MS Sports Magazine 2013 Signing Day and Year in Pictures Issue

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Volume 5, Issue 5SIGNING DAY ISSUE

March/April 2013

Published by

Pevey Publishing, LLC

Publishers

Greg & Mendy Pevey

Featured Columnists

Jake Adams, Rick Cleveland,

Derrick Guin, Jake Wimberly

Contributing Writers

John Davis, Paul Jones, Lanny Mixon

Contributing Photographers

Lee Adams, Aaron Boersma (MC), Todd Dalton,

Bobby McDuffie, Hinds Community College,

Angie Ledbetter, Mike Miller (NECC),

James Pugh, Tammy Young, Vanessa Waddell,

Tommy Young

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Mississippi Sports Magazine™ is published bi-monthly by Pevey Publishing, LLC to promote Mississippi’s sportsmen and women, colleges, universities, high schools, communities and citizens in an informative and positive manner. We welcome contributions of articles and photos; however, they will be subject to editing and availability of space and subject matter. Photographs, comments, questions, subscription requests and ad placement inquiries are invited! Return envelopes and postage must accompany all labeled materials submitted if a return is requested. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Mississippi Sports Magazine are those of the authors or columnists and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products or services herein. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Pevey Publishing, LLC is not affiliated with any institution, college, university, or other academic or athletic organization. Subscriptions are $24 (1 year, 6 issues) or $40 (2 years - 12 issues). Make checks payable to Pevey Publishing, LLC and mail to: 405 Knights Cove West, Brandon, MS 39047 or subscribe online at www.mssportsmagazine.com.


To Contact MSM > LETTERS, STORY IDEAS AND PHOTO SUBMISSIONS • Email MSM at [email protected] or mail to Mississippi Sports Magazine, 405 Knights Cove West, Brandon, Mississippi 39047. Letters should include writer’s full name, address and home phone number and may be edited for clarity and space.

CONTENTS...FEATURES

SPECIAL SECTION

COMMENTARY

WHAT’S NEXT...

4 REBEL NATION:

JAKE ADAMS

The Bjork experience

5 THE DAWGHOUSE:

JAKE WIMBERLY

Mullen continues to build

depth

6 TO THE TOP:

DERRICK GUIN

We weathered the storm

72 RICK CLEVELAND

What do recruiting

rankings really mean?

8 SIGNING DAY 2013Our writers break down each sign-ing class at Ole Miss, Miss. State and Southern Miss.

14 FABULOUS 15 Jay White gives you an early look at the top Seniors to keep an eye on in the Class of 2014.

Photo by Greg Pevey, Mississippi Sports Magazine

May/June - Spring Football / Where are they Now?We’ll take an in-depth look at each spring camp and let you know what to expect when two-a-days start up this summer. We’ll also fill you in with what some of your favorite sports figures of the past have been up to....and more!

Relive some of the best moments of 2012 as we showcase several of the states top sports photographers.

18 THE YEARIN PICTURES

MSU running back LaDarius Perkins dives in for the score during the Bulldogs 28-10 win over Auburn.


REBELNATION

The Bjork experience

Follow Jake Adams on Twitter® @adamsjaken

BY JAKE ADAMSFeatured Columnist

The excitement level sur-rounding Ole Miss athlet-ics has never been higher than it was during the four-month window between November 2012 and Feb-

ruary 2013. The Rebels won the Egg Bowl, capped off the season with a solid victory over Pitt in the BBVA Compass Bowl and then took the college football world by storm on National Signing Day with a consensus Top 10 class that included several of the nation’s very best players. Ole Miss fans everywhere were pinching themselves on February 6, as they watched the jaws of ESPNU analysts drop repeatedly while recruits like Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil and Tony Conner, to name a few, committed to Hugh Freeze’s up and coming Rebels. Meanwhile the basketball team was in the midst of its best start ever, including a 9-game winning streak and the explosion unto the national college basketball scene of 3-point shooting wonder Marshall Henderson. In short, Ole Miss, one way or an-other, was front page news for the better part of 120 days, and in a good way.

It’s truly been the best of times.Which makes it all the more unfathom-

able that little more than a year ago, Ole Miss athletics was as low as its ever been. {insert list of bad things everyone remembers all too well here: SEC losing streak, lame duck coach, ousted athletic director, etc., etc}. The mood around the University was somber and dark. A gloomy hopelessness permeated the Oxford air. “We are Ole Miss” was a negative connota-tion like never before.

It was the worst of times. And that’s how it was when Ross Bjork en-

tered the scene on March 21, 2012, after be-ing named athletic director at Ole Miss upon being hand-selected by a committee led by legendary Ole Miss quarterback Archie Man-ning and FedEx executive Mike Glenn.

