Dantonio, Izzo put double team on Sims

EAST LANSING - It took a dual effort from the two prominent coaches at Michigan State to reel in the state's best dual-sport athlete.

Football coach Mark Dantonio and basketball coach Tom Izzo worked side-by-side to help MSU land Orchard Lake St. Mary standout Dion Sims, who signed his national letter of intent on Wednesday.

Sims, who will be on scholarship as a football player, is expected to join Izzo's crew following the football season.

"Coach Izzo did an outstanding job helping us recruit (Sims)," Dantonio said Wednesday. "He is an outstanding basketball player at Orchard Lake St. Mary and will be a tremendous, tremendous football player for us here at tight end."

Sims is ranked as the No. 5 tight end in the nation by recruiting services Scout, Inc. and Rivals.com.

On the basketball floor, he's averaging 25 points per game for the Eaglets.

The 6-foot-6, 245-pound Sims will give the Spartans a down-the-field threat from the tight end position that was missing from the offensive game plan in 2008.

"He is another four-star player," Dantonio said. "Extremely talented, talented player and will be a guy, who I think, will really make up for the loss of Kellen Freeman-Davis in 2007. The guy can be a mismatch problem down the field."

Recruiting coordinator Mark Staten, who also coaches the tight ends and tackles, could not help but smirk while he talked about his new player.

"He is tall, athletic, can jump, he can stretch the field," Staten said. " ... He does have that NFL body, it's just now molding it and turning it into a tough, effort-minded road grader and ball catcher."

PREFERRED WALK-ONS: Dantonio announced that East Lansing's Dan Folino and Lowell's Kyle Nichol will be preferred walk-ons in 2009. Folino, who played quarterback at East Lansing, will play defensive back at MSU. Nichol will join his older brother, Keith, playing quarterback.

ENROLLING EARLY: Three of the 23 members of MSU's 2009 class have enrolled early in school.

Ypsilanti wide receiver Donald Spencer, Pickerington (Ohio) defensive back Patrick White and Cleveland Heights defensive end Corey Freeman are all on campus taking classes at MSU and are involved in the offseason training program.

"It will help me a lot," White said. "I have been able to come in and begin learning everything. It is almost impossible to learn everything if you come in during the summer."

PAIR GETS PROPS: Both Staten and running backs coach Dan Enos have been mentioned as two of the best recruiters in the Big Ten. Now they are getting recognized as two of the better recruiters in the country.

"He's not appreciated enough for what he does, he does an outstanding job of organizing everything and doing a lot of (individual) recruiting as well," said Rivals.com national recruiting editor Jeremy Crabtree of Staten. "He's a name we have to consider in our top 25 recruiters in the country, along with Dan Enos, who does an incredible job year after year."

FREEMAN WAITING: Freeman is playing the waiting game when it comes to his ability to play football for MSU in the fall.

Freeman, who is already enrolled at MSU, is still awaiting word from the NCAA about his eligibility. A 2007 high school graduate, Freeman originally signed with West Virginia but was unable to qualify due to a test score. He sat out the first semester this year and reconnected with Michigan State, who initially recruited him out of high school, when he eventually raised the test score.

Now he is waiting to hear if the NCAA will clear him for his core credits to be allowed to play as a qualifier.