With national signing day having come and gone, Joe Moorhead appeared pleased with his first recruiting class as head coach at Mississippi State University.
With 15 of the 23 players signing in December, MSU was low on spots for February’s signing day. The class finished 27th in the country and ninth in the SEC.
“Certainly we had a bunch of highly-rated kids in the initial 15,” Moorhead said. “There was an extended period between the 20th and now, and what it allowed us to do is have a more concentrated effort.”
MSU signed eight players on Wednesday, and the highest rated of which is 247sports.com composite 3-star Fabien Lovett.
Lovett, a defensive end from Olive Branch, originally committed to MSU in August, but de-committed on the first of the year to explore his options. Lovett picked MSU over Florida, where former MSU head coach Dan Mullen is.
As usual, a large part of the overall class came from Mississippi, as 13 of the 23 players are homegrown. Beyond Mississippi, Moorhead looked in the south: grabbing five players from Louisiana, two from Alabama and one from Tennessee, Florida and Texas.
Going into Louisiana, MSU picked up a commitment from Aaron Brule, a 3-star linebacker out of Metairie, Louisiana.
Moorhead dialed in on the corner position, signing two on Wednesday, 3-stars Jaylon Reed and Esaias Furdge. Furdge is 5’11”, 162 pounds and from Clarksdale, and Reed is 6’ and joins Lovett coming in from Olive Branch.
Moorhead commented on the height of the two corners.
“Two similar players in a certain regard,” Moorhead said. “(They are) taller guys, long and cover a lot of ground, great change of direction and have great acceleration.”
One of the more versatile players signed on Wednesday is Nathaniel Watson, a 3-star, 6’2” 214-pound athlete from Maplesville, Alabama. Moorhead said Watson will start out at linebacker, where he plays all depends on the depth chart.
In December, MSU made waves when they signed three 4-star wide receivers. Wednesday, they added more to their receiver class in 3-star Johnquarius Patterson, a 6’, 170-pound product from Pearl, who helped Pearl High School win the MHSAA 6A Title.
The last two players to sign with MSU were 3-star recruits Cameron Young and Kameron Jones. Jones, an offensive lineman from Starkville, entered Wednesday committed to Louisiana-Lafayette, but was given a late offer from MSU and took it.
Young is a 6’3”, 310-pound defensive end from Meadville, but can play either side of the ball.
“He is a big strong athletic fella,” Moorhead said. “He is a guy that can play end, play inside and you never know. Sometimes the best offensive linemen are ones that get moved over from the other side of the ball. So we will keep that open-ended and see where his development takes him.”
