Trieu: Michigan State makes pitch to emerging East Lansing lineman Ethan Boyd
Michigan State’s new football staff has found a lineman very close by to recruit in East Lansing’s Ethan Boyd.
A 6-foot-7, 285-pound junior, Boyd was able to visit the Spartans early in March just before the NCAA shutdown prospective visits. While he was not offered during that visit, offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic later reached out with a scholarship offer.
"I spent most of my time with Coach Kapilovic and his graduate assistant Jack Harris," Boyd said of his visit. "I also met with Coach (Mel) Tucker. The new coaches seem very down to earth and genuine."
After his recruitment began with offers from the Mid-American Conference, Boyd has received several Power 5 conference offers in the last month, including Minnesota, Vanderbilt and Iowa State.
He has come a long way in a short period of time.
“Ethan’s been playing football for about 2½ years,” East Lansing head coach Bill Feraco said. “He came to us as a freshman and at that time, he was athletic, but he hadn’t played. He toyed around with it in third or fourth grade, but moved away from it and concentrated on basketball.”
His experience in basketball, a sport he still plays to this day, helped him with balance, coordination and footwork that makes Boyd rare for his size. Toward the end of his freshman year, he was brought up to the varsity and, according to Feraco, acclimated himself quickly.
“He received more than he gave, but he held his own,” Feraco explained. “Our offensive line coaches said he has great feet and hands, he is long and he is a good athlete. He played in all three of our playoff games.”
From that freshman year to his sophomore season, there was development and improvement, but it was between sophomore year to this past fall where Boyd truly transformed into a high-major prospect.
“We saw dramatic changes and also in the way he always wanted to work,” Feraco said. “He spent a lot of time in the weight room and got more confident. He was already a big kid and in that time, grew a couple and a half inches and we saw marked improvement last fall. There is no reason not to think that will continue because of his work ethic. He’s going to have a pretty good senior season, and people looking at him on the next level all see that and realize he’s not anywhere near what he’s going to be.”
Boyd was planning to visit Minnesota this month, but that visit has been postponed, so for the time being, he will continue to work and wait until visits may resume.
MSU continues aggressive approach
Michigan State’s staff continues to leave no stone unturned as they extend offers in the 2021 class.
Just in the last week alone, the Spartans have offered prospects in several different states.
That includes an offer to the top prospect in Kentucky, offensive lineman Jager Burton, several offers in the state of Illinois, one to St. Louis-based offensive lineman Brody Wisecarver, and one to Houston (Tex.) North Shore cornerback Denver Harris.
The Spartans also offered four-star guard Geno VanDeMark, whose grandfather, Allan VanDeMark played at MSU in the 1960’s.
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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.