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Couch: Michigan State football's lauded 2016 recruiting class is infamous, but not a bust

Michigan State’s 2016 recruiting class was proof, I thought.

Proof of the program's staying power. Proof that winning over time could catch the eyes of teenagers. Proof that MSU had built itself a level playing field with more traditional college football powers.

That’s what I wrote back then, not very long ago, naive words from a columnist who couldn’t imagine what was coming down the pike.

MSU’s 2016 class turned out to be proof that what seems too good to be true often is, that hype comes with no guarantees, that winning is delicate, that straying from your blue-collar roots is dangerous.