Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio
This weekend, Michigan State will be hosting a large contingent of elite recruits from all over the country. One of the top recruits in the state of Ohio for the class of 2017, Plain City Jonathan Alder’s Trey Pugh, will be on campus. Pugh will be in East Lansing for the first time and he is looking forward to learning more about MSU.
“I have not been up there before so I don’t know a whole lot about the program,” Pugh said. “All contact has been through my high school coach. Obviously they are very successful and have a good tradition, so I’m excited to see what all it has to offer.”
Pugh has seen his recruitment begin to take off and just last week he was offered by Northwestern. The Wildcats joined Illinois, Kentucky and Toledo as teams that have extended him a scholarship. MSU, Ohio State and Duke are a few of the other teams that are closely evaluating him.
At 6-foot-6, 225-pounds Pugh has the ability to play multiple positions in college.
“I’ll play wherever I’m needed, but mostly all coaches have acknowledged that I could potentially play on either side of the ball,” he said. “Well obviously a school with both good academics and a good football program. But most importantly I want to find a place that I feel I fit in the best.”
Jonathan Alder is located on the outskirts of Columbus. As with the majority of players from Ohio, the Buckeyes are the team that Pugh grew up following and he definitely has an affinity for them.
“Ohio State has always been a big team for me, that is the school that I’ve rooted for since I was young,” Pugh told Rivals.com’s Marc Givler. “I’ve talked to them a little bit and I went to the Friday Night Lights camp over the summer. They said that they are looking at me and that they are going to watch my junior film.”
Based on his film evaluation, it is very likely that Pugh will end up playing tight end at the next level. That should benefit MSU when it comes to his recruitment. The Spartans like to feature the tight end in their pro-style offense. In Pugh’s highlight film, he shows a lot of the same skills that Josiah Price had when he was coming out of Indiana in 2012. Ohio State already has three tight end recruits committed for the class of 2016 and that could benefit the Spartans’ chance with Pugh.
Matt Dorsey is a recruiting analyst for SpartanMag.com and Rivals.com.