Trieu: Ohio DE Jeff Pietrowski, Michigan State target, 'a pure football player'
Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward defensive end Jeff Pietrowski filled the stat sheet as a junior.
He made 100 tackles and sacked the quarterback 12 times. His relentlessness along with that productivity and a strong academic profile has led 16 schools to offer him, including Michigan State, the most recent school to do so.
“He was their key to state championship last year,” 247Sports Ohio analyst Bill Greene said. “He was their best defensive player. He makes big plays.”
Pietrowski recently attended The Opening Regional at Massillon Washington. His testing numbers were solid. He had the 39th-best rating (a composite of all the testing results) at the event out of 121 players who went through the full complement of tests. Still, a combine setting does not fully highlight what makes him a Big Ten prospect.
“He is a pure football player,” Greene said. “In terms of measurables, he is a 6-foot-1, 240-pound kid. He is not going to run the greatest 40 time, but he is a great football player and I mean great. He fits what Michigan State has done, which is win big games with solid, three-star kids. This kid plays to the whistle every single play, every rep in practice and is an intense, aggressive, hard-working kid.”
Pietrowski came to East Lansing for a spring practice Tuesday. He may return to campus for a camp or official visit.
Greene believes Michigan State will be a contender, but there are other schools who are recruiting him aggressively.
“Boston College has a really good chance,” he said. “He is a Catholic kid. Cincinnati has a chance with (head coach) Luke Fickell. Michigan State will have a great shot with him because they have recruited kids like him before and won with kids like that.”
Pittsburgh and Louisville are among Pietrowski’s other offers. Ohio State, Michigan and more have been in contact but have not offered at this time.
Spring game visitors
On Saturday, Michigan State will play their annual Green and White spring game.
The most notable visitor is Darius Snow, who is the lone official visitor this weekend. Snow, a four-star prospect from Carrollton (Texas) Hebron, comes from a Spartan family as dad Eric Snow was a basketball star at MSU and uncle Percy Snow was a standout linebacker at MSU.
Snow has offers from around the country and will take official visits to TCU and Notre Dame in the fall. He visited Arkansas last weekend.
Southfield A&T defensive tackle Bryce Austin, Mount Pleasant defensive end Tyler Huenemann and River Rouge cornerback David Carter are among the in-state juniors visiting.
Wyandotte Roosevelt quarterback Jalin Pitchford, an athletic sophomore who has an early offer from Central Michigan, also will be visiting.
More information
Allen Trieu covers Midwest football recruiting for 247Sports. He has been featured on the Big Ten Network on its annual Signing Day Show. His Michigan and Michigan State recruiting columns appear weekly at detroitnews.com.