The 20 craziest athletes in College Football (#8 Benardrick McKinney)

[CadaverDawg]

Check out #8 on this list. More great recruiting tools for Mullen and Co.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/22278381/freaks-list-the-20-craziest-athletes-in-college-football

#DEVELOPMENT

[engie]

I'll never forget the MSU meltdown that commenced when we got this 2* no offer commitment from a HS QB that was being converted to linebacker during the CJ Johnson saga...

[CadaverDawg]

I'll never forget the MSU meltdown that commenced when we got this 2* no offer commitment from a HS QB that was being converted to linebacker during the CJ Johnson saga...

Yep. But hell, we had people wondering why we were offering 2 star Chris Jones so early in the process. Even saying that Mullen was a bad recruiter for moves like that.

[engie]

Yep. But hell, we had people wondering why we were offering 2 star Chris Jones so early in the process. Even saying that Mullen was a bad recruiter for moves like that.

Yep -- and Jones would have probably remained as such had it not been for 24/7 scouting the heck out of him. He might have gotten noticed enough in the Al/MS all-star game to squeak in as a 4* with some people, but that's all it would have ever been without 24/7 actually sending evaluators out to see him consistently throughout the year and constantly pumping him on their site...

[Will James]

And that's why I don't bother with caring about recruiting. At all. I'll judge once they don the maroon and white. Too many people don't know what the hell they are talking about. I'll take Mullen and Co. evaluation of players over a damn website keeping up with thousands of high school athletes across the country. Too many people don't know shit.

[FlabLoser]

I mostly only care when we hit or miss an obviously huge recruit. A Chris Jones or a Channing Ward.

[state66]

This is so true the grief over recruiting right around january/february is hilarious. Mullen and his staff offer these guys after watching them in camp in specific drills and in person evaluations for those that dont camp. While these recruiting websites base it off highlight film most of the time from there high school game. pretty sure mullen gets a good idea after putting these players through specific drills on how well they are going to turn out than just looking at there highlight tape.

[hailmari]

Hopefully the same story will go for Dez Harris.

[DiligenceDawg]

There is a lot to be said about our staff doing a good job pulling in some over looked kids.

But acting like we don't go after all of the 4 and 5 star guys(because the recruiting sites are apparently always wrong and stupid) anywhere around us is laughable. They just don't have a lot of interest most of the time.

Keep bringing in the diamonds in the rough sure but have to continue to get better at pulling in the big time kids too.

[CadaverDawg]

But acting like we don't go after all of the 4 and 5 star guys(because the recruiting sites are apparently always wrong and stupid) anywhere around us is laughable.

Who said we weren't going after 4 and 5 star guys? Sure we are. And we got LOI's from both 4 AND 5 star guys last year.

[Will James]

Who said we weren't going after 4 and 5 star guys? Sure we are. And we got LOI's from both 4 AND 5 star guys last year.

Exactly. My point mainly was that if Alabama went out and signed the 24 starters from Jackson Academy, all 24 would jump to 3-5*

[engie]

But acting like we don't go after all of the 4 and 5 star guys(because the recruiting sites are apparently always wrong and stupid) anywhere around us is laughable. They just don't have a lot of interest most of the time.

Never doubted for a second that someone was going to go straw man on my actual point and change it into something else entirely...

[Todd4State]

I think a lot of it is how you follow recruiting. I enjoy high school football, and I enjoy watching our prospects play before they get to campus. I don't really care too much about the stars and all of that- a lot of the fun for me is to see how I do judging them on my own wits and skills and then seeing what happens down the road.

The people that get hung up on the stars and turn it into a rivalry State/Ole Miss thing- I can't see how anybody enjoys it.

I also hate the dirty under the table stuff that goes on as well- I think that takes a lot of the fun out of it.

I do agree with whomever said that these sites are lacking on judging certain things such as work ethic and character- those are things that become VERY important when a player can't just out athlete the other kids on the field.

And on top of that, these websites I don't think know how to evaluate players at certain position- namely the o-line.

If I had a recruiting web site, I would try to contact Nick Saban and find out how he evaluates players and imitate it and rank people based off of that. I picked Saban only because he was featured in Sports Illustrated on his "program" and part of the article was about how he evaluates players and his evaluation does include things such as work ethic and things like that.

