True or False- Chris Jones

[StarkVegasSteve]

Recruiting melt-down on signing day. If I remember correctly, OM flipped several of our peeps, not to mention pulling AJ Brown out of SHS, which folks were especially salty about.

We did get Jeff, though.

OM didn't flip anyone. They had Patterson in the fold, got De'Markus Lodge, Greg Little, AJ Brown, etc. They were trending towards the no. 1 class in the country. Meanwhile, we had just lost Lashley to Bama, AJ Brown(WHO WAS NEVER COMING TO STATE) had signed with OM and some people thought we had him, and our class was hovering in the 40s.

Then we got Jeff. The complaining stopped.

[Hot Rock]

Chris had transferred to Houston from Nettleton. Houston didn’t even have a HC and they were awful.
A buddy of mine who was a huge state fan saw him in the spring and called state coaches.
They would not even make the short drive to see him. Instead, they said bring him to a camp. I give Mullen no credit for finding him. A fool could see how good he was.

What blows my mind is his that Nettleton HC didn’t put Ole Miss on him sooner. That guy must have been butt hurt for him leaving or blind as he was an OM GUY.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Chris had transferred to Houston from Nettleton. Houston didn’t even have a HC and they were awful.
A buddy of mine who was a huge state fan saw him in the spring and called state coaches.
They would not even make the short drive to see him. Instead, they said bring him to a camp. I give Mullen no credit for finding him. A fool could see how good he was.

What blows my mind is his that Nettleton HC didn’t put Ole Miss on him sooner. That guy must have been butt hurt for him leaving or blind as he was an OM GUY.

High school coaches are weird when it comes to recruiting their players. They hold grudges for the stupidest things. It was probably that OM didn't give him sidelines passes for a game or only gave him 4 tickets and he asked for 6. I mean worked out for us, so no complaints.

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

There was definitely some games being played, but he was allegedly going to State the whole time. I believe he got caught messing around on his girlfriend or something and was trying to keep things hush hush in Oxford for a while. Everybody freaked out, but people close to him knew what was going on.

I remember getting ripped to shreds on 247 when I said he was a bigger commit than Kmediche and was a better player. "He's only a 2 star." "Why did we take a 2-star this early?" It was pretty funny. Everyone that saw him at camp was foaming at the mouth for the kid, but the sites had him as a 2-star so no fans wanted him. That all changed pretty quickly and the bidding war ensued.

Now... Kmediche vs Chris Jones... who wins?

Chris Jones will be the first MSU grad to make the NFL Hall of Fame. Cox and Slay may have a chance, but I ultimately don't think they get in. Jones will be first ballot. Will be a cool day for State

[Hot Rock]

High school coaches are weird when it comes to recruiting their players. They hold grudges for the stupidest things. It was probably that OM didn't give him sidelines passes for a game or only gave him 4 tickets and he asked for 6. I mean worked out for us, so no complaints.

I heard he was butt hurt over Chris leaving to go to Houston but from what I heard that had nothing to do with football. It certainly wasn?t anything about Houston coaches as they didn?t even have a HC when he moved as my memory serves. I am from Houston and work with several family members of his but never asked them much.

I will say one day one supervisor overheard one of his relatives talking to a State coach and she told him quick Chris didn?t owe them anything. She was going to advise him to do whatever was best for Chris. The supervisor was excited as he is Rebel through and through. That was close to signing day and I got nervous with all the visits to Oxford.

[Choctaw Dawg]

OM didn't flip anyone. They had Patterson in the fold, got De'Markus Lodge, Greg Little, AJ Brown, etc. They were trending towards the no. 1 class in the country. Meanwhile, we had just lost Lashley to Bama, AJ Brown(WHO WAS NEVER COMING TO STATE) had signed with OM and some people thought we had him, and our class was hovering in the 40s.

Then we got Jeff. The complaining stopped.

It will have to be repeated from the rooftops for years to some people that AJ was never going to be a bulldog. It was always down to Alabama and Ole Miss.

AJ's dad, Girlfriend, and AJ himself got new vehicles from Ole Miss when he decided to commit. Bama never matched that offer and he then became a rebel and the rest is history.

[Matt3467]

It will have to be repeated from the rooftops for years to some people that AJ was never going to be a bulldog. It was always down to Alabama and Ole Miss.

AJ's dad, Girlfriend, and AJ himself got new vehicles from Ole Miss when he decided to commit. Bama never matched that offer and he then became a rebel and the rest is history.

Why is that though? How is it that one of the top players in the country in our own backyard was never going to come here? Imo it's a colossal recruiting failure to not just lose the dude but for Ole Miss to get him. Have we ever signed a similar caliber player from Oxford or really any player from there they wanted?

[Todd4State]

Why is that thought?we How is it that one of the top players in the country in our own backyard was never going to come here? Imo it's a colossal recruiting failure to not just lose the dude but for Ole Miss to get him. Have we ever signed a similar caliber player from Oxford or really any player from there they wanted?

