Michigan State gets commitment from preferred walk-on WR Colin Charles
Michigan State adds preferred walk-on and Michigan native Colin Charles to its 2026 roster. More details here.
Michigan State has received a preferred walk-on (PWO) commitment from 2026 wide receiver Colin Charles. He announced his decision on Friday.
Charles is coming off of a visit to East Lansing this past weekend. Michigan State lost to rival Michigan, 31-20, but it was a memorable experience for Charles, as he earned a PWO offer from the Spartans. He has visited MSU multiple other times throughout his recruitment as well.
He took a post-grad semester at St. Thomas More School in Connecticut after reclassifying from the 2025 class. Prior to that, Charles grew up in Michigan his whole life. He originally attended Northville High School.
The opportunity to join MSU's roster has been a longtime objective for Charles, and he now gets to fulfill his dream by joining the Spartans.
"Playing at Michigan State has been my goal since I began playing football at a young age," Charles told Spartans Illustrated. "Definitely has been a dream come true for my family and me."
He tells Spartans Illustrated that he plans to enroll at MSU in January.
Charles has committed to head coach Jonathan Smith, wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins and the rest of the MSU staff.
Prior to his post-grad semester at St. Tho,, the 6-foot, 190-pound Charles was rated as a three-star wide receiver prospect in the 2025 class by 247Sports. He ranked as the No. 50 recruit in Michigan and No. 304 wide receiver in that cycle. Charles had offers out of high school from Ball State, Florida A&M, Miami (OH) and Toledo.
He has helped lead the Cougars to a 6-2 record in 2025 thus far.
With Charles committed, the Spartans now have 23 total pledges in the 2026 class, including three preferred walk-on commitments. He joins athlete Jack Lansing III and long snapper Zach Curtis as PWOs. MSU currently has 20 scholarship players committed to the class as well.
Charles joins four-star wide receiver Samson Gash and three-star wide receiver Zachary Washington as the other two players in his positional group who are currently committed to the Spartans.