I have been saying for more than a year now that Mark Dantonio might be the coach to finally get Michigan State over the top. And the guy just keeps giving me more reasons to believe.

Dantonio, a former assistant under Ohio State's Jim Tressel, arrived in East Lansing in late 2006 after a strong three-year run at Cincinnati, where he posted an impressive 18-17 record. Upon settling in at State, he immediately got to work rebuilding the image of a program that, for years, had been known mostly as unpredictable, undisciplined and underachieving.

His first season, as one might have expected, was an up-and-down affair: The Spartans ended up 7-6. It should be noted, though, that Dantonio's squad played Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Boston College very close and could have won any of those games with a break here or there. At the very least, it was clear the coach had the Spartans playing better, smarter football than they had played in years.

Now Dantonio is hoping to continue his success while on the recruiting trail. And he's using the same method that his mentor, Tressel, used to build Ohio State into a national powerhouse: He's focusing on in-state talent.

As the Detroit Free Press notes, Michigan State has now won verbal commitments from 6 of the top 10 prospects in the state of Michigan, as ranked by Rivals.com. The hated Michigan Wolverines, meanwhile, only have two (one of which, of course, is the kid ranked No. 1).

Dantonio has made no secret that he plans to concentrate his recruiting efforts on Michigan, and for a Spartan program that does not carry the national cache that Michigan does, that's certainly a good idea.

The only catch?

The state of Michigan isn't nearly as deep with talent as Tressel's Ohio is, so there will be only so many top-level local talents for Dantonio to grab. What this means, of course, is that at some point Dantonio is going to have to sell his program to kids from elsewhere -- Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois or even the deep South.

If Dantonio can do that -- and few Spartans coaches besides Nick Saban have -- only then will he be able to help Michigan State reach its full potential.

It's no small challenge. But as I said at the top, I really believe Dantonio is the guy that can do it.

Photo: Coach Mark Dantonio led Michigan State to a 7-6 record in his first season in East Lansing. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)