[Paul Jones]

I think a lot of it is how you follow recruiting. I enjoy high school football, and I enjoy watching our prospects play before they get to campus. I don't really care too much about the stars and all of that- a lot of the fun for me is to see how I do judging them on my own wits and skills and then seeing what happens down the road.

The people that get hung up on the stars and turn it into a rivalry State/Ole Miss thing- I can't see how anybody enjoys it.

I also hate the dirty under the table stuff that goes on as well- I think that takes a lot of the fun out of it.

I do agree with whomever said that these sites are lacking on judging certain things such as work ethic and character- those are things that become VERY important when a player can't just out athlete the other kids on the field.

And on top of that, these websites I don't think know how to evaluate players at certain position- namely the o-line.

If I had a recruiting web site, I would try to contact Nick Saban and find out how he evaluates players and imitate it and rank people based off of that. I picked Saban only because he was featured in Sports Illustrated on his "program" and part of the article was about how he evaluates players and his evaluation does include things such as work ethic and things like that.

I agree on the work ethic and character. But that is hard to judge unless it is kids in your area. In our area (Golden Triangle) I either know the kid or his family or his coaches, etc, and you hear how the kid is on and off the field, and you also see how he is on and off the field. But outside of that, it is hard to judge a kid by just watching them play on Friday night, at camp, or thru interviews concerning their character and such. If you talk to a hs coach outside of your area and ask how a kid is off the field, you are going to get coachspeak 99 percent of the time and no coach is going to throw their kid under the bus. Sometimes a kid's character is obvious - either good or bad.
And unfortunately, all it takes is one moron to spread one rumor and kids get a bad name. Example - Quay Evans who some said he would never make it to MSU and was a bad student. The kid graduated hs early and was on the honor roll last year.

And the Oline is hard to evaluate unlike skill players because only 5-6 percent are ready to contribute as true fr in college, if that many. A lot of guessing on potential and development with Olinemen.

[engie]

I agree on the work ethic and character. But that is hard to judge unless it is kids in your area. In our area (Golden Triangle) I either know the kid or his family or his coaches, etc, and you hear how the kid is on and off the field, and you also see how he is on and off the field. But outside of that, it is hard to judge a kid by just watching them play on Friday night, at camp, or thru interviews concerning their character and such. If you talk to a hs coach outside of your area and ask how a kid is off the field, you are going to get coachspeak 99 percent of the time and no coach is going to throw their kid under the bus. Sometimes a kid's character is obvious - either good or bad.
And unfortunately, all it takes is one moron to spread one rumor and kids get a bad name. Example - Quay Evans who some said he would never make it to MSU and was a bad student. The kid graduated hs early and was on the honor roll last year.

And the Oline is hard to evaluate unlike skill players because only 5-6 percent are ready to contribute as true fr in college, if that many. A lot of guessing on potential and development with Olinemen.

Great post, Paul. Agreed on all that. How many OTs play as true freshmen at powerhouse schools? I'd venture to guess it's 5 or less/yr...

Still really, really irks me that we played Sherrod in 07 instead of redshirting him -- which could have potentially changed the entire complexion of the 2011 season...

[Coach34]

But acting like we don't go after all of the 4 and 5 star guys(because the recruiting sites are apparently always wrong and stupid) anywhere around us is laughable. They just don't have a lot of interest most of the time.

Keep bringing in the diamonds in the rough sure but have to continue to get better at pulling in the big time kids too.

Until changes are made in the city of Starkville and other factors, we arent going to win alot of battles for out of state 4 and 5-star players. These diamonds we keep finding are what will sustain the program as a perenniel bowl team

[Political Hack]

I'll never forget the MSU meltdown that commenced when we got this 2* no offer commitment from a HS QB that was being converted to linebacker during the CJ Johnson saga...

or the verbal lashing I took when I said he would be a better LB than CJ.

[Paul Jones]

Great post, Paul. Agreed on all that. How many OTs play as true freshmen at powerhouse schools? I'd venture to guess it's 5 or less/yr...

Still really, really irks me that we played Sherrod in 07 instead of redshirting him -- which could have potentially changed the entire complexion of the 2011 season...

Agreed. That one and Omarr Conner and then Mitch Moreland his fr year at MSU were the most wasted athletes at MSU during my time covering.