Michigan State recruiting more mobile quarterbacks

(Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a weekly series on Michigan State’s football recruiting efforts by position. This week is quarterbacks, next week will be running backs and so on and so forth. It will somewhat correspond with the position-by-position previews for the 2012 season.)

Michigan State currently has offers out to a few uncommitted quarterbacks, including many prospects who bring a little more than just passing to their game.

Top targets Matt Alviti, Tyler Bruggman and Damion Terry all have great mobility and throw well on the run — and are giving MSU a decent look.

Alviti named Michigan State as one of his top three schools, including Northwestern and Notre Dame, but with the Irish having picked up a QB for its class already, it might be down to two.

The 6-foot, 176-pound prospect from Illinois has a strong arm and runs well with the ball — bringing flashes of former Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa, which makes him seem likely to end up in the Wildcats’ offense. He does a solid job when he rolls out of the pocket and tape shwos he sets his feet well before getting rid of the ball.

Alviti is ranked as the No. 9 quarterback in the 2013 class and the No. 210 player overall by Rivals.com.

He passed for 2,210 yards as a junior with 29 passing touchdowns and 12 rushing touchdowns.

Bruggman, from Brophy Prep in Phoenix, Ariz., brings a similar game to Alviti and is a similar size.

At 6-1, 190 pound, the junior plays with a wide receiver who has an MSU offer in Devon Allen. He is rated the No. 14 quarterback and No. 232 prospect overall.

He passed for 37 touchdowns as a junior to just two interceptions, while throwing for 2,497 yards.

Bruggman has pretty good accuracy, evidenced by both his stats and his highlights. He has a pretty strong arm, and stands in the pocket well under pressure and delivers the ball well. He looks a little like a smaller version of Kirk Cousins, as he also throws off his back foot a little when facing the blitz.

Once of his strongest suits is how he consistently squares his shoulders to his target as he moves out of the pocket, which improves his accuracy on the run. He also looks comfortable throwing across his body rolling to the left, which is pretty impressive for a junior.

Terry, who visited MSU for junior day in February, will be on campus Thursday with his teammate, Delton Williams, who also has an offer from MSU as a athlete/safety.

The junior from Erie Cathedral Prep has the best size of the group at 6-4, 210 pounds.

Similar to Bruggman, Terry does a great job of squaring up to his targets on the run. He also shows a good presence in the pocket, stepping up away from pressure and avoiding the blitz.

The thing that seems to separate Terry is his arm on the deep ball, he has a strong arm but throws with tremendous touch and drops the ball in on stride to the receiver. While all three of these quarterbacks run some play action, it seems Terry has the best grasp on selling the handoff before dropping back to pass.

MSU also has extended offers to Alton Meeks (Boone, Fla.), Cody Thomas (Colleyville, Texas) and Mitch Trubisky (Mentor, Ohio). Scout.com also has an offer listed for Kevin Olsen (Wayne, N.J.).

All in all, MSU has some pretty good quarterback prospects with scholarship offers and it will be the first one who commits to take the spot in this class.