2026 HS/JC Football Recruiting

[Goldendawg]

Different opinions on the importance of HS recruiting vs. going portal heavy but our HS commitments at this time for the 2026 class is very troubling as per national ranking and the offer list of the players. Our average ranking of players is a bit over .87 with our last three recent commits causing the class to drop from about 37 to 53 (24/7). Only 4 star, a DL from New Albany has also decommited. Long way until December, but color me concerned.

[BigDawg81]

Trash

[BravesDoggy]

Lebbro's crootin will be fine

[Political Hack]

High school recruiting doesn't really matter anymore imo. Even if we sign a 4-5 star kid out of high school, we can sign a college upperclassman that's got a 3-4 year head start developing their body and experience playing at a higher level. 95% of high school kids wont see the field as freshmen at a P4 anymore. This has absolutely killed the 25, 26, and 27 high school classes.

[StarkVegasSteve]

High school recruiting doesn't really matter anymore imo. Even if we sign a 4-5 star kid out of high school, we can sign a college upperclassman that's got a 3-4 year head start developing their body and experience playing at a higher level. 95% of high school kids wont see the field as freshmen at a P4 anymore. This has absolutely killed the 25, 26, and 27 high school classes.

This is why we need to ID 10-12 HS kids and go all out to sign them. 6-8 of them need to be able to contribute as Freshman and the other 4-6 need to be development guys, probably from MS, that you know will stay in the program(I.E. Kelley Jones). The rest we need to portal. We can't waste 10-12 spots every year on kids that aren't going to contribute.

[Pancho]

Who all is on campus visiting this weekend?

[coachnorm]

Who all is on campus visiting this weekend?

Maybe check out Mississippi State Football X/Twitter page if it is featured there? Targeted prospects can be included on their high school football X/Twitter account which will state where the prospect is visiting. Some prospect have their personal X/Twitter account so maybe just check out the prospects you think have a relationship with Mississippi State Football?

[PGHBulldogBG]

As I?ve said before I am not completely ready to give up on football, but we have once again made another bad hire. Our only chance in football is to identify a coach at a smaller school that is winning with a talent deficit compared to the talent level in their conference who has proven they can do it for awhile. If we had just done this when leach died we could?ve got Jamey Chadwell most likely, but because we fussed around with Arnett we lost that opportunity. That is the only way we have a chance now to have a successful program. We did this with basketball with Jans and it?s working pretty well. I will never understand why we never do this with our football coaches outside of Leach and it was working had he not passed

[Todd4State]

As I?ve said before I am not completely ready to give up on football, but we have once again made another bad hire. Our only chance in football is to identify a coach at a smaller school that is winning with a talent deficit compared to the talent level in their conference who has proven they can do it for awhile. If we had just done this when leach died we could?ve got Jamey Chadwell most likely, but because we fussed around with Arnett we lost that opportunity. That is the only way we have a chance now to have a successful program. We did this with basketball with Jans and it?s working pretty well. I will never understand why we never do this with our football coaches outside of Leach and it was working had he not passed

If what I heard about Chadwell and a MSU booster who was willing to grossly overpay Chadwell to come here and he still wouldn't do it is true- then he isn't and wasn't an option.

[Todd4State]

And as far as high school recruiting goes, I say let them get their Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee jerseys and when they're ready to actually play I'll gladly take them back in about 2-3 years.

[Todd4State]

This is why we need to ID 10-12 HS kids and go all out to sign them. 6-8 of them need to be able to contribute as Freshman and the other 4-6 need to be development guys, probably from MS, that you know will stay in the program(I.E. Kelley Jones). The rest we need to portal. We can't waste 10-12 spots every year on kids that aren't going to contribute.

I completely agree with this.

[Todd4State]

And Lebby will be fine if he can win some games this year. Doesn't have to go 8-4 or even 6-6. Just needs to show some promise.

[DownwardDawg]

And as far as high school recruiting goes, I say let them get their Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee jerseys and when they're ready to actually play I'll gladly take them back in about 2-3 years.

I agree 100%.

[PGHBulldogBG]

If what I heard about Chadwell and a MSU booster who was willing to grossly overpay Chadwell to come here and he still wouldn't do it is true- then he isn't and wasn't an option.

