Originally Posted by
Todd4State
There is no "recruited for" anymore with the portal. Leach kept those players. Especially Tulu who was on the verge of decommitting until we hired Leach who kept him. If we count Bumphis for Dan as we should- then Leach should get the same credit for keeping Tulu. Harvey was a late add by Leach as well due to changing offenses. RaRa was our best receiver by YPR in 2022. NIL and the portal really only hurt us with Polk who was the most productive MSU WR since Fred Ross and was a Leach commit. Also most of our offensive line- Cole Smith, Lasoya, Nick Jones- were Leach recruits and I could include Percy Lewis who was rotated in heavily. We also had a Heisman candidate QB on the bench and the Outback Bowl MVP and four star Zavion Thomas were on the bench too and both had a big impact on the season by the end.
On defense, Charlton made one of the biggest plays in the Egg Bowl, DeShawn Page was a starter but almost all of the secondary were Leach recruits- Forbes, Richardson, Jalen Green, and Jackie Matthews were Leach recruits. Collin Duncan wasn't and he was our worst player in the secondary- so thanks Joe I guess. No idea why Marcus Banks didn't start over him.
Both kickers were Leach recruits as well.
Heck- THIS year there is a good chance that there will be more Leach recruits starting than Arnett recruits- Boone, Reese, and Mosley on offense and Trevion Williams ,Zakari Tillman and Kelley Jones. And I really should include Isaac Smith who committed days after Leach passed away and Seth Davis who will be a good role player for us.