If we ever did they would probably tar and feather them.

[Choctaw Dawg]

Why is that though? How is it that one of the top players in the country in our own backyard was never going to come here? Imo it's a colossal recruiting failure to not just lose the dude but for Ole Miss to get him. Have we ever signed a similar caliber player from Oxford or really any player from there they wanted?

Everything that I've heard is that AJ thought it was disrespectful that Mullen didn't show him the attention that other schools were showing him especially considering he was in the same town as him. I imagine Mullen came off as "abrasive" to him (who could have guessed).

[StarkVegasSteve]

Why is that though? How is it that one of the top players in the country in our own backyard was never going to come here? Imo it's a colossal recruiting failure to not just lose the dude but for Ole Miss to get him. Have we ever signed a similar caliber player from Oxford or really any player from there they wanted?

AJ had lived in Starkville his entire life and told us early on, like sophomore year, he had no intentions of stepping foot on State's campus, so we stopped recruiting him hard(like every other program would do). Then we got good and State fans started just assuming he was coming to State and people would ask him and he would tell them "we weren't showing him any love". Hell he told Billy Gonzalez to his face that he was never coming to State and told Mullen the same thing IN HIS OFFICE.

[BeardoMSU]

AJ had lived in Starkville his entire life and told us early on, like sophomore year, he had no intentions of stepping foot on State's campus, so we stopped recruiting him hard(like every other program would do). Then we got good and State fans started just assuming he was coming to State and people would ask him and he would tell them "we weren't showing him any love". Hell he told Billy Gonzalez to his face that he was never coming to State and told Mullen the same thing IN HIS OFFICE.

That staff also refused to recruit good WRs like you have to recruit good WRs.

[StarkVegasSteve]

That staff also refused to recruit good WRs like you have to recruit good WRs.

Dan and his staff's biggest asset and flaw were the same thing. They could take a 2 star and make him play like a 4 star.

[Todd4State]

AJ had lived in Starkville his entire life and told us early on, like sophomore year, he had no intentions of stepping foot on State's campus, so we stopped recruiting him hard(like every other program would do). Then we got good and State fans started just assuming he was coming to State and people would ask him and he would tell them "we weren't showing him any love". Hell he told Billy Gonzalez to his face that he was never coming to State and told Mullen the same thing IN HIS OFFICE.

So in other words Dan quit while AJ was a sophomore.

I guarantee you that if Lebby was our coach then he wouldn't have quit.

You shouldn't take a recruit at face value when he is a sophomore. That if anything should have told Dan to recruit him harder.

[StarkVegasSteve]

So in other words Dan quit while AJ was a sophomore.

I guarantee you that if Lebby was our coach then he wouldn't have quit.

You shouldn't take a recruit at face value when he is a sophomore. That if anything should have told Dan to recruit him harder.

No he didn't quit and I can guarantee Lebby would have done the same thing. Because AJ told us the same thing the summer after his sophomore year, during his junior year, the winter of his junior year, and the summer after his junior year. HE WAS NOT COMING TO MSU. PERIOD. END OF DISCUSSION. He had lived in Starkville his entire life and wanted to get away. Just like tens of thousands of kids do every year. They want to go away for college.

The narrative that we didn't recruit him was crafted by his dad and Rickey Woods.

[Pancho]

Freeze had a good friends son on staff there at Starkville high and he aided in various ways to pretty much seal AJ up during that sophmore year.

[Coach34]

Dan and his staff's biggest asset and flaw were the same thing. They could take a 2 star and make him play like a 4 star.

Yep. Lunch pail mentality and WR's dont want to hear any of that. They just want to hear about getting them the ball.

[Matt3467]

No he didn't quit and I can guarantee Lebby would have done the same thing. Because AJ told us the same thing the summer after his sophomore year, during his junior year, the winter of his junior year, and the summer after his junior year. HE WAS NOT COMING TO MSU. PERIOD. END OF DISCUSSION. He had lived in Starkville his entire life and wanted to get away. Just like tens of thousands of kids do every year. They want to go away for college.

The narrative that we didn't recruit him was crafted by his dad and Rickey Woods.

Usually when that's the case you wouldn't just go an hour and forty five minutes north to your homeschools rival. There's a lot more to this story than that.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Usually when that's the case you wouldn't just go an hour and forty five minutes north to your homeschools rival. There's a lot more to this story than that.

There is. It involves Dodge Chargers and 50K handshakes. But you would also be shocked the amount of Starkville Academy and Starkville High grads that go to OM or Bama

[parabrave]

OK got to mention it but I see that Chris has a protege' doing the pole vault in the Olympics.

[DawgFromOxford]

Usually when that's the case you wouldn't just go an hour and forty five minutes north to your homeschools rival. There's a lot more to this story than that.

I mean that?s what I did but I also wasn?t a top WR recruit