It's funny how the winds change. Late Dantonio, MSUs recruiting was awful. Not like #5 in the Big Ten, with some finds. They were literally just trying to flip MAC recruits.
So with Mel, they went all in on talent acquisition. NIL and the portal certainly threw a wrench in that. I think, on that end, he did what he was expected to do. He upgraded the recruiting, although NIL has kind of made good recruiters relics.
Now, Jonathan Smith's staff seem to be all true coaches. Their recruiting track records are extremely bad. So MSU is back in early Dantonio era I guess. Trying to coach kids up. Problem is, you have to be good at identifying talent, and would you rather just hit the portal, than bet on your evaluation that a kid finally hits in his 4th year, as a RS junior
