2026 HS/JC Football Recruiting

[Todd4State]

Update: Back down to #44 with 27 three stars, no four stars but a couple are close. Need to of course keep looking good and winning more to get flips in the future, especially some of the many best MS players of whom most are committed to out of state programs at this time. Still need the best HS players (that can make an impact within 2 years) that we can get to blend with great evaluation and signing of portal players. Hail State!

I think there is going to be a lot of coaching turnover in the SEC that is going to make things interesting this recruiting and portal cycle for us in a good way.

[DEDawg]

JJ Bush to Missouri. We literally can?t buy a 4 star this year.

[StarkVegasSteve]

JJ Bush to Missouri. We literally can?t buy a 4 star this year.

It's not cause we can't. It's because we don't want to. We don't want to overspend on HS players. It sucks but it's the truth. We're going to be portal heavy again this offseason and need most of our Rev Share for that. Also, Bush will decommit at least one more time. This is his 3rd commitment.

[BigDawg81]

Apparently, Lebby is having recruiting adjustments. I wonder what are the adjustments?

[DEDawg]

Apparently, Lebby is having recruiting adjustments. I wonder what are the adjustments?

My guess is some players we thought ran out of eligibility this year may be getting another year

[Goldendawg]

Apparently, Lebby is having recruiting adjustments. I wonder what are the adjustments?

Free article available on Genespage. Lebby personally broke the news to two of our recruits to look elsewhere. What's sad about this is that our national ranking only dropped from #43 to #44. This class could easily drop into the 50s if we keep all of these players. The ranking and worse than that, offer sheets of many these commits is very concerning.

[Tater]

Free article available on Genespage. Lebby personally broke the news to two of our recruits to look elsewhere. What's sad about this is that our national ranking only dropped from #43 to #44. This class could easily drop into the 50s if we keep all of these players. The ranking and worse than that, offer sheets of many these commits is very concerning.

Sign of the times. Roster turnover is huge. Until there are binding multi-year contracts - why spend money on a guy's freshman year and then have him bolt to LSU? Just get the developed guys to plug and play. Focus on cheap / free prospects in high school recruiting. About the only thing worth a damn to get is guys who play day 1 / stud QB.

[TrapGame]

My guess is some players we thought ran out of eligibility this year may be getting another year

Yep, Lebby said today the five for five situation is causing them to rethink the roster. So, it sounds like we are getting a few guys for an extra year.

[Todd4State]

Yep, Lebby said today the five for five situation is causing them to rethink the roster. So, it sounds like we are getting a few guys for an extra year.

I think it's very likely. Even if the NCAA doesn't grandfather the current players in I imagine that there would be a ton of lawsuits like Diego Pavia's and so I suspect the NCAA will go ahead and just bite the bullet and grandfather everyone in.

At the same time, there does need to be some kind of standard. Right now, you could go to JUCO and technically play football for 7 years if things go through as expected.

And if that happens I would imagine in the future we would start using JUCO's like minor league affiliates essentially and send guys like the ones we just processed there first to see if they develop and then add them. Almost no reason for a player that is a developmental guy to not do it because doing so doesn't cost you eligibility and if you don't pan out to be a SEC player USM is still an option. So, really nothing to lose except time.

[Todd4State]

Also, I would sincerely hope that MSU is making these decisions because they have a very good grasp of what is about to happen and I believe we do.

[Todd4State]

Sign of the times. Roster turnover is huge. Until there are binding multi-year contracts - why spend money on a guy's freshman year and then have him bolt to LSU? Just get the developed guys to plug and play. Focus on cheap / free prospects in high school recruiting. About the only thing worth a damn to get is guys who play day 1 / stud QB.

It's interesting in our situation because we are in a state that historically produces a ton of talent so everyone knows that there is talent in Mississippi. So, the higher end guys (I don't know that I can really call very many of them developed) end up going out of state a lot of times because unfortunately the Alabama, LSU, Georgia, etc. helmets are sexier than Mississippi State for now. And I think a lot of those players know that if they get recruited over, MSU is still an option. So, it's hard for MSU to get the higher end guys at this time- at least on the front end.

I think we need to still recruit them and get an many high end players as we can BUT at the same time I think to make sure our numbers don't get too out of whack we need to take some- probably more than most- developmental guys to try to fill depth and see if we hit on any of them. The reality is the portal goes both ways and the ones that don't develop we can always process out ourselves and then just replace them with someone from the portal.

I think that's the best way to have some balance there.

And then the players that are REALLY raw but athletic- send them to JUCO for a couple of years and see what happens and how the develop and use that as another avenue to add talent.

I think this is how we are going to have to manage this era in general.

[Pancho]

have an excellent year at some point with a team of 24 to 26 year olds

[TrapGame]

have an excellent year at some point with a team of 24 to 26 year olds

So like most BYU teams? ***

[Pancho]

yea, without ever leaving the country

[Goldendawg]

We have dropped from 44 to 46 nationally. We now have 22 commitments as three more decommitted or were told to look elsewhere. They were a safety from Georgia ranked #162 in the state with an 85 rating, an offensive tackle from Tennessee ranked #37 in the state with an 86 ranking, and a linebacker from Florida ranked #166 in the state with an 86 ranking. I expect to see more of this if the NCAA grants 5 years to play 5.