Brandon Warner, a 6-foot, 170-pound defenseman from Huntertown, Ind., verbally committed to the MSU hockey team Wednesday.

Warner has four goals, nine assists and 54 penalty minutes in 32 games this season for the Pittsburgh Forge of the North American Hockey League. He is expected to sign a letter of intent with MSU this spring and join the Spartans in the fall.

Warner, who turned 20 last week, will help shore up MSU's thin defensive corps next season. Only three current Spartan blueliners - junior Joe Markusen and freshmen Corey Potter and Jared Nightingale - will be back.

"It's the school I've always wanted to go to," said Warner, who also considered Ohio State, Ferris State, Nebraska-Omaha and Findlay. "When they said they had a scholarship for me, I was like, 'Wow, I'll take it.' There's something about Michigan State that sets it apart.

"I'm just looking to come in and move up as high as I can, as far as what number defenseman I am."

Warner describes himself as an offensive defenseman. He is the seventh member of MSU's recruiting class, joining forwards Tommy Goebel and Drew Miller, forward/defenseman Tyler Howells, goaltender Dominic Vicari and defensemen A.J. Thelen and Chris Snavely.

Thelen and Warner are the only verbal commitments. Everyone else has signed a letter of intent. MSU coaches are not allowed to comment on players until they have signed.

James Jahnke