Michigan State lands transfer commitment from Cincinnati LB Tyler Gillison

Michigan State is stacking bodies in its linebacker room, and their latest addition has come from the transfer portal in former Cincinnati player Tyler Gillison.

Gillison only saw the field for one season at Cincy, in 2023, splitting time as an outside linebacker and defensive end. On the year, he recorded 15 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one pass deflection before opting to enter the portal this spring. Now, he’ll join up with new head coach Jonathan Smith at Sparty.

Prior to becoming a Bearcat, Gillison played at nearby Pickerington Central in Ohio, where he was a three-star recruit as part of the 2022 class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He was also rated the No. 1,029 overall prospect, the No. 113 defensive lineman and No. 31 player out of Ohio for his cycle.

Spartans make other portal additions

Gillison isn’t the only new member of the Michigan State football program this spring. in fact, the Spartans landed another solid player from the portal just last week in former Illinois 2024 signee Andrew Dennis, who committed on May 2.

Dennis played high school football at Mt. Pleasant (MI), where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 226 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Dennis committed to Illinois on Nov. 27, 2023. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound OL also took visits to Penn State and Clemson during his recruiting process. Dennis first made a verbal commitment to Michigan State before flipping his pledge to Illinois.

“I have had a great relationship with the staff at Illinois for well over a year,” Andrew Dennis told On3 when he committed to Illinois. “I had a lot of the questions that had already been answered going into the visit, so I was excited to meet the guys on the team and see how I meshed with them. The style of play, the coaching, and the guys on the team made me realize that it was the right fit.

“They were very respectful toward me during the whole process and they didn’t push me, they were always supportive. They believed in me before any Power 5 program did. They’ve been there since the beginning.”

On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this article