Jaelon Barbarin commits to Michigan State

Michigan State received a commitment from 2023 running back Jaelon Barbarin on Wednesday afternoon. Barbarin, who committed to Michigan State over fellow finalist Washington State also held offers from Kansas State, Oregon State, and more. 

Barbarin, who committed to Michigan State via social media, is a big-play threat at tailback, brings much-needed speed to the Spartans’ 2023 class.

𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘯. 📍1000% 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯. 🟢⚪️ @Coach_mtucker @MSU_Football pic.twitter.com/w5zWUSaq0T

— JAELON “JB” BARBARIN (@jaelonbarbarin) December 14, 2022

Barbarin made his college choice after taking official visits to each of his finalists. He took an official visit to Michigan State (Dec. 9-11) one week after taking an official visit to Washington State (Dec. 2). Barbarin had previously visited Kansas State last summer.

Kansas State was the first Power 5 program to offer Barbarin. KSU and several other smaller FBS programs offered Barbarin in the spring on the basis of his prowess as a sprinter in track. At that time, Barbarin was a slot receiver at different high school in the West Hills, CA, area.

Michigan State and Washington State were also attracted to Barbarin’s blazing speed, illustrated by his meet-timed 10.37 100-meter, which he ran as a junior before transferring to Chaminade in the summer. At Chaminade, Barbarin moved from slot receiver into the backfield, where he began to shine after getting acclimated to his new position.

As a senior at Chaminade, Barbarin rushed for 1,133 yards and 13 touchdowns in 10 games, while helping Chaminade to a 10-3 record playing in one of the toughest conferences in the state of California. Barbarin averaged 6.6 yards per carry. He was also surprisingly effective in short-yardage scenarios given his lack of experience at tailback.

“When he gets his shoulder squared to the line of scrimmage and he gets going he is tough to stop,” Chaminade Coach David Machuca told SpartanMag earlier this week. “We had an outstanding offensive line with four starters returning, and that is one of the reasons why we had the year that we did, but Jaelon still had to make the right read on those blocks, he did a great job with that.”

During the final month of his senior season, Barbarin delivered some of his best performances. He rushed for 243 yards and two touchdowns against conference rival Serra High (Oct. 28). Barbarin hit the 200-yard, two-touchdown mark once again in a playoff win over Citrus Valley (Nov. 11) two weeks later.

“Serra is a big-time program in Southern California,” Machuca said. “He played phenomenal from Alemany forward. We play in second toughest conference in California behind the Trinity League, which is the toughest in the country. There were only two teams in our league ranked outside the Top 25 in our state. The competition he went up against is definitely going to get him ready.”

Barbarin is currently ranked No. 74 at running back and No. 96 in California by On3. He is ranked the No. 990 overall recruit, No. 72 overall running back, and the No.81 overall recruit in the 2023 class by the On3 Consensus.

The Michigan State class now holds 12 high-school commitments. Before receiving a commitment from Barbarin in the evening, the Spartans received a commitment from 2023 three-star wide receiver Aziah Johnson. Johnson, like Barbarin, has tremendous athletic upside.

“I knew Michigan State was the place for me when I visited there and learned about what they had to offer me as a man and as a football player,” Barbarin told SpartanMag. “When I committed to Michigan State, Coach (Mel) Tucker told me he was excited to have me as a player and is ready to use me as a weapon for explosive plays on the field. He was very excited.”

You can read Barbarin talk more about his commitment here.