More Help on the Defensive Line

The 7th commitment for 2008 came on July 13th from DE Devin Jones. Scout has him as a 3 star and the 14th ranked player in Mississippi. Rivals gives him just 2 stars. ESPN gives him an upper 3 star rating and ranks him as the #48 DE. He has an offer from Ole Miss and if he has any from anybody else then I don't know about it.

Jones is 6-2 240 and plays both DE and DT in high school depending on the situation. Actually the clip I saw of him he was almost always inside. Everyone says he projects as a DE but I could see him ending up as a DT. He is the state power lifting champion which to me seems to be more of an accomplishment that would fit in with a DT. We'll see though, MSU needs defensive ends more so I'm sure he'll get a shot there first.

This seems like a pretty good pickup but he did have a knee injury in spring practices. Serious enough to require surgery, but beyond that I'm not sure. I would think this has scared some people off until they see how he does his senior year. Personally I don't have a problem taking a chance on a good player with an injury, as long as there is only one in a class.

Commit #6

The sixth verbal of the year also comes to us out of Florida. Thats two in a row, pipeline baby!! On July 6th, WR Charles Bailey joined the class of 2008. Disclaimer: Croom has shown zero ability to scout and find WR talent at the high school level. He has yet to recruit a high school receiver who has been good enough to make any kind of significant contribution. So Mr. Bailey has that working against him already.

Scout gives him 3 stars while Rivals gives him only 2. ESPN also gives him 3 stars and rates him as the #113 WR. (NOTE: You should have figured out by now that ESPN doesn't give stars, rather they give out a grade on a 1-100 scale. This is easily convertible to the star system though and in the future I will be giving you the star equivalent only. You've been warned.) He's a pretty big receiver at 6-2 and approx. 175 lb. He isn't all that fast (4.57 40) and from what I've seen on film is anything but a deep threat. This was a highlight reel and I don't think I saw a catch over 20 yards downfield. He'll be the intermediate route runner and the one that goes over the middle. His run after the catch ability didn't look all that good and I didn't see him breaking many tackles. Route running is definitely a strength from what I hear. All this adds up to a possesion receiver. Hopefully he has good hands.

He has at least one other offer from Indiana and so called "interest" from Southern Miss., South Florida, and Florida International. All in all, not really anything to write home about but a big improvement over the typical receiver Croom brings in. Wide receiver is the 3rd biggest need after TE and DE so expect at least one more and probably two.

Commit #5

MSU finally got some help at DE on June 24th from Florida native Kirkland Gainous. Supposedly he is one of those "stars on the rise" types and is just starting to get noticed. If thats the case his ratings may soar if he has a good senior season. For now though, they aren't so hot with both Scout and Rivals labeling him a 2 star. ESPN grades him as a 73 (low 3 star) and the #73 DE overall. He claims offers from Troy, South Florida, Central Florida, Illinois, LSU, and Alabama. Thats quite the mixed bag and could support the "rising star" theory.

Gainous is reportedly 6-2, 225. Scout mentions him having the frame to grow into either a DE or DT in college, but I really don't see DT being much of a possibility. Especially given the fact DE is the second biggest need after TE. I was unable to turn up squat about Gainous doing the normal Google stalk so speculation will have to suffice. Judging by the offer list their is one of two possibilities with this guy: 1. He is indeed a "rising star" with LSU, Alabama, and Illinois offering him later on in the game once he started blowing up or 2. He is very raw right now but has loads of potential and LSU and Alabama are taking a chance that they can develop him. Either scenario is far more favorable than him being a 2 star who is simply not that good. #1 is preferred though given how thin Mississippi State will be at DE next year.

Catching Up With Recruitin' IV: Football '08

Our fourth commit for 2008 came to us on May 16 from tight end Nelson Hurst. Scout has him as a 3 star, the #35 ranked TE, and the #11 player in Indiana. (No, thats not a typo. We really did get someone out of Indiana. Like they say, there's a first time for everything.) ESPN gives him a 74, which is equivalent to a mid range 3 star and has him as the #41 TE. Rivals gives him just two but ranks him as the #9 player in Indiana. His offer list is actually somewhat impressive with some mid-level BCS teams in there: Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Illinois, Purdue, and UCLA.

