2026 HS/JC Football Recruiting

[DEDawg]

the guy who played basketball at ole miss?

Yep the same

[KB21]

I think we will start seeing an upturn in our high school recruiting. Jeff Lebby has always been able to connect with the players. However, up until this point, he hasn't had proof of concept. He's starting to get that now. When we are 4-0 going into that Tennessee game, I imagine we will have a huge recruiting weekend that weekend. Play well in that game, and I think we can get some guys to flip that weren't considering us earlier in the process because of having just 6 wins over the past two seasons.

What Jeff's recruiting staff has done for the time being is target players who they deem to be undervalued. Now suddenly, a guy like Kaleb Morris has offers from Alabama and Auburn.

[BankerDog]

Lawrence Hopkins is an issue. Both for State and OM.

[ZedFedder]

Lawrence Hopkins is an issue. Both for State and OM.

Who is that?

[BankerDog]

Who is that?

A street agent based in MS. He really came on the scene when Emerick was still here. Was over Dodwell?s recruitment. Then over the Daniels kid at West Point as well as Waller?s and several more. If you look now, he is helping almost every one of the top players pushing them out of state.

And look, I get not wanting to pay these kids top dollar-if you have heard some of their asking prices as unproven HS kids; no way you?d give them the amount of money they?re asking. The Oatis kid last year at Ark now was wanting $300k?our starting QB this year is at $750K or so? why pay that money to a high school kid when you can get a FCS kid (Whittson) out of the portal for the same or a little bit more??

It?s also crazy that the guy who brought Womack to Hartfield is a former State player, multi millionaire now and we still couldn?t even get in the game with him. That?s how bad the street agent NIL game is right now.

[Pancho]

What is his cut?

[Todd4State]

A street agent based in MS. He really came on the scene when Emerick was still here. Was over Dodwell?s recruitment. Then over the Daniels kid at West Point as well as Waller?s and several more. If you look now, he is helping almost every one of the top players pushing them out of state.

And look, I get not wanting to pay these kids top dollar-if you have heard some of their asking prices as unproven HS kids; no way you?d give them the amount of money they?re asking. The Oatis kid last year at Ark now was wanting $300k?our starting QB this year is at $750K or so? why pay that money to a high school kid when you can get a FCS kid (Whittson) out of the portal for the same or a little bit more??

It?s also crazy that the guy who brought Womack to Hartfield is a former State player, multi millionaire now and we still couldn?t even get in the game with him. That?s how bad the street agent NIL game is right now.

It will be interesting to see if Hopkins moving on to the Army All American Bowl as a "talent scout" changes anything in Mississippi.

[Goldendawg]

Back up to #41 ranking with the same 28 commits, but many teams with a higher rating per player and many more slots to fill will pass us. Only way we move up is to keep winning, continue to gain attention that we are on an upward path and flip some higher rated players while processing some of our lowest ranked players. Having a few diamonds in the rough is one thing, but you no longer have the time to develop this many in today's wild, wild college sports world. Unless some of these players have a great senior year, we have no 4 stars. How long ago has this been the situation? Most teams ahead of us will be developing 4 stars and even some 5 stars. The concerning thing to me is also the poor offer sheets of many of our commits. Time will tell, but signing day grows closer by the day.

[Brobi-wan]

Back up to #41 ranking with the same 28 commits, but many teams with a higher rating per player and many more slots to fill will pass us. Only way we move up is to keep winning, continue to gain attention that we are on an upward path and flip some higher rated players while processing some of our lowest ranked players. Having a few diamonds in the rough is one thing, but you no longer have the time to develop this many in today's wild, wild college sports world. Unless some of these players have a great senior year, we have no 4 stars. How long ago has this been the situation? Most teams ahead of us will be developing 4 stars and even some 5 stars. The concerning thing to me is also the poor offer sheets of many of our commits. Time will tell, but signing day grows closer by the day.

OM is sitting the no. 1 WR in the nation (Not MS) on the bench this year. High school recruiting is nearly dead.

[Pancho]

no current guarantee that caleb plays quality minits for Lame next season which will result in portal activity

[Goldendawg]

OM is sitting the no. 1 WR in the nation (Not MS) on the bench this year. High school recruiting is nearly dead.

