Trieu: Michigan State in mix for 3-star cornerback Ennis Rakestraw, but competition swells
Michigan State was part of a late-December offer rush for Duncanville (Texas) senior cornerback Ennis Rakestraw.
And, while the Spartans have a Jan. 31 weekend official visit scheduled with Rakestraw, they will now have to weather a second run of offers he has had in January, which includes Alabama, Georgia, Baylor, South Carolina and more.
As it stands, Miami (Fla.) will get an official visit Jan. 17-19, the first weekend recruits can take officials again. Missouri has the following weekend, and then Michigan State has the final weekend of January, which is also the final weekend for official visits before National Signing Day the following Wednesday.
Rakestraw actually has one more available official visit to take, so he may take a mid-week official to another school or move his schedule. Alabama is one of the schools he is looking to fit into the schedule.
“Decisions are going to have to be made,” he told BamaOnline’s Hank South. “I will be talking to Nick Saban and the corners coach, so I’ll talk about the date with them.”
The Michigan State offer came after Rakestraw spoke to head coach Mark Dantonio. That is also when the official visit plans were set.
“It was extremely exciting to get the offer personally from him," Rakestraw said.
Now this visit will help determine if Michigan State is the right place for him. He listed the Spartans among the schools recruiting him the hardest, along with Georgia and Missouri. Michigan State’s Texas-based signee Darius Snow also has been in contact with Rakestraw.
Last summer, Rakestraw was committed to North Texas. At the time of his commitment, he held 12 offers, but only one from a Power 5 school (Kansas).
He was a longer 6-foot prospect, but not heavy at 165 pounds. His track times (22.8 in the 200-meter dash) suggested he had the speed to play at a high-major, but it took until his senior season for some of those schools to notice.
In showcase games against Maryland signee Rakim Jarrett and Ohio State signee Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rakestraw held both highly-rated recruits to under 40 yards. He did not give up a touchdown his entire senior season.
Performances like that one helped him earn SportsDay’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
The offers have now followed, and Rakestraw has just under a month to sift through his quickly growing list of options and come to a decision.
"I'm looking for a good coaching staff that can develop me and let me play as a freshman,” he said. “I want to play. I also want to be able to talk to my coaches about anything. I'm looking for a father-son type relationship. I want to be able to share everything with my coaches that is going on in my life."
Rakestraw is rated a three-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite.
New 2021 offers extended
As the new year began, Michigan State offered scholarships to a handful of class of 2021 prospects. One was Tristan Leigh, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound four-star from Fairfax (Va.) Robinson Secondary. Leigh has 26 offers. Alabama, LSU, Penn State and Virginia Tech are just a handful of schools on that list.
The Spartans also offered Noah Collins, a lean, but athletic 6-foot-5, 205-pound pass-rusher from Loganville (Ga.) Grayson. He has LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Baylor and Cincinnati among his 18 scholarship offers.
More information
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.