Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Positive summer has Michigan State hoping freshman forward Deyonta Davis brings versatility

2014 Nike EYBL. Session #2. Dallas.

Deyonta Davis (Jon Lopez/Nike)

Jon Lopez

Coming off of a somewhat surprising Final Four appearance during the 2014-15 season, Michigan State will need some new pieces to step up after the departure of valuable senior starters like Branden Dawson and Travis Trice.

Earlier this week Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press profiled the improvement of senior guard Bryn Forbes and this weekend he had a feature on the strong summer of freshman forward and McDonald’s All-American Deyonta Davis.

The 6-foot-10 Davis has been playing in a local summer league and working with his new teammates during the summer and they seem to have positive things to say about him. Having Davis gives the Spartans more front court versatility than last season because at his size, he can play either the four or the five. Davis gives senior center Matt Costello and junior big man Gavin Schilling another player to work with if the duo gets in foul trouble or struggles to produce.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what DD can do on the court,” Costello said of Davis in the story. “He’s big, he’s long, he’s athletic, and he listens to people. He’s not hard-headed at all, and I really appreciate that about him. It’s been a good summer with him.”

If Davis shows any kind of immediate impact, it would be a huge boost for Michigan State up front. He’s a very naturally gifted player and his potential improvement could really help Michigan State for the next few seasons.

For the last few classes it seemed like the Spartans and head coach Tom Izzo weren’t recruiting the kinds of high-end, All-American-caliber players necessary to compete every year on a national level. By adding players like Davis and the 2016 class commitments of Josh Langford and Nick Ward, it’s a great boost of talent coming into East Lansing the next few seasons with more potential players to come. Izzo made the Final Four last year and he’s certainly capitalizing on his recent success by keeping All-Americans coming into the Michigan State program.