Last winter Sylvester Croom faced a colossal rebuilding process when he took the reigns of a disastrous football program, one that was left in shambles by its former coach. This winter he faced another challenge just as great – convincing talented student-athletes they could be winners at that same woeful football program, which has won 11 games in the past four seasons and has felt the wrath of NCAA sanctions.
“A lot of these men had the chance to go to programs who are winning more games than what we are right now,” Croom said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “The thing I like about these men is that they had vision. They saw us not as we are; they saw us for what we can and will become.”
As of Wednesday evening, 27 players signed letters of intent to play for the Bulldogs. Twelve players are from Mississippi, seven from Georgia, three from Alabama, two from Tennessee and one each from Florida, California and Texas.
The obstacles on the recruiting trail were massive for the 50-year-old head coach, but he and his staff’s relentless effort landed Mississippi State a surprisingly impressive 2004-05 recruiting class, a class that will be the foundation for what Croom is building at State.
“In this class, we set about to do exactly the same thing (as we did last year) – continue to build a solid foundation on which to create a national championship type program, one that will last the long haul. We think we accomplished that and increased the talent level over last year’s (recruiting class).”
Indeed the Bulldogs improved greatly over last years’ recruiting class, which was ranked 62nd nationally by Rivals.com. The Web site had this years’ class ranked 34th nationally, four places behind in state rival Mississippi (30th) and 42 places better than Southern Miss’ class (76th).
“We have some excellent talent coming in,” Croom said. “They have excellent potential. Potential is just that something to build on … something to work with … some positive things to create in the future. Their not ready to win now. We got a lot of work to do.”
The Bulldogs ranked 10th in Southeastern Conference recruiting, being beaten out by every team except Kentucky (68th) and Vanderbilt (81st). The SEC placed two teams in the top 10, according to Rivals.com. Those two were Tennessee (3rd) and Georgia (8th).
The conference placed a total of eight teams in Rival.com’s top 25: Auburn (12th), Florida (14th), Alabama (17th), South Carolina (22nd), Arkansas (23rd) and LSU (24th).
Out of the 27 signees, nine were rated three stars and three players were given four stars by Rivals.com’s rating system, which goes from five stars being the best, to one star being the worst.
The four star recruits include defensive back Derek Pegues (Pegeez), defensive tackle Louis Ellis and offensive linemen Calvin Wilson.
Pegues is rated the No. 4 corner back and the No. 35 player, regardless of position, in the country by Rivals.com.
Superprep Magazine also has Pegues, who played quarterback on South Panola’s back to back state championship teams, the No. 4 corner back nationally and the No.1 prospect from the state of Mississippi. The 5-foot-10, 183-pounder was credited with running a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash and with a 350-pound bench press max by Rivals.com.
“He’s a man of his word,” Croom said, talking about the stellar high school cornerback/quarterback, who didn’t publicly voice his college choice until signing day (Wednesday) morning. “He told me I would be happy about his decision today sometime ago.”
Pigues, who rushed for 244 yards and five touchdowns in this year’s state championship game, was offered scholarships by Tennessee, Michigan, LSU, Auburn, Alabama and Ole Miss.
“Anytime you can get the top players in your state, that’s a big plus,” Croom said. “This was a very good year talent-wise in the state of Mississippi. Really we only lost two players in-state that we actually offered scholarships to, and the two of them went out of state.”
Six-foot-3, 293-pound Louis Ellis was offered scholarships to Mississippi, Oklahoma State and LSU, but chose State instead. Ellis, who registered 84 tackles and eight sacks in his senior year of high school, is rated the No. 11 defensive tackle in the country by Rivals.com, who also had him ranked the No. 4 prospect in the state of Mississippi. The Jackson native committed to State in November.
“We have no intention to red-shirt any of them. I expect them all to come in and participate and make a contribution this fall,” Croom said. “Some may be starting the first ball game, which means there’s going to be mistakes. We will tolerate their mistakes as along as their giving us their best effort.”
State’s final four star signee is Hattiesburg native Calvin Wilson. The 6-foot-5, 320- pound offensive tackle was ranked the No. 11 offensive tackle in the nation by Rivals.com.
Superprep Magazine ranks him as the No. 7 prospect from the state of Mississippi. Wilson was offered scholarships form LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Ole Miss and West Virginia.
Croom and his staff had certain specific needs that they keyed in on this year. The positional breakdown illustrates that precisely:
* 11 combined offensive and defensive linemen
* 9 combined wide receivers and defensive backs
* 2 running backs
* 2 quarterbacks
* 2 linebackers
Croom credits multiple things for this year’s great recruiting class, one of them being the way Mississippi State finished the 2004 football season, winning two of their last four games.
“My concern was how many players were going to stick with us and see the vision that we saw for Mississippi State through the tough goings of the early part of the season,” Croom said. “There’s no question the Florida game was a key factor (in convincing players of the bright future at State) and then the Kentucky game right after that.”
Croom said he and his staff were able to get their message through to more players without the NCAA allegations hanging over the university.
“It took the noose from around our necks,” Croom said. “That was a heavy burden early. If that had been hanging over us much longer, this would have been impossible.”