2021 in-state four-star DL Rayshaun Benny commits to MSU over U-M, others

Mel Tucker and the Spartans just handed Michigan another L, this time on the recruiting trail, as they just picked up a commitment from 2021 four-star in-state defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pounder from Oak Park visited Michigan the weekend of the Fourth of July with his mother, he told Maize n Brew leading up to that visit. Not long after that visit, he released his top eight list and slowed down his recruitment.

Fast forward to October and he trimmed his list down to four — Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Kentucky. Just three days later, he announced his commitment date. Then, not long after that, he announced he was delaying his decision to focus on his senior season, thus slowing down his recruitment for a second time.

That ended up paying dividends for the Spartans. At the time he was originally going to commit, most of the momentum was with Michigan. The Spartans did nice work to close the gap, even before they beat U-M on the football field. But MSU beating U-M on Halloween was what swung the pendulum in MSU’s favor for good.

Now that Benny is off the board, the recruitment of four-star defensive lineman George Rooks becomes more important than ever. He is Michigan’s final remaining target along the defensive line in the 2021 class, and they are in need of one more true inside guy.

If the staff swings and misses on both Benny and Rooks after all this time, I can’t stress enough how big of a loss that would be for the program. At one point, it looked like there was a chance they’d be able to get both of them. It would be an incredibly huge letdown if the Wolverines aren’t able to reel in Rooks after losing out on Benny to their in-state rival.

Michigan still has four defensive linemen committed in 2021 — four-star Quintin Somerville, four-star Kechaun Bennett, three-star TJ Guy and three-star Dominick Giudice.