Yea it is very possibly Chadwell would not have come, but if he was still at Coastal Carolina and not in his first year at Liberty then he would have been an easier pull. Chadwell was more of an example of the type of coach we need to go after though and not these unproven OC's/coordinators. At the same time, we can't go after any random mid major coach that is winning because he has a talent advantage. It has to be a coach like Chadwell who was picked near the bottom and then brought a team up with lower rated players and did it consistently over a couple years.

[Cooterpoot]

Two things:
1. Nobody wanted this job and we had to overpay and make promises to get Lebby
2. MSU isn't willing to go all in to pay for a football coach, we've proven it over and over. If we would pay Mullen $7M almost 10 years ago, we should be able to pay that to get a proven guy now, but we won't. Leach is almost the only sitting HC we've hired in my lifetime. That's on Mississippi State University!

[Political Hack]

Now:
Sr's - 45+
Jr's - 20+
Soph - 10+
Freshman - 10+

Then:
Sr - 20
Jr - 20
Soph - 20
Freshman/Redshirts/Medical - 30

I hate it for the kids coming out of high school now. Really sucks for the 2025-2027 kids. The constant rule changes and kids being granted 7-8-9 years of eligibility, is killing high school kids' opportunities.

[Political Hack]

Lebby was half-a-year in when the season opener hit. New recruiting styles and changes are popping up monthly. NIL has evolved as he was settling in. He's a smart guy offensively and will learn how to delegate. I think he's going to end up doing well, but just needs another year or two of experience. We'll be around .500 this year I suspect and hopefully grow from there.

[maroonmania]

Two things:
1. Nobody wanted this job and we had to overpay and make promises to get Lebby
2. MSU isn't willing to go all in to pay for a football coach, we've proven it over and over. If we would pay Mullen $7M almost 10 years ago, we should be able to pay that to get a proven guy now, but we won't. Leach is almost the only sitting HC we've hired in my lifetime. That's on Mississippi State University!

You are dead on with this. We don't really act like we really want to win in football. The ONLY coordinator/assistant we've ever hired as a HC that has worked out was Mullen, and that was just dumb luck. Felker, Croom, Morehead, and Arnett were all in over their heads and the jury is out on Lebby. Sherrill and Leach both won, even here at Lil old MSU. State, playing in the grinder that is the SEC, is a tough place to learn how to be a D1 head coach.

[Todd4State]

Yea it is very possibly Chadwell would not have come, but if he was still at Coastal Carolina and not in his first year at Liberty then he would have been an easier pull. Chadwell was more of an example of the type of coach we need to go after though and not these unproven OC's/coordinators. At the same time, we can't go after any random mid major coach that is winning because he has a talent advantage. It has to be a coach like Chadwell who was picked near the bottom and then brought a team up with lower rated players and did it consistently over a couple years.

But if you look at Chadwell's career I don't know that you can really say that. Coastal Carolina was a very good program when he took over and was a 10-2 team when their coach had some health issues. And he took over for Hugh Freeze and what he built up at Liberty and he won with Freeze's guys but then dropped to 8-4 last year.

A guy that I think would be a better comparison would be GJ Kinne at Texas State.

[Todd4State]

You are dead on with this. We don't really act like we really want to win in football. The ONLY coordinator/assistant we've ever hired as a HC that has worked out was Mullen, and that was just dumb luck. Felker, Croom, Morehead, and Arnett were all in over their heads and the jury is out on Lebby. Sherrill and Leach both won, even here at Lil old MSU. State, playing in the grinder that is the SEC, is a tough place to learn how to be a D1 head coach.

We consistently make stupid moves in football. Jackie was good but we held on to him for too long. Dan was basically a blind squirrel finding a nut. Leach was good and then passed away.

I fear that bringing Dan back is going to be the next stupid move MSU makes.

[Bothrops]

We are doing the only thing we can do in football recruiting right now, but you can read between the lines. We are already priced out of the market for in-state SEC talent, with a few exceptions. It boils down to this - if we dont win a bare minimum of 5 games this season with one being the last game, nothing tranfers to 2026. The roster jumps, and Lebby will be coaching for his job with a more limited roster. As long as any healthy program is offering what were paying or even less in many cases we will have to fill the roster with more and more G5 guys, which will bury this place regardless of who's coach. We have to win games this year in order to avoid a trainwreck in 2026, due to loss of assets.

