Advertisement
football Edit

National Signing Day flashback: Malik McDowell, 2014

The Schools: Michigan State, Ohio State

How it all went down: After taking a series of official visits in the month of January, including trips to Michigan State and Ohio State the final two weekends, Malik McDowell went into his National Signing Day press conference prepared to make what he thought was a final decision. Flanked by his father Greg McDowell, the former five-star announced his intentions to head to Michigan State and even had his letter-of-intent ready to sign.

During the ceremony both he and his father signed the document, the only problem was that McDowell’s mother had sole custody of him and therefore had to be the one to certify the document so it could be faxed into Michigan State. Joya Crowe, McDowell’s mother, was so adamant against her son signing with Michigan State that she not only elected to not attend the ceremony or sign the letter, but she gave several media interviews in the days leading up to the announcement voicing her displeasure. It took nearly two months for McDowell to get his mother on board and in early April, he finally faxed in LOI. McDowell went onto be a star with the Spartans and declared early for the 2017 NFL Draft.

Advertisement

Local memories: “It was the strangest recruitment I’ve ever covered. McDowell wanted to sign with Michigan State, against his mother’s wishes. So he signed something on Signing Day, but it wasn’t an official letter of intent. He needed his mother’s signature in order to make his signature valid with the NCAA, but she wouldn’t do it. She did some interviews on sports talk radio shows and her resistance became quite a spectacle.

"For Michigan State fans, he was a colossal recruit because he was the only five-star prospect in the Midwest region that year. Traditionally, very few five-star recruits come out of this part of the country, so Michigan State had a chance to keep one at home. One media member who covers Michigan promised that McDowell would never play for Michigan State, which fanned the flames for Spartan fans to become even more interested in the outcome. Dantonio remained in calm contact with McDowell, but never pressed the issue too firmly. That approach resonated with McDowell.

"This all took place a couple of months after Michigan State won the Rose Bowl, finishing No. 3 in the country, with Dantonio hinting that Michigan State, not Auburn, should have played Florida State in the National Championship Game. This was all deliciously new territory for the current generation of Michigan State fans, and McDowell’s eventual signing in April was part of a memorable off-season victory lap for Spartan football.” – Jim Comparoni, SpartanMag.com

Advertisement