Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen has made his recruiting priorities clear. He wants the best prospects in Mississippi to stay in the Magnolia state to represent their home school. He is also targeting speed at all positions.
Staying true to form, the first prospect to declare a non-binding verbal commitment to MSU this recruiting season was Kaleb Eulls, a 6’4,” 250-pound defensive end from Yazoo City who is a four star (out of five) according to scout.com. Following suit, the most recent commit was Matthew Wells, a 6’1,” 205-pound running back out of Lawrence County who is also a four star prospect.
Thirteen out of 18 commitments are from the home state. MSU, leading all universities, has four out of the 12 prospects on the Clarion Ledger’s Dandy Dozen List.
Clearly, MSU has dominated the in-state recruiting battle thus far. However, there are several high profile in-state recruits left on the uncommitted list. 6’8,” 330-pound offensive lineman Damien Robinson, 6’5,” 220-pound defensive end Carlos Thompson and 6’2,” 180-pound wide receiver Vincent Sanders are just a few of the highly-rated in state prospects State continues to pursue.
With seven scholarship offers open plus a few extra signees to brace for grade casualties, the last few weeks of the recruiting season could have more twists and turns than a Six Flags ride. This and the remaining two weekends in January will be critical for recruiting as players will take their final visits to narrow down schools and make a decision.
Some of the biggest, literally and figuratively, left on the recruiting board are offensive linemen. State already has early enrollee offensive lineman Blaine Clausell on campus, but MSU must secure commitments from a few more big guys for the recruiting class to be considered successful.
Mississippi State will take one, possibly two more linebackers in this class and the finalists are Chris Hughes out of Mobile, Ala., and Taurice King from Yazoo City. Hughes is more of a speedster, and King is considered an inside linebacker. MSU also has a commitment from highly-rated Ferlando Bohanna.State has commitments from Michael Carr and Robert Johnson who are both standout receivers as well as commitments from a few speedsters who will come in and see if they figure in on offense or defense. The two most sought after receivers by the staff have been Vincent Sanders and Maudrecas Humphrey.
Sanders is a taller receiver who will stretch plays down field and Humphrey is shorter but faster, and he looks to run track in college as well, which bodes well for the Bulldogs.
One thing no one can deny is that MSU will be bringing more speed to the team with this signing class than in recent memory. Mullen and staff have scoured the state to find speed, but the job is not done. MSU must keep the current commits and add more to the list.