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.