Respectfully disagree. A proper balance of HS/JC is still important along with the portal. Word here is that Cunningham is injured. You mean to say you wouldn't have wanted him when we are struggling to have a third receiver step forward? This situation is present even though we brought in multiple receivers from the portal for this season. I dare say you would take any of the four and even five stars that are committed to the top 25 teams ahead of us now, much less 26-40. Don't give me what appears to be sour grapes or we didn't want them anyway. There is a reason both us and Ole Miss have virtually none of the top players even in Mississippi committed at this time. We need a blend of both. Better to get as many of the top high school four stars that we can and hope they can contribute quickly with good coaching than to continuously take 40-60 portal players every year that many saw little playing time because they were behind the four and five star players many recruited from high school that they couldn't beat out for playing time. JMO.

[Brobi-wan]

Respectfully disagree. A proper balance of HS/JC is still important along with the portal. Word here is that Cunningham is injured. You mean to say you wouldn't have wanted him when we are struggling to have a third receiver step forward? This situation is present even though we brought in multiple receivers from the portal for this season. I dare say you would take any of the four and even five stars that are committed to the top 25 teams ahead of us now, much less 26-40. Don't give me what appears to be sour grapes or we didn't want them anyway. There is a reason both us and Ole Miss have virtually none of the top players even in Mississippi committed at this time. We need a blend of both. Better to get as many of the top high school four stars that we can and hope they can contribute quickly with good coaching than to continuously take 40-60 portal players every year that many saw little playing time because they were behind the four and five star players many recruited from high school that they couldn't beat out for playing time. JMO.

If I have to pay similar money for unproven high school recruits or even a D2 standout, I would take the division two guys. He would be older, have more quality snaps, and more muscle maturity. That’s just my take at this point. I can’t justify paying someone for them to “grow” into their next team. Just my take

[Pancho]

If they can't contribute in year 2 then don't pay them.

[Goldendawg]

If they can't contribute in year 2 then don't pay them.

Agree, whether HS, JC or Portal. This is Semi-Pro now. Earn your $ or gone. Still hard to justify this class at this time. Not a single 4 star with 40 teams ahead of us with many four stars. Keep winning, getting positive attention and make some flips of potentially better players before December. Hail State!

[Dawgology]

Highschool recruiting is basically pointless. ID 5-10 must haves in high school and go all in. The rest handle through the portal with proven talent.

[Todd4State]

Highschool recruiting is basically pointless. ID 5-10 must haves in high school and go all in. The rest handle through the portal with proven talent.

Probably need more like 15-20 than 5-10.

[Todd4State]

I think we will start seeing an upturn in our high school recruiting. Jeff Lebby has always been able to connect with the players. However, up until this point, he hasn't had proof of concept. He's starting to get that now. When we are 4-0 going into that Tennessee game, I imagine we will have a huge recruiting weekend that weekend. Play well in that game, and I think we can get some guys to flip that weren't considering us earlier in the process because of having just 6 wins over the past two seasons.

What Jeff's recruiting staff has done for the time being is target players who they deem to be undervalued. Now suddenly, a guy like Kaleb Morris has offers from Alabama and Auburn.

I'm sure TJ White will be at our game among others.

[Goldendawg]

Highschool recruiting is basically pointless. ID 5-10 must haves in high school and go all in. The rest handle through the portal with proven talent.

So you wouldn't take many of the 4 and 5 stars from the 40 teams ranked ahead of us, especially those who might contribute in year one or by year two in the program. Still think we need best MS players that we can get especially in DL. Why recruit and $ign the 28 we have committed to date HS/JC players at all unless for diamond in rough, Scout Team or warm bodies? We have no 4 stars at this point. A balance of good HS players and Portal players is needed, JMO. Look at the 60 or so we brought in this year, still waiting for a 3rd WR, better TE's, and of course DL and OL to step up. Of course beat TN, keep winning, 7-5 or 8-4 and recruiting will improve at all levels with better players. Winning solves everything.

[Dawgology]

So you wouldn't take many of the 4 and 5 stars from the 40 teams ranked ahead of us, especially those who might contribute in year one or by year two in the program. Still think we need best MS players that we can get especially in DL. Why recruit and $ign the 28 we have committed to date HS/JC players at all unless for diamond in rough, Scout Team or warm bodies? We have no 4 stars at this point. A balance of good HS players and Portal players is needed, JMO. Look at the 60 or so we brought in this year, still waiting for a 3rd WR, better TE's, and of course DL and OL to step up. Of course beat TN, keep winning, 7-5 or 8-4 and recruiting will improve at all levels with better players. Winning solves everything.

If I understand what you wrote that’s exactly what I’m saying. Go after 5-10 4-5 star players at needed positions out of high school but throw all high school resources at those with the expectation that they start getting snaps game one. Handle our other needs, warm bodies, proven talent through the portal grabbing 4 star guys that are riding the bench at blue blood programs or over performing at smaller schools. There’s no reason to waste resources on unproven high school players anymore.