will only be a freshman in the fall, but looked the part of a high-level prospect.
Shanahan is coached by Tim Swore, who coached Kenny Willekes at Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian.
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Allen Trieu covers Midwest football recruiting for 247Sports. He has been featured on the Big Ten Network on its annual Signing Day Show. His Michigan and Michigan State recruiting columns appear weekly at detroitnews.com.