Furthermore, he portal isn't going save us unless the university along with additional NIL is prepared to dump $20-30 million for just football player allocation. Signing and holding on to the right guys to turn the ship.

Meanwhile, this is a real life cartoon.

[maroonmania]

We are doing the only thing we can do in football recruiting right now, but you can read between the lines. We are already priced out of the market for in-state SEC talent, with a few exceptions. It boils down to this - if we dont win a bare minimum of 5 games this season with one being the last game, nothing tranfers to 2026. The roster jumps, and Lebby will be coaching for his job with a more limited roster. As long as any healthy program is offering what were paying or even less in many cases we will have to fill the roster with more and more G5 guys, which will bury this place regardless of who's coach. We have to win games this year in order to avoid a trainwreck in 2026, due to loss of assets.

Furthermore, he portal isn't going save us unless the university along with additional NIL is prepared to dump $20-30 million for just football player allocation. Signing and holding on to the right guys to turn the ship.

Meanwhile, this is a real life cartoon.

Does the house settlement deal give us any hope? From my understanding there will be a cap on total athletic payouts from the school to use across all sports and then each individual NIL deal beyond that has to get approved by a committee of some sort to be a true NIL deal that is reasonable market value (and not just pure pay for play). Not great but would seem to be way better than the total free for all we have now.

[Goldendawg]

Well, after our big recruiting weekend, we got 4 commits yesterday, 3 big OL(Hard to evaluate in HS) and a LB/Edge who has not been rated to date. Nationally, this caused the team rating to drop from 41 to 45, (24/7). We still do not have a single 4 star. The offer sheets of most of our 14 commits are very lacking with few having SEC offers except for a couple with OM and KY offers. This is looking like we are taking diamonds in the rough that we hope to develop in this portal/NIL $ driven FB world. But, how do you attract big names after 2-10 and 0-8 with an OTJ training HC and DC, again? Color me still concerned about recruiting this class.

[Goldendawg]

You are dead on with this. We don't really act like we really want to win in football. The ONLY coordinator/assistant we've ever hired as a HC that has worked out was Mullen, and that was just dumb luck. Felker, Croom, Morehead, and Arnett were all in over their heads and the jury is out on Lebby. Sherrill and Leach both won, even here at Lil old MSU. State, playing in the grinder that is the SEC, is a tough place to learn how to be a D1 head coach.

Showing my age, but Bob Tyler was very successful as a former Asst. who became a HC for us before the trumped up probation debacle. We should add all those 18 forfeits back to our overall and SEC records now.

[Political Hack]

Does the house settlement deal give us any hope? From my understanding there will be a cap on total athletic payouts from the school to use across all sports and then each individual NIL deal beyond that has to get approved by a committee of some sort to be a true NIL deal that is reasonable market value (and not just pure pay for play). Not great but would seem to be way better than the total free for all we have now.

Yes. But there will be NIL deals on top of the school payouts. Teams with larger markets will outpace us still, but not by as much as they have historically.

[Goldendawg]

Bumping my own thread as interest in football seems to have fallen off a cliff, probably with very good reason. Well, we now have 23 commits which gets us "up" to #30 on 24/7 rating. We now have that one elusive 4 star. Three of the last seven commits have very good offer sheets and the other four have yet to be rated, both instate and out of state players. The last four's offer sheets are pitiful at this time. Better hope their ratings come in as a surprise as one player is listed at #51 in the state of MS. Not easy recruiting to a program with an unknown OTJ training staff that just went 2-10, 0-8, with the NIL $ issues to boot. Hope my concern is premature and they are identifying some "diamonds in the rough" if that concept can still build a winning team in today's NIL/Portal mess.

[R2Dawg]

Bumping my own thread as interest in football seems to have fallen off a cliff, probably with very good reason. Well, we now have 23 commits which gets us "up" to #30 on 24/7 rating. We now have that one elusive 4 star. Three of the last seven commits have very good offer sheets and the other four have yet to be rated, both instate and out of state players. The last four's offer sheets are pitiful at this time. Better hope their ratings come in as a surprise as one player is listed at #51 in the state of MS. Not easy recruiting to a program with an unknown OTJ training staff that just went 2-10, 0-8, with the NIL $ issues to boot. Hope my concern is premature and they are identifying some "diamonds in the rough" if that concept can still build a winning team in today's NIL/Portal mess.

