Mel Tucker knows what it takes to win on the football field against his rival Michigan, and is now setting himself up for some big recruiting battles that could involve both schools inside the state of Michigan in the 2023 class.

Back in July, Tucker and Michigan State made a pretty significant hire in hiring former Detroit Cass Tech Head Coach Thomas Wilcher as the Director of Community and High School Relations.

To many of the prominent high school coaches around the city of Detroit, Wilcher was known as the "Godfather to Detroit football". He is credited to getting many college programs from around the country to Detroit to recruit the different players in the city.

In the 2023 class, there are several recruits from Detroit that Michigan State is very high on and that feeling is being reciprocated well.

The three main players in the class for Michigan State are Detroit King 2023 five-star  quarterback Dante Moore, Detroit Cass Tech 2023 four-star defensive end Jalen Thompson and Detroit King 2023 three-star offensive guard Johnathan Slack.

All three of the prospects made visits to Michigan State over the summer and all left more than impressed with the staff and the campus early on. After the summer, Michigan State became the early favorite for both Thompson and Slack.

Dante Moore is the crown jewel in the class, ranked the 8th player in the country according to the 247sports composite rankings, Moore has 30 offers and Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State are setting themselves out in the running.

Jalen Thompson the second ranked player in the state of Michigan has 17 offers from Georgia, Notre Dame, Michigan and Penn State among others but Michigan State has done a good job getting an early lead with Thompson getting him to unofficially visit twice this past summer. Thompson is also very close with Wilcher and even described him as "his guy" in a recent conversation.

Michigan State getting in on Johnathan Slack could go a long away with the recruitment of Dante Moore. Michigan State remains an early favorite for the 6-foot-3, 280 pound junior. Slack already blocks for Moore at Detroit King and could help the odds for Michigan State mightily in that recruitment. Slack has 20 offers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Oregon and Tennessee among others.

Mel Tucker will finally have results to sell to the 2023 class and we should see a major spike in recruiting for Michigan State with highly rated prospects.