Ohio RB Savior Owens becomes Pat Fitzgerald's first 2027 commit at Michigan State
Michigan State has earned its first commitment in the 2027 class. More on Owens here.
Pat Fitzgerald has earned his first class of 2027 commitment as Michigan State's head coach, as rising class of 2027 running back Savior Owens has committed to the Spartans.
Owens, who currently attends Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, pledged to MSU following a visit to East Lansing on Saturday for the program's junior day event. He earned a scholarship offer from the Spartans during the trip.
At Michigan State, Owens will play under head coach Pat Fitzgerald ("Coach Fitz"), offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, running backs coach Devon Spalding and the rest of the newly-hired MSU staff.
"I chose the Spartans because of the new atmosphere — it feels totally different with the coaching changes and Coach Fitz is a great head coach and he’s a well accomplished man," Owens told Spartans Illustrated. "He is very honest."
Owens' relationship with Spalding has been established since before Spalding arrived at MSU as the program's new running backs coach. In September of 2025, while Spalding was coaching for Wisconsin, he offered Owens a scholarship opportunity with the Badgers.
"Coach Spalding is an amazing guy — a guy you want to follow (and) a guy you want to be coached by," Owens said. "He is a really good coach, and most importantly, he was the first to believe in me."
In addition to Michigan State and Wisconsin, Owens has received scholarship offers from Connecticut, Toledo, Akron, Miami (OH), Bowling Green and Kent State.
The 5-foot-11 210-pound Owens was not yet rated by 247Sports or On3/Rivals at the time of his commitment. Update: Shortly after his pledge to the Spartans, Owens received three stars and a rating of 86 from 247Sports. He now ranks as the No. 26 prospect in Ohio, No. 59 running back and No. 723 recruit overall in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2027 class.
As a junior at Washington in 2025, Owens recorded 222 carries for 1,579 rushing yards (7.1 yards per carry) and 21 touchdowns, while also catching nine passes for 86 yards (9.6 yards per catch). He earned first-team All-State, first-team All-County and first-team All-District honors for his performance this past season.
"(I am) a back that can chip away at you with patience and vision," Owens said when asked to describe his game.
Owens also excels in the classroom, as he carries a 4.3 grade point average.
With Owens becoming the first commit in the group, Fitzgerald, general manager Bryan Gasser and the rest of the MSU staff will continue to work to build out the Spartans' 2027 recruiting class.