Mississippi State Gets a Late Signee

Jacquiese Holcombe has signed with Mississippi State, finishing off the 2008 class. Holcombe is a 6'6 205 junior college transfer. He actually redshirted due to injury while in junior college so he'll have just 2 years to play 2. Scout and ESPN never rated him and he is a 2 star on rivals. Holcombe had offers from Seton Hall and UAB.

Holcombe averaged 27 points and 11 rebounds as a high school senior. His JUCO numbers aren't quite so impressive. He averaged 11.3 points and 6.5 rebounds as a freshman and 13.4 points and 7.3 rebounds as a redshirt sophomore. He was a second-team All American last year so he must have been doing something right, although I admit I don't know how prestigious the JUCO All American team is.

I have to say, this one is a bit of a head scratcher. The lack of information on this guy and his ratings, or lack of, by recruiting sites doesn't really inspire excitement. I know there were only 11 players on scholarship so maybe that factored into the decision to bring him on board. Plus there was really only one SF on the roster, Ravern Johnson, so I'm sure the coaches wanted to add someone to back him up. Some have speculated Holcombe's strength is his defense and rebounding. If so, he would fit perfectly into the Stansbury mold.

Frankly I would have preferred to just save the scholarship for next year. MSU already has a good shot at about 3 or 4 very high level players in the 2009 class. With Holcombe on board MSU will only have 2 scholarships to offer next year. Of course, history says at least one player will transfer leaving MSU with 3 scholarships, so this might end up being a non-issue.

We'll see how it plays out. If Holcombe can give the team about 7-8 minutes at the SF position behind Johnson, I'll be satisfied.