Haslett brothers impress, look to hear from Michigan State

Recruiting isn’t easy for Michigan State right now. With a coaching change on the horizon, it is difficult for recruits to seriously consider a school, not knowing who their head coach or position coaches would be.

Interim head coach Harlon Barnett and his coaching staff have to sell recruits on Michigan State as a program. They have to get back to the roots of the program, and find players that know the program and want to play for Michigan State.

Nakai Amachree and Kory Amachree from nearby Haslett High School are good examples of prospects that have interest in Michigan State beyond the current coaching staff. Neither has received an offer from the Spartans to this point in the process, but both have interest and a connection to the program through their father. Their dad, Opuene played at Michigan State in the early 90’s under George Perles.

“I really want Michigan State to start recruiting my brother and I,” said Kory, a 6-foot, 195-pound running back from the Class of 2026. “Our dad played there and we’d love to have them start showing us some love.”

Nakai is a class of 2024 running back recruit currently committed to Bowling Green. He has offers from several other Mid-American Conference schools as well as Minnesota and Stanford. Nakai camped at Michigan State in June and had a one-on-one meeting with running backs coach Effrem Reed afterward.

Kory is a class of 2026 running back with offers from Arizona State, Bowling Green, Ball State, Navy and Western Michigan. He camped at Michigan State in June with his brother.

“Coach (Effrem) Reed is a great coach and great human being overall, I hope he stays at Michigan State because I’d like to build a relationship with him,” Kory said.

A solid commitment to Bowling Green, Nakai is not taking other visits. He is, however, open if the right opportunity were to arise. Kory, meanwhile, has been busy visiting different schools. This past weekend, he visited Penn State.

“I’m planning on going to Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Kentucky and Louisville,” Kory said.

Nakai and Kory have played with each other since they were little kids going back and forth in the backyard. They have played together at Haslett each of the past two seasons.

“We’ve always talked about playing together since we were kids. I always played up in age so we could play together. It’d be cool to do it in college and the NFL too,” Kory said.

Last Friday night, the brothers had a big matchup with undefeated Mason. Haslett made the game competitive before eventually falling, 35-20. Nakai played wildcat quarterback, running back, and wide receiver on offense. He played corner on defense and also played on special teams. Kory played the same positions for Haslett minus work as a wildcat QB.

“We played pretty good I thought against one of the best teams in the state,” Kory said. “We made too many mistakes at the end of the day to win, but I was proud with how we played,” Kory said.

Kory has been playing multiple positions his whole life, but as he gets to college he wants to focus on running back. He is, however, open to playing other positions at the next level.

“I’m an athlete,” Kory said. “I can play anywhere on the field but I’d like to play running back in college but at the same time I know if that doesn’t work out I can move to wide receiver or even defensive back.”

There are plenty of things that need to happen and be addressed within the Michigan State program, but whomever takes over the head coaching position should ramp up the program’s in-state recruiting efforts. In so doing, the Spartans would be smart to take a closer look in their own backyard at the Amachree brothers.

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