The Mississippi State signing class is laden with talent from the home state, which is exactly what head man Dan Mullen called for.
“When I got hired here, I wanted to make the statement that we were going to recruit the state of Mississippi,” Mullen said. “For the second year in a row, we’ve recruited 16 high school players from the state of Mississippi… That’s the foundation of our program, recruiting high school players from the state of Mississippi.”
The defensive side of the ball called for defensive backs and linebackers. Mullen likes to sign athletes and determine their position when they arrive on campus. This philosophy makes it hard to speculate where a kid will play, however, the good thing is there are plenty to choose from.
A glaring difference in this class and the classes that former head coach Sylvester Croom signed is the Plan B’s. The years proved when Croom missed out on one of his bigger targets, the Plan B recruit in place was not usually an SEC-caliber player. Yes, Croom signed some talent, but Mullen signed athletes who will at least be able to contribute on special teams if they do not pan out on the regular field of play.
This class lacks the overall star power of Mullen’s first class; however, MSU filled needs with highly recruited prospects and found guys who were do-it-all types of players for their team. MSU signed some guys who will develop and some who will see the field quite early.
Defensive Line: The defensive line is headlined by the signing of Kaleb Eulls, a 6’4,” 270 pound defensive end who is built like a freight train. He even played quarterback for his high school team, and he was recruited by everyone, with offers from Alabama, LSU and Georgia among many others. Steve Robertson, recruiting analyst for scout.com, said he believes Eulls has the brightest future of all.
“I think Kaleb Eulls will prove to be the most talented guy in this class if he stays healthy his entire career,” Robertson said. “He is a young man of high character with a tremendous work ethic. He’s a team first guy and other players gravitate to him.”
James Carmon is a 6’7,” 350 pound nose tackle with offers from Alabama, Tennessee and Penn State. He figures to immediately fill the big hole left by Kyle Love, and be a serious clog in the middle. Curtis Virges is an extremely athletic defensive tackle who helped lead his team to a state title. At 6’3,” 285 pounds, he has a 31-inch vertical leap and runs a 4.8 second 40-yard dash. He will benefit from not having to play early. The Bulldogs also signed Jeff Howie and Paul Crawford, but their positions are yet to be determined. Howie is a 6’4,” 330 pound junior college all star who can play offense or defense, and Crawford is a 6’8,” 235 pound defensive end who will be a project and could play on the line or linebacker.
Linebackers: Mississippi State returns two starting linebackers, but lacks overall depth at the linebacker position, so signing some guys who can develop for a year was somewhat of a necessity. The coaches went out and found a blend of guys; some are already ‘true’ linebackers, and some can play multiple positions but figure to grow into linebacker. Ferlando Bohanna is a 6’0,” 230 pound middle linebacker out of Memphis who has great instincts and runs sideline to sideline quite well – a top priority in a middle linebacker. Christian Holmes is a sleeper out of the small town of Puckett. Kids like Holmes get overlooked every year because coaches do not always travel off the beaten path. Holmes is a 6’2,” 235 pound linebacker who played a multitude of positions, and there is no question that Holmes knows where the weight room is.
Manny Diaz, defensive coordinator, said he believes MSU will continue to find kids like Holmes each and every year.
“I am a big believer that as a coaching staff we have to have total belief in our evaluation process. It is a must because we are the ones who have to coach these young men,” Diaz said. “We’ll never be able to control what outsiders think, but there’s one thing I know for sure in my short time here: anyone who says you can’t win big with Mississippi players is either lying or ignorant.”
MSU also signed Corvell Harrison-Gay, Chris Hughes and Brandon Hill, who are all utility players. Harrison-Gay is 6’3,” 250 pound middle linebacker who could grow into an end – he had a great showing in the MS/AL all-star game. Hughes is 6’0,” 210 pound safety/linebacker who runs a 4.4 and will start at safety. Hill is a 6’2,” 220 pound wide receiver/linebacker who the coaches are very high on.
Defensive Backs: The Bulldogs went out and got Jay Hughes, a 5’10,” 180 pound cornerback who is MSU safeties coach Tony Hughes son. Hughes is a smart player who has the hips to be a cornerback and the speed to cover a lot of ground. Jeremy Lee is another true cornerback with some serious speed. He ran the second fastest time at MSU’s camp, according to Mullen. At 5’10,” 180 pounds he is also a prototypical cornerback. MSU signed several other guys who can play multiple positions such as Jamerson Love and Jameon Lewis – some of the fastest guys this state has seen. These two figure in at cornerback, but Love could be a running back and Lewis could be a Percy Harvin-like slot receiver. Yes, his elusiveness and cutting ability deserves that title.
Matt Wells and Nick Griffin are both coming as running backs, but both could step onto the other side of the ball and develop into superstars at safeties.
Michael Carr is another do-it-all player who is coming in as a wide receiver, but could play cornerback or safety. He is touted as the ultimate utility player, compared to the superhero Batman by some.
Overall, this class has a nice blend of immediate impact players and utility guys who have the luxury of redshirting, finding a perfect position and developing. Team speed was an obvious issue when Mullen took over, and in both years he has improved this area drastically. Look for this defense to continue to improve year by year with a new defensive coordinator, especially since the head man is so pleased with the new additions.
“I think we hit home runs basically wherever we wanted to go,” Mullen said.