On one hand (gloom and doom trend), yeah we can't compete, etc.

However, on the other consider these points.
1. We have never gotten top recruits overall in big bunches to be to half of SEC. Just never happened. Yet we still competed with these little Miss kids that just had a lot in them to compete at a high level.

2. We are still a little school in big pond (SEC). We are in the best football conf period. That will attract some talent even in NIL era from other places - we got a 5 star QB from FSU - did that make anyone feel better?

3. Player evaluations have always been bad and NIL didn't change that. Transfer portal corrects for that and that makes it harder for us but we can still get some good talent by the misses. Yall know our storied history of getting no talent players and then they are All Americans, All SEC, etc. That will still happen, we must manage the transfer portal. Also we must get the talented kids that want to be here - Kamario Taylor, etc. (Josh Hubbard in basketball) to win at MSU.

Personally I'm good with winning 6-8 games a year with an occasional 9 win year and I'm ready to get back to that. 2-3 win years I am not OK with. OM has broke the bank and they still got nothing to show for it.

[Goldendawg]

On one hand (gloom and doom trend), yeah we can't compete, etc.

However, on the other consider these points.
1. We have never gotten top recruits overall in big bunches to be to half of SEC. Just never happened. Yet we still competed with these little Miss kids that just had a lot in them to compete at a high level.

2. We are still a little school in big pond (SEC). We are in the best football conf period. That will attract some talent even in NIL era from other places - we got a 5 star QB from FSU - did that make anyone feel better?

3. Player evaluations have always been bad and NIL didn't change that. Transfer portal corrects for that and that makes it harder for us but we can still get some good talent by the misses. Yall know our storied history of getting no talent players and then they are All Americans, All SEC, etc. That will still happen, we must manage the transfer portal. Also we must get the talented kids that want to be here - Kamario Taylor, etc. (Josh Hubbard in basketball) to win at MSU.

Personally I'm good with winning 6-8 games a year with an occasional 9 win year and I'm ready to get back to that. 2-3 win years I am not OK with. OM has broke the bank and they still got nothing to show for it.

I'm with you 100% on all these points. And heck, maybe even another SEC title game if they continue to have them in my lifetime. People forget we were #1 in the nation, but it seems like a life time ago. Together we can do this! Hail State!

[Dawgology]

Is HS recruiting even a thing anymore? Our best bet is to just hit the portal every season for 75% of our roster. If we sign any great players from HS we better play them day one because they will be goooooonnnneeee in a season or two. College football (nationwide) is a shitshow.

[Goldendawg]

Update: Dalton Toothman from Van Cleave in the boat, .87, 6'5", 295 OL with a great offer sheet with many SEC offers. Plans to enroll in December. Moves us up to #32 ranking with 23 commits with only 16 having their 24/7 composite. Will be very interesting to see their individual ratings and how it improves national rating of class to date. Still only 1 four star ,but who knows, seems to be a lot of quantity (23), but what about quality? Time will tell and a long way to December. Free info on all 2026 classes on 24/7(Genes Page). Clink on top of page FB Rec, then in drop down box Team Ranking, then clink on MSU for individual info on each player. Hail State!

[gtowndawg]

Personally I'm good with winning 6-8 games a year with an occasional 9 win year and I'm ready to get back to that. 2-3 win years I am not OK with. OM has broke the bank and they still got nothing to show for it.

For the life of me I don't understand why people act like that's not worth spending money for. 6-8 wins a year has always been good years for us. 8 wins is a GREAT year for us historically. But now all of the sudden it's not worth messing with? We are committing suicide athletically and nobody seems to care (as long as we can build a few more condos at the baseball stadium). We're just slow dancing in a burning room and people just shrug their shoulders..."oh well."

