Michigan State returns home this weekend to face Illinois.
The recruiting visitors list for the game includes four-star linebacker Allen Kennett V, who is coming all the way from California. The Anaheim Servite junior is looking heavily at schools in the Midwest, though. He visited Nebraska last weekend, Notre Dame earlier in the season, and will visit Michigan next month. Kennett was at MSU for a spring practice and has gotten to know head coach Pat Fitzgerald and the staff, particularly linebackers coach Max Bullough, well.
Warren De La Salle quarterback Grayson Thurston will be back on campus again after visiting for the Nebraska game. Thurston was offered by the Spartans in the summer after he camped there. Fitzgerald and quarterbacks coach John McNulty attended a De La Salle game earlier this fall.
Monroe Jefferson junior running back Drake Jones will be on campus. Jones plays multiple positions, including safety/linebacker on defense, but rushed for 1,500 yards as a sophomore and has put up big numbers so far this season. His 6-foot, 205-pound frame makes him project well to the tailback position in the Big Ten.
Spring Lake Park (Minnesota) junior Kaden Konkler is a multi-talented recruit the Spartans staff has uncovered. Konkler can play safety or wide receiver in college. He has size at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, while running 4.57 in the 40-yard dash. He caught seven touchdowns as a sophomore. Iowa State and Minnesota also are recruiting him.
The Spartans will have a pair of young defensive tackles visiting in Birmingham Seaholm’s Harrison Bowers and Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward’s Tyler Browne. Both are sophomores, but Bowers stands 6-foot-3, 275 pounds, while Browne is 6-foot-3, 294 pounds. That position is one where big, athletic bodies can be tough to find so both of these prospects are expected to be heavily recruited over the next two years.
Reynoldsburg (Ohio) linebacker Duane Greer, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound sophomore, will be on campus. Greer is an athletic two-way player who also makes an impact as a running back. Miami (Ohio) has extended an early offer.
Spartans offer high-ceiling defensive end
Philadelphia Roman Catholic defensive end Victor Ezeukwu was offered by Michigan State to start the month of October.
Ezeukwu is an athletic 6-foot-5, 230-pound prospect with the kind of length and frame to be heavily recruited and highly ranked.
Vanderbilt, West Virginia, North Carolina, Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke and others have offered.
Allen Trieu covers Midwest football recruiting for On3. 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.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Trieu: Michigan State visitors for Illinois game includes in-state targets