MSU Loses Commitment of Rising Four-Star LB

Even though head coach Jonathan Smith’s staff and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi were one of the earlier parties to Hodge’s recruitment, recent attention from several other big programs seemed to become too much for him to ignore. Since he verbally committed to the Spartans, Hodge has received offers from Michigan, Texas, Oregon, Missouri, and Colorado. All of those came in September.

Other Visits

It hasn’t helped that Hodge has been willing to entertain other schools’ recruitments of him, even right after he said he was committed to Michigan State. Hodge took three official visits in the three weeks immediately following his June 1 announcement that he had chosen MSU, taking official looks at Utah (June 6), Minnesota (June 13), and Iowa (June 20), according to 247Sports.

The rumors of Hodge’s decommitment had especially been circulating in the last handful of weeks, starting about when he received that wave of new offers. It almost felt inevitable when he scheduled several more visits to those schools. 

Hodge visited the rival Wolverines during their game against Wisconsin on Oct. 4 and was photographed flashing an “M” with his hands. He will be at Oregon on Saturday for the third-ranked Ducks’ game against No. 7 Indiana. He also has November visits set for Missouri and Texas.

This is the second four-star recruit that has recently exited Michigan State’s 2026 recruiting class. The Spartans lost wide receiver Tyren Wortham on Oct. 6, who ranks 246th overall in the Rivals Industry Rankings and was MSU’s top commit, according to that metric.

Michigan State’s next incoming class is still better than its last according to the rankings, but the Spartans are still in the lower half of the Big Ten. With Hodge now taken off the list, MSU only has three four-star commitments out of 20 total in its 2026 class.

According to On3/Rivals, Michigan State's next recruiting class has now dropped to 39th nationally and 12th in the Big Ten.