MSU in the news (Dec. 15 edition)

Written by Mike W. on Friday, 16 December 2011 00:48.

FOOTBALL

ESPN"s Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg grades the Spartans in a season report card.
ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. ranks Jerel Worthy as the No. 22 prospect for the 2012 NFL Draft.
Interesting take in the Detroit News on how Urban Meyer impacts recruiting for Michigan and Michigan State -- ties in well with what I posted earlier about Michigan State's recruiting. This quote nails it: "Historically, there haven't been a whole lot of Se'Von Pittmans in Michigan State's classes. For the most part, they want those guys that don't hit the Ohio State or Michigan model and are competing on guys with Iowa and Wisconsin for underrated recruits.

To continue with an overwhelming focus on recruiting today...here are some noteworthy bits of information:

The Free Press breaks down some national recruiting efforts by the Spartans staff this past week.
Avon (Ind.) junior defensive end Elijah Daniel will be visiting Michigan State this weekend for junior day.
Other juniors expected to be on campus this weekend are mentioned in this tweet by Rivals.com's Matt Dorsey.
Safety Demitrious Cox will be on campus this weekend as well. Cox is a four-star junior from Jeannette, Penn.
Dorsey also mentioned that MSU has picked up its pursuit of a former U of M commitment Pharoah Brown.

BASKETBALL

Turns out Tom Izzo got to see a lot more of Grand Rapids Christian standout Drake Harris the other night than he bargained for...the game went to four overtimes before Rockford finally pulled away.

BASEBALL

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson will appear at the Michigan State baseball First Pitch dinner on Jan. 28. Former Spartan great Earl Morrall will be honored at the dinner as well.