Bjork, enjoying an unexpected great first

year at the helm of the Ole Miss athletic de-partment, says he noticed the problems from afar months before accepting the job.

“I watched the Louisiana Tech game in late November and said, ‘you know, something is wrong with the Ole Miss program. What could it be?’” Bjork said. “But again, I was go-ing back to my job and worrying about West-ern Kentucky.”

What he didn’t know then is that he would soon be charged with fixing it.

Several months later Glenn and Manning convinced Bjork to take on the task of pull-ing the Ole Miss program out of the cellar. To many people mapping their career tract as a major college athletic director it might have looked like an impossible or even foolish job to take - leading a small-budget program in a big-budget league followed by fans frustrated by unmet sky-high expectations, but Bjork looked at all those presumed negatives and in his final analysis saw them as positives, view-ing Ole Miss as a program with untapped po-tential.

“I had a lot of conversations and did a lot of research on what those challenges might have been and made a plan of attack to overcome them,” Bjork said. “Knowing that it is the SEC, you are going to have a lot of people that care, and knowing that Ole Miss is a flagship insti-tution, you are going to have a lot of people that care. So I think it was a matter of trying to channel that passion into positive momen-tum for the program versus the other way.”

And channeled it he has. The last few months, Ole Miss fans have cared more pas-sionately than ever. Sure, a lot of the passion is the result of success and winning, and it would be easy to give all the credit to Hugh Freeze for the job he and his staff did in their first season or Andy Kennedy’s win streak, but the analysis can’t stop there. It goes deeper than just the coaches.

Freeze is quick to credit his athletic direc-tor for providing him with the tools he needs

to succeed. “When there’s something we need as a staff that we think will help us get where we need to go, he comes through almost every time,” Freeze said on National Signing Day.

For Bjork, it’s all about the student athlete. He views it as his job to give student athletes at Ole Miss the best experience possible and sees himself as the facilitator of that goal. The Bjork experience has already started, and it manifests itself in different ways: A noticeably congenial relationship with coaches like Hugh Freeze, accompanying the women’s basketball team on a road trip to Auburn, faithfully at-tending Ole Miss rifle events (yes, it’s a sport), and being in the locker room to congratulate players on a job well done after winning big SEC games.

And don’t think the players haven’t noticed. One afternoon in October Corey Gaines, a se-nior offensive lineman approached Bjork.

“There is so much positive energy go-ing around between you and Coach Freeze,” Gaines said to Bjork. “Why are you guys do-ing this?” As though flummoxed by the new spirit behind closed locker room doors.

It was a surprisingly candid moment of confirmation for Bjork, and he responded with equal candor.

“I just poked him in the chest and I said ‘because of you guys. It is all about you,’” Bjork said. “That meant to me that he was see-ing things behind the scenes, if you will, that we are making improvements, for student athletic welfare or just being positive. That was a moment that touched me, like ‘Wow!’ they are paying attention, which means that we are on the right track.”

There’s something different happening at Ole Miss. Something special. It’s not just re-cruiting classes and bowl games, either.

It’s leadership. And it’s paying off. Archie Manning, who

can take as much credit as anyone for what’s happened in Oxford this year, was positively beaming to CBS’s Tim Brando after National Signing Day.

“From where we were Tim, I don’t think anybody expected us to win more than two, three or four football games last year and we won seven, and to top that off with the type of recruiting class that they’re having right now, it’s really fun,” Manning said. “You add Ross Bjork, our new athletic director to the mix and I think really for the first time in 20 years we’ve got everybody at Ole Miss pulling on the same rope. It’s a fun time up there.”

Fun indeed. - MSM


THEDAWGHOUSE

Mullen continues to build depth

Follow Jake Wimberly on Twitter® @jakewim

BY JAKE WIMBERLYFeatured Columnist

National Signing day has become more than just a day when every school in the country can celebrate new faces and potential super stars to their pro-

grams. It has now become a spectacle that is televised on every sports network, written about on every outlet available, and talked about year round.

National Signing Day in College Football has become its own beast shall we say, rivaling major sporting events. The State of Missis-sippi saw just how crazy the day is this year with the recruitment of five star defensive end Chris Jones out of Houston, MS. Jones flirted with both Mississippi State and Ole Miss before ultimately signing with the Bull-dogs.

But, it was the Rebels that were the talk of the sports world for days with their unprece-dented class that ranked anywhere from sixth to tenth depending on the recruiting service you looked at.

There is a forever ebb and flow within the State of Mississippi and you know the one right? The flow was the Bulldogs beat the Rebels in three straight egg bowls and in dang near every other sport for some time calling it the Tiger Slam of Mississippi – in reference to Tiger Woods winning what seemed to be every major in golf for a long period of time.

