Another highly anticipated National Signing Day has come and gone in the world of college football with recruits around the nation officially deciding where they will spend the next four years of their lives.
As of today, 21 prospects have signed their National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to attend Mississippi State University and become a part of the Bulldog football program.
“It’s a great day to be a Mississippi State Bulldog,” MSU head coach Dan Mullen said. “It was a pretty exciting day for us. (We had) a lot of fun here, and we’re looking forward to getting these guys.”
Without question, much of the anxiety centered around National Signing Day at MSU hinged on Chris Jones, an elite 6’5, 250-pound defensive end from Houston, Miss., who ranked among the nation’s best in the class of 2013 as a whole.
A long-time MSU pledge, Jones recently took multiple visits to Ole Miss, putting his commitment in question. After dawning a maroon MSU hat and officially signing to be a Bulldog, Jones admitted he had not officially made up his mind until just hours before announcing his intentions publicly.
Unarguably the most touted player in MSU’s signing class, Jones will likely get every opportunity to receive an extensive workload during the 2013 season. Mullen said he never lost confidence in Jones’s commitment to State during the defensive end’s roller-coaster recruitment.
“I think the media created a lot of drama with Chris,” Mullen said. “I trusted him from day one, and he never wavered on that with me.”
While Jones’s signature certainly helped MSU garner some national attention on signing day, several other Bulldogs signees could make a large impact in the upcoming season.
Ashton Shumpert, a consensus four-star recruit from Fulton, Miss., could see some immediate playing time from either the running back or safety position. Listed as an athlete by most recruiting websites, Shumpert chose the Bulldogs over offers from Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma State and Ole Miss.
“(Shumpert) has the ability to play both ways for us,” Mullen said. “We’re going to look at him playing tailback for us. We’re really excited about that, him being the tailback of the future for us.”
Additional signees who could see the playing field this fall are wide receivers Fred Ross, Jeremy Chapelle, Shelby Christy, Donald Gray, De’Runnya Wilson and B.J. Hammond.
Ross, a four-star Parade All-American from Tyler, Texas, switched his commitment from Oklahoma State to MSU late Tuesday night before officially signing with the Bulldogs on Wednesday.
Chapelle, a junior college transfer, may have the best shot at seeing extensive playing time during his first year at MSU due to his winter enrollment at the school, thus giving him the opportunity to participate in spring practice.
Wilson, a 6’4 receiver from Birmingham, Ala., also plans on playing basketball at MSU, which he chose over offers from Auburn, Louisville and Tennessee.
With six signees at the position, MSU made replenishing its receiving corps a top priority throughout the recruitment of the class of 2013 and was able to execute on signing several quality pass catchers.
“When you look at the athleticism at that position and the size at that position it helps,” Mullen said of his incoming wide receivers. “With all the receivers we have leaving, those guys are going to have to step in and play right away.”
Although the wide receivers of MSU’s foreseeable future are set in stone, the Bulldogs will have to play the “wait and see” game at the quarterback position for the class of 2013. State was able to secure the commitment of Damian Williams, a Metairie, Lou., native who was a Southern Miss pledge before flipping his commitment less than two weeks before signing day.
The Bulldogs were also able to get the signature of longtime commit Cord Sandberg, a left-handed quarterback from Brandenton, Fla., who is characterized by some experts as “the next Tim Tebow.” Sandberg’s future with MSU remains cloudy, though, due to the fact Sandberg remains an attractive prospect for the 2013 MLB Draft. Taking into consideration the several factors that go along with being drafted, Sandberg is expected to officially make a decision on his future sometime during the summer.
“In getting to know Cord and his family, that’s a win-win situation,” Mullen said. “With him and his recruitment, we kind of knew what was going on, he knew what was going on, we were always very open about it with everything. And, as I said, I don’t think there’s a bad ending to it either way.”
Just Thursday morning the Bulldogs added three-star DB Jahmere Irvin-Sills from Elkton, Md. Irvin-Sills will help replentish the Bulldogs’ secondary, which took a hit with Johnthan Banks, Corey Broomfield and Darius Slay among others graduating.
The Bulldogs start spring practice March 21.