Originally Posted by
Todd4State
Kamario Taylor is a player we can build around for the next 3-5 years. I remember watching his Elite 11 highlights and some of his high school highlights and I remember thinking- Van Buren is never going to be at MSU for four years because this guy is just too good.
He looks like a QB you would build on create a player mode on Madden. He's at least 6'4 and will probably get up to around 230-235 as he grows and develops if I had to guess. He's listed at 215 now and is essentially the age of a high school senior. He has incredible arm talent, can throw on the run, and he is mobile. Really the only question is how will he be when the lights come on the bigger stage and how does he handle a higher level of football in college. I do think he will be fine but those are questions at this point nonetheless and why Shapen is rightfully so expected to be the starting QB for MSU this fall.
I think the preference by the coaching staff for now at least is to redshirt him if they can. At the same time, I don't think they are opposed to letting him start if he is ready. He's the type of talent that can attract other talented players to Starkville- namely WR's. One of those being his brother, Jaidon who I think with the two of them on campus at the same time it may create a story for later on down the road. There is a lot of skill player talent in the state especially at WR and RB and a guy like Kamario is exciting enough to attract players to MSU to be a part of things.
When we had Dak we had Josh Robinson to go along with him. MSU has JJ Hill from Tupelo committed right now and I could see Taylor and Hill becoming a very similar duo at MSU. We also had some really talented WR's like Bear Wilson, Fred Brown, and Fred Ross when Dak was here although we really didn't have a ton of WR depth. But with a more modern offense that has more of an emphasis on deep passing like Lebby's and a QB that can get WR's the ball we should be able to attract some really good ones. I think SanFrisco Magee is going to be a really good player. His brother is a 2027 recruit and one of the top receivers in the state that cycle. We also are going to utilize TE's as more than blockers- see Traore as exhbit A and I think that will help us attract players there too. Jimothy Lewis, Luke Work, and Koby Keenum are young o-linemen that will be upperclassmen in 2027. We also have a commitment from Emmanuel Tucker who is a really good OT prospect. There is something to build around there too and I really like Loadholt.
Defense looked much better today and we need to improve our DL recruiting. We could still have Kai McClendon (legit DT), Trevion William and Kalvin Dinkins on our DL in 2027. Need some more dudes there. I really like AJ Rice, Lockhart, Jalen Smith, and Tyshun Willis at LB. That's a good group to develop and build around there. As far as the secondary, Kelly Jones is just a sophomore and Stonka is a good player that will probably be a safety for us. We have them for 3 more years as well. We need more guys there too.
I think 2025 will be a rebuilding year, but for the first time since Leach was here I feel like we have a legit group of players and recruits to build an actual team around for the future. More work to do as there are certainly holes but with the portal those can be filled in and it's at least nice to see some talented players coming in that we can build a around as that is still the first step to building a team IMO.