2026 HS/JC Football Recruiting

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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?

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.

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

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

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?

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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.

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Originally Posted by CaptainObvious

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.

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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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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!

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.

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

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Originally Posted by Quaoarsking

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.

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You have got to be kidding. 2 of those 3 were losing seasons and that is best you can come up with? And we didn't just lose, we looked real bad doing it. 2022 OK but dang the other two were horrendous. Take the air raid glasses off.

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Originally Posted by R2Dawg

You have got to be kidding. 2 of those 3 were losing seasons and that is best you can come up with? And we didn't just lose, we looked real bad doing it. 2022 OK but dang the other two were horrendous. Take the air raid glasses off.

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7-6 is a losing season now?? Come on...

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Not true. We were excited for his offensive prowess. The defense made any success on offense futile. Now if we have qb problems this season we'll know how this will end.

3 in state recruits all just committed to out of state schools. 2 to Tennessee and 1 to NC. We would take all 3. Until we can shore up MS recruiting again it is going to be tough.

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Originally Posted by ZedFedder

3 in state recruits all just committed to out of state schools. 2 to Tennessee and 1 to NC. We would take all 3. Until we can shore up MS recruiting again it is going to be tough.

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Those JA kids were a weird deal. It felt like we had all 3 and then all of a sudden we could barely get one to visit. Don't know what is going on over there. I also feel like if we start 4-0 and show some signs of improvement they'll all come back into the fold.

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Originally Posted by ZedFedder

3 in state recruits all just committed to out of state schools. 2 to Tennessee and 1 to NC. We would take all 3. Until we can shore up MS recruiting again it is going to be tough.

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I am a huge Lebby proponent but this is a serious red flag

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Originally Posted by ZedFedder

3 in state recruits all just committed to out of state schools. 2 to Tennessee and 1 to NC. We would take all 3. Until we can shore up MS recruiting again it is going to be tough.

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Recruiting is a disaster right now. 2-10 and no trust in the defense is in all likelihood going to end Lebby's first HC gig. The portal could be more of the same with everyone fighting for the top 50 transfers and paying outrageous amounts for them. I'm dont know if there's a way out of this for us.

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Originally Posted by Bothrops

Not true. We were excited for his offensive prowess. The defense made any success on offense futile. Now if we have qb problems this season we'll know how this will end.

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Let?s not pretend the offense was a whole lot better.

Happy 4th of July and May God Richly Bless our Country in the Years Ahead. Now, update on our 2026 FB recruiting class (Just my analysis of a hardcore MSU fan, first game as an eight year old in 1963 and family has had 8 to 12 season tickets for about 58 consecutive years). There are little fireworks to date on this class . We were #23 or so a couple of weeks ago, based on volume of commits, but have fallen to #34 today. We will not stay anywhere close to there by December signing day. This is based on the 24/7 info free on genespage. There are also 21 name brand teams that have a higher avg ranking per player at this time and most only 6 to 17 commits. who will pass us. OM, of course is only one spot behind u$ with a rating of about 90.10 per player and only 9 commits. This class also has a majority of players with very concerning offer sheets to boot. My thoughts:

Imperfect Storm:

Leach sudden death and Arnett debacle requiring complete over haul of roster with limited talent.

Hard to recruit after 2-10 and 0-8.

OTJ training HC, DC and maybe some other position coaches.

All we can get with NIL $ issues.

Lazy recruiting (Don't really thing so with the five issues above).

Maybe HS recruiting doesn't mean as much in today's college football world with NIL/Portal and perhaps a few of these guys will be develop and stay as discovered "Diamonds in the Rough".

The class looks like it will end up ranked in the 40's or so. Maybe it won't matter as you turn the roster over every year and must have a HC that can successfully compete and win in this NIL/Portal world.

Had an appointment with my hard core State Optometrist yesterday. She said that they were out of any "Maroon Colored Glasses" for the 2025 season.*****

Bump: Just got another commit, Tamario Johnson, S, 6-2, 190 lb, Pascagoula, #37 rated player in MS, 3 star, .8650 24/7 Sports Composite rating. As per the free article on genespage, "notable offers include Vanderbilt,Texas Tech, UNLV and Tulane". Team ranking moves up to #31 nationally. Now have 25 commits but Kicker not yet given 24/7 composite.

The kicker is a good as any senior in 26

Well, this is weird.

https://www.on3.com/rivals/news/4-st...-and-ole-miss/

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Originally Posted by ZedFedder

Well, this is weird.

https://www.on3.com/rivals/news/4-st...-and-ole-miss/

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That stupid 17er won't last a season in Sacramento country bumpkin to cali doesn't work well! MARK THIS!

Can we get this sticked

Number 4 player in the state to Alabama.

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Originally Posted by ZedFedder

Number 4 player in the state to Alabama.

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who is?

https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2...outputType=amp

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Originally Posted by ZedFedder

Well, this is weird.

https://www.on3.com/rivals/news/4-st...-and-ole-miss/

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You know that won't stick. I'm sure he got some financial incentive to make that commitment. I'm just glad HS recruiting has become less important because apparently the top HS recruits in MS are all about leaving MS as quick as they can. OM is having almost as much trouble in state as we are. Even in our worst years under Felker, Sherrill or Croom I've never seen a year where we had less interest from the best MS HS recruits.

The players who think they are really good(or are told such) are out for top dollar from high school. See they New Albany kid and the Tupelo kid yesterday. Both have decommitted from MSU mainly for a cash handout from ole miss. The tupelo kid got more cash and stuck with the sharts. The New Albany kid took the sharts cash in a sack(daddy did) and then bolted and committed for the better offer in Baton Rouge. This is simply the way business is conducted nowadays. In my opinion, the kid has a better chance of making it in the SEC. There is no telling where the New Albany kid ends up ultimately playing in the end.