[DawgFromOxford]

Update: Dalton Toothman from Van Cleave in the boat, .87, 6'5", 295 OL with a great offer sheet with many SEC offers. Plans to enroll in December. Moves us up to #32 ranking with 23 commits with only 16 having their 24/7 composite. Will be very interesting to see their individual ratings and how it improves national rating of class to date. Still only 1 four star ,but who knows, seems to be a lot of quantity (23), but what about quality? Time will tell and a long way to December. Free info on all 2026 classes on 24/7(Genes Page). Clink on top of page FB Rec, then in drop down box Team Ranking, then clink on MSU for individual info on each player. Hail State!

I'm ok with quantity from high school. You figure most will transfer out anyways, so take in a bunch and try to find a few studs to keep. Quality comes from the portal.

[StarkVegasSteve]

For the life of me I don't understand why people act like that's not worth spending money for. 6-8 wins a year has always been good years for us. 8 wins is a GREAT year for us historically. But now all of the sudden it's not worth messing with? We are committing suicide athletically and nobody seems to care (as long as we can build a few more condos at the baseball stadium). We're just slow dancing in a burning room and people just shrug their shoulders..."oh well."

Because people either:

1. Don't believe that conference realignment will actually ever happen

2. They think baseball matters in terms of keeping you in a conference.....it doesn't.

3. They truly just don't care and would rather get drunk in the The Baseball Grove than be good at anything. I.E. Ole Miss' attitude up until Keith Carter.

[AROB44]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to StarkVegasSteve again.

[Goldendawg]

Positive update for today at least. All 23 of our commits have now received their composite ranking and our class is now ranked number 23 in the nation. This includes one 4 star with a composite of .8908, one player ranked 88, seven ranked 87, seven ranked 86, seven ranked 85. I'm sure as other schools fill their classes, we will not stay at 23 unless some of these players hopefully blow up during their senior season. If so, I hope we can hold onto them. This is a MSU public recruiting announcement for my 12 fellow elitedawgs who still care about football on this site.***

[R2Dawg]

Positive update for today at least. All 23 of our commits have now received their composite ranking and our class is now ranked number 23 in the nation. This includes one 4 star with a composite of .8908, one player ranked 88, seven ranked 87, seven ranked 86, seven ranked 85. I'm sure as other schools fill their classes, we will not stay at 23 unless some of these players hopefully blow up during their senior season. If so, I hope we can hold onto them. This is a MSU public recruiting announcement for my 12 fellow elitedawgs who still care about football on this site.***

Must be the older Dawgs because there have been worse droughts than what we are in now. One in 70s, 80s, 2000s are 3 worse loosing streaks than now but it does not feel great. We have always battled back. History says we bounce back from the lull we are in and come out swinging pretty soon.

Now if we have 2 more losing seasons in a row then I may want to tap out then.

[Political Hack]

Build it like Army did last year or like the big boys build it every year? Personally, i think if we try to build our teams the same way the other SEC teams do, we'll never catch them again. If we take developmental guys that are interested in being in Starkville for four years, I think that works out better for us over time than trying to buy a Ferrari each and every year.

So as dumb as this sounds, a team full of 3-stars may be better than chasing the 5-star's and one year wonders.

[CaptainObvious]

Are academics still a thing with scholarships?

Reason I ask is it amazes me that 4 of the State's best high school football programs are within 40 miles of Starkville and we cannot build any momentum with signees from these schools. Starkville, West Point and Louisville combined have more State Championships than any other 10 schools combined. Noxubee County has become a serious Class 4 contender. Choctaw County(formerly Weir and Ackerman) also have great history as HS football powers. Tupelo should be evenly split between Ole Miss and State as should Grenada. Either we didn't offer the kid from Choctaw County enough money and Miss MSU as a girlfriend, or these guys just DONT WANT to play at State for any reason.

[DownwardDawg]

Build it like Army did last year or like the big boys build it every year? Personally, i think if we try to build our teams the same way the other SEC teams do, we'll never catch them again. If we take developmental guys that are interested in being in Starkville for four years, I think that works out better for us over time than trying to buy a Ferrari each and every year.

So as dumb as this sounds, a team full of 3-stars may be better than chasing the 5-star's and one year wonders.

It doesn't sound dumb at all. It's spot on. We have to have the right coach running the right system at State.

[Todd4State]

Build it like Army did last year or like the big boys build it every year? Personally, i think if we try to build our teams the same way the other SEC teams do, we'll never catch them again. If we take developmental guys that are interested in being in Starkville for four years, I think that works out better for us over time than trying to buy a Ferrari each and every year.