Some people have suggested the possibility of him playing defensive end, he plays both TE and DE in high school, but Hurst says he would rather be a TE. Seeing as we will be losing 3 TE this year, leaving only one coming back in '08, I think it is safe to say we'll be seeing him play tight end.

Pretty good pickup and at a position of desperate need too. We'll be taking at least one more TE in this class, and it wouldn't surprise me to see us take two.

Catching Up With Recruitin' III: Football '08

The third member of the '08 class came when OL John Paul Alford committed to Mississippi State on May 9th. Yet again, MSU was the first to offer and Alford, who will most likely be a center at MSU, committed almost immediately. Seeing as this is an offensive lineman, this post is going to be somewhat short. Sorry John Paul, but I have no idea how to discuss individual OL or determine how good they may be. So, I'll just repeat how everyone rates him and that'll be that.

John Paul Alford is 6-3 and about 280. He was put on the 2006 4A All-State team by the coaches poll. Scout gives him two stars, places him as the #13 rated center and #23 overall in Mississippi. Rivals is a tad higher on him ranking him as a 3 star player, #6 ranked center and #9 overall in Mississippi. ESPN grades him at 67 (high 2 star) and the #26 center.

Catching Up With Recruitin' II: Football '08

On March 30th, middle linebacker Bo Walters became the second member of the '08 class to commit to MSU. He's a two star according to Scout and the #34 player in Alabama. Rivals is slightly higher on him, putting him at a 3 star. ESPN gives him a 78 rating (equivalent to a high 3 star) and rates him as the #33 OLB. Just like Patterson, State was the first to offer and Walters committed soon after. Since committing he has picked up 4 more offers: Louisiana Tech, Tulane, UAB, and Southern Miss, all of which are pretty meh.

So, going by the offers its looking like a CUSA level recruit, which doesn't really jive with the ESPN150 watchlist. Thats not necessarily bad at this point in time though as just a couple of years ago it wasn't uncommon to see us battling Div 1AA teams for recruits. Considering that, I'll take the UABs of the world instead. He did wrack up 97 tackles playing for a pretty good 5A team and he actually looks pretty good on film. Has good size and speed; 6-2, 225, 4.46-4.6 40. Actually, he probably would need to add about 10-15 pounds, but that should be easy enough to do. For some reason I like this commit. Maybe the glitter of the ESPN150 watchlist has blinded me, or maybe I desperately want some hope for the future...or maybe both.

Like at RB, this might be all MSU takes as far as linebacker considering they picked up 5 last year (7 actually, but only 5 qualified). Maybe one more at the most.

Catching Up With Recruitin': Football '08

Mississippi State got it's first recruit for the 2008 class when running back Montario "Tojo" Patterson committed to play for Mississippi State back on March 19. Don't ask me why he is called "Tojo" by some because I don't know and I'm probably not going to try all that hard to find out. According to Scout, he is a 3 star and is the #17 player in the state of Mississippi. Rivals also rates him as a 3 star and has him as the #12 player in Mississippi. They also put him as the #47 ranked running back. ESPN also has him as a 3 star and the #64 RB.

He's six foot and somewhere between 190 and 200 pounds depending on who you talk to. Patterson is definitely a speed back, running a 4.4 forty. His junior year stats are impressive as he rushed for 1,858 yards and 17 touchdowns. Unfortunately his school, Biggersville, is 1A so take those stats with a grain of salt given the level of competition.

State was the first to offer and he committed almost immediately. He had "interest" from other schools but I'm not going to bother listing them since "interest" is such a vague term. Pretty good start to the class. None of MSU's current running backs has anything approaching this kind of speed so worst case he should be a good change of pace guy. Running back is actually relatively deep as it is with 4 already on the roster and 2 more signed last year, so Patterson could be the only one MSU will take in this class. Maybe one more, but certainly no more than that.