Michigan State offered a Birmingham Groves running back Noah Sanders as a gray-shirt in the Class of 2025, one day after watching the youngest son of NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders work out at a prospect camp on Monday.
If Sanders were to join the Spartan program as a gray-shirt, he would not be on scholarship during the first semester of his freshman season. At the end of the first semester, he would go on scholarship for the rest of his college career at Michigan State.
Sanders announced the gray-shirt in a social media post on Tuesday.
Prior to being offered a gray-shirt by Michigan State Tuesday, Sanders earned scholarship offers from Bowling Green, Buffalo, Toledo and Western Kentucky among others. Sanders, who has been on the Spartan radar for some time, has been on campus multiple times during the past year.
Noah Sanders is the youngest of four brothers. His oldest sibling, Barry Sanders Jr., played college football at Stanford and Oklahoma State (2012-2016), contributing as both a running back and kick returner. His older brother Nick Sanders is a walk-on guard at Michigan State playing for Tom Izzo. His brother Nigel opted to pursue music instead of sports after high school.
Sanders received a gray-shirt offer after working closely with Michigan State running backs and associate head coach Keith Bhonapha at Monday’s prospect camp.
Michigan State football and Head Coach Jonathan Smith are in the midst of summer official visits. It is widely believed that the Spartans will take two scholarship running backs in the Class of 2025. One of those spots will go to East Lansing standout Jace Clarizio, a four-star prospect ranked No. 6 in Michigan and No. 30 at running back in the On3 Industry Ranking. If Sanders were to accept a gray-shirt offer from the Spartans, he would not fill one of the two allotted spots for tailbacks in the 2025 class.
Last month, the Spartans hosted Palestine (Tex.) RB Jon Denman. Michigan State will host 2025 Imhotep Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.) four-star RB Jabree Wallace-Coleman this weekend. Other recent scholarship offers to running backs include DJ Dugar (Leander, TX, Glenn High) and Dramekco Green (Conroe, TX, Conroe).
Per Maxpreps, Sanders had 71 carries for 401 yards and seven rushing touchdowns as a junior at Groves last season. He also had five receptions for 51 yards and one touchdown.
Sanders is also a track standout at Grove. This past season he posted a season-best 10.9 in the 100 meter. He finished third in the 100 at the Oakland County Championship last Month. Sanders also participated in the 200, the 4×110, 4×200, and 4×400 relays for his high school as well as the long jump, where he posted a season best just under 20 feet.
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