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Five-star center, former Michigan State commit reopens his recruitment

Mr Basketball

In this April 3, 2015 photo, Caleb Swanigan from Homestead High School poses in Indianapolis. Caleb Swanigan of Class 4A state champion Fort Wayne Homestead has been named this year’s Mr. Basketball. (AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, David Dixon) NO SALES

AP

While Michigan State received some good news recruiting-wise last month when five-star center Caleb Swanigan verbally committed to play for Tom Izzo, there was some unease in recent weeks. With Swanigan yet to sign either a National Letter of Intent or a grant-in-aid agreement (more elite players are simply signing the latter as opposed to the one-sided NLI), there was a concern that the Indiana native may not wind up a Michigan State.

That will apparently be the case, as it was reported Thursday afternoon by ESPN.com that Swanigan has de-committed from Michigan State. And according to the report another Big Ten program, Purdue, may be well-positioned to land Swanigan (his legal guardian is former Purdue linebacker Roosevelt Barnes). With A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas both returning in 2015-16, the Boilermakers will have two seven-footers to call upon in the post.

Add in the talented Swanigan, and Matt Painter’s team will have even more depth inside. Should that occur, the Boilermakers would likely climb even higher up the Big Ten pecking order than some expect them to do given the amount of talent returning from last season’s NCAA tournament team.

Another school that’s bound to come up in conversations in the aftermath of Swanigan’s de-commitment is California, with the Golden Bears already having one of the nation’s top recruiting classes led by forwards Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown. Cal is currently right at the 13-scholarship limit for the 2015-16 season, so in that regard making a move for Swanigan would be difficult.

However it was reported earlier this spring that there was a chance that Rabb, Brown and Swanigan could all wind up in Berkeley with Rabb and Brown making the decision to do just that. With Swanigan back on the board, look for his recruitment (Kentucky was also a finalist for his commitment) to garner a lot of interest.