At first, it seemed like Tom Izzo was going to look into the graduate transfer pool to fill the final scholarship spot for Michigan State after Nick Ward declared for the NBA draft. First, they looked at Kerry Blackshear Jr. from Virginia Tech. Then, they looked at the Hauser brothers from Marquette. Well, now it seems that Michigan State is exploring a new avenue for their final scholarship: high school juniors.
The news struck earlier this week that Michigan State offered Center N’Faly Dante an offer. Now, Jake Weingarten from Stockrisers is reporting that they have also sent an offer to 4-star high school junior AJ Hoggard.
Hoggard and Dante are intriguing, as they would be part of a new breed of high school juniors who use their prep school status and some tweaking of the rules to be able to declare early for college. If players like Dante and Hoggard are available for this year, it allows a team like MSU to swoop in and offer them. Other programs might not have considered this to be an option which gives MSU with their scholarship opening and hyped basketball team an advantage.
AJ Hoggard is a 6’3 point guard who is ranked #90 nationally by 247sports and is the #14 point guard in his class. He was listed as most likely to go to Louisville, but it would certainly be a nice get for Izzo if he can sign the point guard.