So as dumb as this sounds, a team full of 3-stars may be better than chasing the 5-star's and one year wonders.

I agree that because we are Mississippi State and not Alabama we have to do something differently than everyone else. That's a big reason why I liked Leach. And Emory Bellard. Even Jackie- we had Joe Lee Dunn which had an unusual defense for that time which helped level the playing field for us.

And to your point I remember when Dan was here everyone praised him for taking 3 stars and developing them. And that worked too. How is what Lebby did this past week any different other than yes we do need to see if he can develop these players. But it's the same basic formula. Get guys that have good size and are raw and then develop them.

Of course as you and I both know we have to use the portal some to supplement but that's why this could actually work out even better because with Dan we often times had major holes at position groups and if the portal had been a thing back in the day I think Dan could have potentially done even better because we could have potentially filled those holes better.

[Todd4State]

Are academics still a thing with scholarships?

Reason I ask is it amazes me that 4 of the State's best high school football programs are within 40 miles of Starkville and we cannot build any momentum with signees from these schools. Starkville, West Point and Louisville combined have more State Championships than any other 10 schools combined. Noxubee County has become a serious Class 4 contender. Choctaw County(formerly Weir and Ackerman) also have great history as HS football powers. Tupelo should be evenly split between Ole Miss and State as should Grenada. Either we didn't offer the kid from Choctaw County enough money and Miss MSU as a girlfriend, or these guys just DONT WANT to play at State for any reason.

How many players has MSU lost from Starkville, West Point, or Noxubee over the years really? Sure we remember AJ Brown and Caleb Cunningham but the reality is we have gotten the lion's share from there. Willie Gay, Stonka, Aeries Williams, Justin Cox, Jeffrey Simmons, Kamario, and etc. It's the vast majority that we have gotten over the years. Louisville to me is sort of like South Panola in terms of distance from Starkville/Oxford. Yes, both are in the area but they also aren't super close. Ole Miss has gotten some players from Louisville and we have gotten our share of players from South Panola. And then you have a guy like Luke Altmeyer who almost every MSU keyboard warrior poo poo'd on and said that they didn't want him and he has turned out to be pretty solid at Illinois.

You have to think about it from the lens of a high school kid as well. They just see what MSU is now which is a 2-10 program. Most of them don't think "well if I go there I'm going to be an upperclassman with Kamario and the schedule is going to flip and they're going to be good when I'm an upperclassman." Plus with the portal it makes it different. Conceivably a player could go to Ole Miss while they're hot and then when we get our stuff together transfer in. Back in the day that wasn't an option. You would have to go to EMCC for a year and then transfer somewhere else. And that's only if you were a freshman that you had that option. The other option was Jackson State or Austin Peay.

We've already seen WR's transfer between MSU and Ole Miss already both ways- Malik Heath and Ayden Williams. And that's just at that one position group. I'm sure we'll see it from other position groups as well.

If you want to talk about something being disproportionate- how come we have so many of these powerful boosters in Madison and we rarely ever get players from Madison Central?

[Political Hack]

Agree with Todd, that's why Leach was such a great fit. Unique system with select players that can execute. I don't want to run the triple option or anything, but I do think we have to do things a little bit differently to have a chance in the SEC.

[Pancho]

Lebbys O is capable of that. now over to the D........

[CaptainObvious]

How many players has MSU lost from Starkville, West Point, or Noxubee over the years really? Sure we remember AJ Brown and Caleb Cunningham but the reality is we have gotten the lion's share from there. Willie Gay, Stonka, Aeries Williams, Justin Cox, Jeffrey Simmons, Kamario, and etc. It's the vast majority that we have gotten over the years. Louisville to me is sort of like South Panola in terms of distance from Starkville/Oxford. Yes, both are in the area but they also aren't super close. Ole Miss has gotten some players from Louisville and we have gotten our share of players from South Panola. And then you have a guy like Luke Altmeyer who almost every MSU keyboard warrior poo poo'd on and said that they didn't want him and he has turned out to be pretty solid at Illinois.

