Miles Bridges' commitment gives Tom Izzo his highest rated class ever

In Tom Izzo's illustrious 20-year career as Michigan State's head coach, he has never landed more than two consensus top 50 prospects in the same class before.

At minimum, he'll double that next year.

Small forward Miles Bridges became the fourth top 50 Class of 2016 prospect to select Michigan State when he committed to the Spartans during a news conference on Saturday in his hometown of Flint. Bridges, Rivals.com's No. 11 prospect, chose Michigan State over fellow finalists Kentucky and Indiana.

The addition of Bridges solidifies the 2016 class as the most highly touted that Izzo has ever landed. Joining Bridges in East Lansing next fall will be high-scoring 6-foot-6 wing Joshua Langford (No. 18), dynamic 6-foot point guard Cassius Winston (No. 28) and broad-shouldered 6-foot-9 forward Nick Ward (No. 45).

Remarkably, there's a chance Michigan State's class could get even better too. The Spartans are among the leading contenders to land Rivals.com's No. 1 prospect, 6-foot-7 wing Josh Jackson, who is also considering Kansas, Arizona and Maryland among others.

The chance to play alongside Bridges should be a strong selling point for Michigan State. A tough, powerful athlete who can thrive at either forward position, Bridges excels attacking the basket and is capable of creating for his teammates or finishing through contact at the rim. In 22 games in the Nike EYBL this year, Bridges averaged 21 points, 9.1 rebounds and two assists per game and shot 44 percent from the field.

Bridges had been thought to be leaning toward Kentucky until Winston chose Michigan State on Sept 18. The chance to play with one of his close friends and to continue the history of Flint products succeeding at Michigan State led Bridges to change his mind.

"Cassius is my boy, and I actually thought he was going to Michigan," Bridges told reporters in Flint on Saturday. "When he committed, I basically switched over to Michigan State from Kentucky."

Izzo's recruiting success this offseason makes it easy to forget that it was only a couple years ago that many were wondering whether the Michigan State coach had lost his recruiting touch. The Spartans swung and missed on a handful of high-profile recruits from the Midwest in the 2013 and 2014 recruiting classes, most notably Jabari Parker, Cliff Alexander and Jahlil Okafor.

A solid 2015 class quieted most of Izzo's critics. Next year's quartet should silence the rest whether Jackson comes aboard or not. Bridges, Langford, Winston and Ward undeniably comprise the highest rated recruiting class Izzo has ever landed, though they'll have to be awfully good in college to be known as the Michigan State coach's most successful.

At the top of any list is the Mateen Cleaves-Morris Peterson-A.J. Granger class that led Izzo to his first Final Four as juniors and to his lone national championship as seniors. There's also Izzo's 2000 class that included a pair of top 10 prospects, forward Zach Randolph and guard Marcus Taylor. More recently, Michigan State's 2007 class featured a trio of Rivals top 60 prospects, Chris Allen, Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, and the Spartans' 2012 class boasted future stars Gary Harris and Denzel Valentine.

It will be years before we can assess how Izzo's 2016 recruits stack up against their predecessors. Based on their talent level alone, however, they have a chance to rise to the very top.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!