Michigan State has had occasional success on the field against Ohio State through the years under Mark Dantonio, but on the recruiting trail, the Buckeyes have dominated year after year.

Now that Urban Meyer has retired as the Ohio State coach, that might change.

Just not real soon.

The first National Signing Day period is fast approaching on Dec. 19, and it’s very unlikely that there’s going to be any ripple effect for the Spartans now that Meyer is gone. Michigan State has 18 commitments, and Dantonio believes all 18 will sign early. It’s also unlikely any other big-time recruits suddenly fall into their lap.

It’s too soon for that.

“Recruiting has become very accelerated, so most of our players have been committed for a very long time,” Dantonio said. “I expect for all of them to sign on the 19th. It’s been a good thing for us and allows them to move on to the next phase of their life.”

Some of the 18 will enroll early and start classes on Jan.7 and be avaliable for offseason training and spring practice. Others may sign in the regular period that begins Feb. 6, but there’s not commitments waiting in the wings at the moment. They’ll all be signed in December.

The early signing period has changed how recruiting gets done, and it’s turned up the timetable. This is the second year of an early signing window. Last year, Michigan State signed 21 of its 22 players in December.

“It puts an emphasis on this time of year that’s for sure, there’s no question about that,” Dantonio said. “It was very smooth for us last year, and I expect the same to be true this year.”

In the past two years, 35 of the 40 Spartans commitments have been 3-star recruits, Their class ranked No. 31 two years ago and is presently No. 26 in the nation this year. That’s not swimming with the big boys in the Big Ten East like Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, but that’s just the way it goes. Dantonio has never cared about those rankings. He just gets good players on campus and makes them better.

But it will be interesting to see going forward how much of a fallout there is with Meyer gone. Ohio is still fertile recruiting ground for Michigan State and maybe they’ll grab a few more guys that would have normally gone to Ohio State.

What we won’t see is an immediate impact. Nothing’s going to change by Dec. 19, because most of the kids who are signing early are set with where they want to go. The Buckeyes have lost a few commitments for now in the 2020 class, and that’s where we’ll see the first wave of differences with Meyer, one of the great recruiters of all time, out of the picture.

The question now will be how much of an inroads Michigan State can make. The 5-stars that might reconsider Ohio State have a ton of viable options with the perennial national title contenders. It’s the 4-star guys — especially from Michigan, Ohio and neighboring Midwest states — that might help increase the Spartans’ class rankings.

It’s the 2020 class that’s up for grabs now, and it’s going to be interesting to see how well the Spartans.

It’s an interesting answer. We’ll just have to wait a year for it.