You have to think about it from the lens of a high school kid as well. They just see what MSU is now which is a 2-10 program. Most of them don't think "well if I go there I'm going to be an upperclassman with Kamario and the schedule is going to flip and they're going to be good when I'm an upperclassman." Plus with the portal it makes it different. Conceivably a player could go to Ole Miss while they're hot and then when we get our stuff together transfer in. Back in the day that wasn't an option. You would have to go to EMCC for a year and then transfer somewhere else. And that's only if you were a freshman that you had that option. The other option was Jackson State or Austin Peay.

We've already seen WR's transfer between MSU and Ole Miss already both ways- Malik Heath and Ayden Williams. And that's just at that one position group. I'm sure we'll see it from other position groups as well.

If you want to talk about something being disproportionate- how come we have so many of these powerful boosters in Madison and we rarely ever get players from Madison Central?

I guess I'm thinking more of the Diamond in the Rough McKinney type guys that play for those high schools. 1 or 2 players may make a high school basketball team great but it ain't making a football team great. Going back to South Panola and Meridian days of dominance, they just needed roadgrader offensive linemen to block for the 3 "Runners" in their backfield.

West Point, Louisville and Starkville have to have under rated fire plugs that are getting over looked by D1 schools. No way they could be that dominant year after year. Louisville may not play as tough a schedule during the season but when the whistle blows in playoff time those guys bring the lumber. Starkville and West Point play tough schedules and still dominate, some times beating each other. Takes more than a few high 3 and low 4 stars to do that year in and year out. Kids are being overlooked who may have developmental skills waiting to explode.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I guess I'm thinking more of the Diamond in the Rough McKinney type guys that play for those high schools. 1 or 2 players may make a high school basketball team great but it ain't making a football team great. Going back to South Panola and Meridian days of dominance, they just needed roadgrader offensive linemen to block for the 3 "Runners" in their backfield.

West Point, Louisville and Starkville have to have under rated fire plugs that are getting over looked by D1 schools. No way they could be that dominant year after year. Louisville may not play as tough a schedule during the season but when the whistle blows in playoff time those guys bring the lumber. Starkville and West Point play tough schedules and still dominate, some times beating each other. Takes more than a few high 3 and low 4 stars to do that year in and year out. Kids are being overlooked who may have developmental skills waiting to explode.

But why would we take a developmental guy that MIGHT develop instead of taking a G5 transfer that has shown he can do it at the collegiate level? Because for every Bernardrick McKinney there is a Darion Arrington. For every Justin Malone there is a Devon Desper

[Goldendawg]

This site has about turned to baseball only in interest vs that in the football season that is about two months away. Check the number of baseball threads and posts vs football. I want to win in all sports and football still wags the dog. Unless it has changed the top revenue producing men's college sports are FB, MBB, Hockey and then Baseball and the last two do not have nationwide interest and do not make $ (maybe a few schools). There are more informative, interesting threads on the Pack regarding FB at this time. We must fix FB. OK, I said it, Fire Away. Hail State in all sports!

[Leeshouldveflanked]

We might would do a little better at recruiting if a staff member or two spent less time fraternizing at the Cotton District and more time recruiting.

[Pancho]

Well please enlighten us. bet you say to recruit them boys with purty mommas. or was it the other way around?

[Goldendawg]

I started the 2025 FB Recruiting Thread on 4/25/24, (Still a "Sticky" at top of page). It was 32 pages, 369 posts, 243,644 views and considered a 5 star thread. This 2026 Recruiting thread has 3 pages, now 49 posts (I've bumped it several times myself with updates, etc), 5,433 views and not a single star. I know that it is a long time until the December signing date but this site is about dead regarding FB news with about 62 days until kickoff. I hate NIL and the Portal even more under today's rules, however it looks appears many EliteDawgs have little to no interest in football at this time. Check out the threads and you would think that it is still baseball season. In my opinion, little can change this unless we go at least 6-6 and are competitive and interesting/fun to watch in all games. This is what you get historically when you have constantly hired OTJ training Asst Coaching types. BTW, got an Email today. Plenty of tickets available to all seven home games. If we have another 2-10, 0-8 season there will be more opposition fans in DWS than State fans this year and plenty of empty seats to boot. We can't even sellout bama games anymore with their fans who used to buy a State season ticket just to see their team in person. Get it done Lebby or this could get ugly fast. First game in 1963, about 58th consecutive year family has had 8 to 12 season tickets. I too, have always had high hopes before each new season though often with "Maroon Colored Glasses". My glasses are broken until we start to win again. No coach we have ever had should go 2-2 OOC and 0-8 in the SEC. Right now it H_ll? State., not Hail State in FB.

