CBS Sports ranks Mel Tucker as a top 25 power five head coach

See where Mel Tucker ranks compared to the rest of the power five head coaches in CBS Sports’ rankings

A year ago, many would have considered Michigan State’s Mel Tucker a lower-tier coach in the Big Ten and certainly on the national level. But a lot has changed since this time last year.

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports is ranking all 65 of the power five head coaches in college football, and with that he has Tucker in the top 25. Tucker jumped 33 spots from last year and came in at No. 24 in Fornelli’s rankings.

Here’s a little of what Fornelli had to say about Tucker:

“Tucker was at 57 last season following a 2-5 debut at Michigan State, but an 11-2 record and Peach Bowl victory catapult him into the top 25. The trick will be to see if he can keep it up because expectations have been raised.”

Tucker ranked No. 8 among Big Ten coaches, falling behind  Ryan Day (No. 6), Jim Harbaugh (No. 9), Kirk Ferentz (No. 13), Paul Chryst (No. 14), James Franklin (No. 15), Pat Fitzgerald (No. 21) and P.J. Fleck (No. 24).

Tucker will be entering his third year as the Spartans’ head coach this fall with an overall record of 13-7. That record alone isn’t anything to sneeze at, but the type of transformation he has already done with Michigan State’s roster and taking a team many picked to finish last in the Big Ten East Division entering last year to 11-2 with a Peach Bowl victory is why he’s so high in these rankings.

Click on the tweet below to see the complete write-up on Tucker from Fornelli and the rest of his power five coaches rankings:

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

[mm-video type=video id=01g3a9a31aymgywxfetk playlist_id=01eqbz825g32p3akwt player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g3a9a31aymgywxfetk/01g3a9a31aymgywxfetk-a06d9077ec43bfbc3b541de386f54f51.jpg]

[listicle id=99622]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]