The firing of football head coach John L. Smith has created a lot of turmoil in the football program.
Some wonder if it's good for Smith to stay on for the three remaining games, knowing he won't be back next season.
The fifth-year seniors are now forced to end their careers as witnesses to the second firing in the program, after Bobby Williams was fired with three games left in the 2002 season.
The underclassmen are left in the dark about who will lead them for their remaining years as Spartans.
But there's another group of players who also will be affected by the university's decision: the 2007 recruiting class. With a new coaching staff comes uncertainty of whether those 11 recruits will keep their verbal commitments to MSU or look elsewhere.
"There will be a small number of players that will immediately say they're reopening their recruiting. There will be a small number that will say, 'I'm definitely staying with Michigan State,' and then there will be a group in between that'll say, 'I want to take a look and evaluate things and see who the new coach is,'" said Bill Kurelic, Big Ten recruiting analyst for Rivals.com.
MSU's prized recruit, quarterback Keith Nichol of Lowell, looks to be headed to MSU no matter who replaces Smith. Gary Nichol, the father of the state's No. 4-ranked recruit, put to bed any talk of his son changing his mind.
"He is not planning on making a change — he is not planning on de-committing," Gary Nichol said Thursday night. "He's had a long-term desire to play for Michigan State football."
Other recruits are less certain of their commitment to play for MSU.
Bloomfield Hills Lahser's Quincy Landingham, Michigan's No. 10-ranked player, was unsure about his verbal commitment to MSU when rumors of Smith's firing were flying around. Now that it's official, the 5-foot-10 defensive back and running back is reopening his recruitment and looks to be headed elsewhere.
"I'm preparing to be somewhere else," said Landingham, who is graduating high school in December and enrolling in college early. "On the other token, I'm still considering them."
Paul Simkovich, a three-star offensive lineman from Latrobe, Pa., said he has built up a relationship with MSU offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and would base his decision of coming to MSU on whether Stoutland is retained as a coach next season. On Wednesday, MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason said he would allow the new head coach to bring in his own staff.
Most of the other recruits are taking less extreme stances than Nichol, Landingham and Simkovich.
Darrell Davis-Budanauro, a 370-pound offensive lineman from East Grand Rapids, also said Stoutland was one of the reasons he committed to MSU.
"I'm going to start thinking of maybe looking at other schools — opening up my options," he said. "For right now, I'm sticking with my decision."
Linebacker George White of Flint Carman-Ainsworth said he wasn't 100 percent sure he'd stay committed to the Spartans even before Smith's firing. White said he has yet to hear from anyone on MSU's coaching staff about the firing and is "indecisive" about what he will do.
White said defensive tackle Ryan Wheat, his high school teammate and another MSU commitment, is in the same position as him.
Messages left at the schools of Mark Dell, Ishmyl Johnson, Vaughn Martin, Mark Wetterer and Jack Cornell Jr. were not returned Thursday. Dell is a senior at Farmington Hills Harrison, the same high school as current MSU quarterback Drew Stanton. He is a four-star recruit and the nation's No. 24-ranked wide receiver by Rivals.com.
When Williams was fired in 2002, Smith had to scramble to put together a recruiting class. The class earned a No. 66 ranking from Rivals.com and included just one four-star player.
"The sooner a head coach is named, the better it is for recruiting," Kurelic said.
"But still, for that recruiting season, (MSU) is behind the eight ball."