[Bothrops]

In the last week or so we've lost recruiting battles to SMU, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Kentucky-lol, and a flip to FSU. We are 1-5 in that stretch and about to be 1-7 or 1-8.

[StarkVegasSteve]

We have to win. That is what it comes down to. Start 4-0 or 5-0 and someone of those guys commitments will magically start opening back up.

I personally still think we end up with the kid from Arkansas that committed to SMU. His demeanor does not fit the glitz and glam of Highland Park. And he cannot live in Plano with the random field of Longhorns.

[maroonmania]

I'm not really sure what there is to talk about in football until we see some games. After a 2-10 season we are basically running it back with the exact same staff. Also, the portal transfer window is closed for now and HS recruiting is not going very well. Unless you just like to dwell on negatives I'm just not sure what there is to discuss? Just hoping to see some signs of life for the program once the season starts.

[Quaoarsking]

I started the 2025 FB Recruiting Thread on 4/25/24, (Still a "Sticky" at top of page). It was 32 pages, 369 posts, 243,644 views and considered a 5 star thread. This 2026 Recruiting thread has 3 pages, now 49 posts (I've bumped it several times myself with updates, etc), 5,433 views and not a single star. I know that it is a long time until the December signing date but this site is about dead regarding FB news with about 62 days until kickoff. I hate NIL and the Portal even more under today's rules, however it looks appears many EliteDawgs have little to no interest in football at this time. Check out the threads and you would think that it is still baseball season. In my opinion, little can change this unless we go at least 6-6 and are competitive and interesting/fun to watch in all games. This is what you get historically when you have constantly hired OTJ training Asst Coaching types. BTW, got an Email today. Plenty of tickets available to all seven home games. If we have another 2-10, 0-8 season there will be more opposition fans in DWS than State fans this year and plenty of empty seats to boot. We can't even sellout bama games anymore with their fans who used to buy a State season ticket just to see their team in person. Get it done Lebby or this could get ugly fast. First game in 1963, about 58th consecutive year family has had 8 to 12 season tickets. I too, have always had high hopes before each new season though often with "Maroon Colored Glasses". My glasses are broken until we start to win again. No coach we have ever had should go 2-2 OOC and 0-8 in the SEC. Right now it H_ll? State., not Hail State in FB.

Honestly, Leach's death took so much out of me that I just haven't been able to get into it much since then.

If you asked me to name the 3 most fun seasons to be a Mississippi State fan in my lifetime, obviously I'd say 1999 and 2014, and then add 2020, 2021, and 2022. I can't imagine any Lebby year will ever crack the top 5 or even top 10 unless he starts winning big.

[Goldendawg]

Update. Commitment from #6 kicker in the country, full ride from Ft Payne AL, which has sent several kickers to big schools and a couple to NFL. Will report in Dec. Free, detailed article on genespage. Not ranked by 24/7 as kickers usually don't get a high ranking. Now ranked #29 in nation, 24/7, .8671 average ranking per player. One barely 4 star and 22 mainly .85 and .86, (14 total). Better be some real diamonds in the rough or hungry overlooked players. Is this the year you have to give 105 full rides? Offer sheets on about half these commits are very concerning. I know HS OL are hard to evaluate but we have offered the #53 player in MS, an OL. Hope he like the majority of these commits blow up their Sr year and then we can hold on to them, if so. Also, about 22 name schools behind us with a higher player ranking average with many spots left to fill. Can this strategy work in today's NIL/Portal world run by name brand successful programs or is this all we can afford or even get interest from after Arnett, then 2-10, 0-8? We need to win and compete with a fun to watch, interesting team on both sides of the ball in 2025!

[BuckyIsAB****]

Lebby has had a better off season than he had a year ago. Spring practice was more like practice than a frat party. But I just don?t think there is anything about him from day 1 that our fans were excited about.

[BuckyIsAB****]

He has to stop being their friend at some point and be a ball coach. Its not Moorhead bad cause he actually can relate to players, but you cant be their BFF