Then the ebb arrived as Ole Miss defeated Mississippi State in this past year’s Egg Bowl and cleaned up on National Signing Day – causing most Mississippi State fans to glare at them as to say are you kidding me?

I will give credit where credit is due in that Hugh Freeze and his staff did do a fantastic job this year on the recruiting trail and it is unlike anything this state has ever seen. But – the Mississippi State family needs to look in the mirror and realize that hey, you have be-come a pretty sexy commodity yourself over the years.

Recruiting causes fans of all schools to get caught up in the moment and fans live and die on National Signing Day by a player their school signed or did not sign. Then, by spring training or fall camp most fans are dialed into the upcoming season and the next recruiting class and have long forgotten about the previ-ous recruiting year.

But let’s focus on the here and now and how Dan Mullen and the Mississippi State Bulldogs have actually done in recruiting and what that means for the program as he is headed into year five.

Per Scout.com rankings the Bulldogs fin-ished this recruiting season ranked twenty first. In most college football seasons finish-ing twenty first in the final AP or Coaches Poll would be satisfactory for most schools but not in recruiting. It is all about finishing as high as you can. It is all about the stars be-cause the stars are where you win right? Well a good bit of the time, but let’s remember in the 2011 Gator Bowl Michigan came into that game with a team that was full of four and five star players, an average recruiting ranking over a five year span in the top ten and the Bulldogs beat the Wolverines as bad as they had ever been beaten.

Dan Mullen added another great class in my mind this year, filling needs and adding depth. Adding a quarterback in Chord Sand-berg who is a four star prospect that should be a good one in Starkville if he chooses to not play Major League Baseball.

A defensive end in Chris Jones that is the number two player in the country by many accounts, a big physical running back in Ashton Shumpert that many schools wanted and arguably the best crop of receivers in the country led by four star Fred Ross out of Texas. When you add that to players like Justin Cox, Kivon Coleman and many more this is a class that is one to be proud of and it is the type of class Dan Mullen has grown accustomed to bringing to Starkville. Good

talented players that can play if need be right away and others that he will red shirt, build-ing depth and only making them better.

Let’s remember the five years previous to Mullen in Starkville. You know the year’s right? The ones where Mississippi State ranked on average fortieth in the country per Scout.com and a staff that seemed lost at times giving a scholarship to a long snapper. Remember those years? I sure do.

Under the Mullen tutelage the Bulldogs have now a five year recruiting average of twenty eighth. That is a twelve spot rise from the previous five years and it shows on the field.

Just this past year the Bulldogs saw only five true freshman see playing time. That means Mullen was able to red-shirt twenty three players off a class that had the best defensive line group in the country with guys like Quay Evans, Nick James, Ryan Brown and AJ Jeffer-son. He was able to redshirt four star line-backer Beniquez Brown and four star corner Will Redmond and many others.

The key in all of this recruiting business is to fill your needs, develop players and hope your attrition is at a minimal. Mullen has done all three as only two players from last year’s class are not with the team presently.

Just this past football season you saw many guys contribute that were able to redshirt. Be it Taveze Calhoun in the secondary or Justin Malone along the offensive line– both red-shirt freshmen or Benardick McKenny play-ing as a redshirt freshman at linebacker or Derrick Milton and Josh Robinson in the of-fensive backfield.

When you look at this year’s recruiting rankings State is right in front or in between the likes of South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma State and many more which I would say is good company.

Recruiting is hardly an exact science as just this year teams like North Western, Boi-se State, TCU and Wisconsin all finished in the high thirties or mid forties in recruiting. Does that mean they will have poor perfor-mances on the field in the next few years? History says no.

What Dan Mullen has been able to do through recruiting and player development has been something rarely seen in Starkville, that being three straight bowl appearances.

You can always do better and I suspect he will. We should all be thankful for what he has done for Mississippi State in four short years. It could be worse; State could be using its scholarships on long snappers. - MSM


TOTHETOP

We weathered the storm

Follow Derrick Guin on Twitter® @DerrickGuin

BY DERRIcK GuINFeatured Columnist

On February 10th, 2013, a little after 5pm, a tornado came ripping through Lamar and Forrest Counties shredding Oak Grove, Hardy Street, The University of Southern

Mississippi, downtown Hattiesburg and then moving on to Petal. Immediately, as pictures were coming across via Twitter, CNN, and The Weather Channel, my heart started fad-ing as memories of Hurricane Katrina came back to me: Trees down, houses destroyed, power poles strewn, destruction as far as the eye could see. It’s just hard to even imagine what the residents of the Pine Belt are go-ing through all over again. The tornado left its mark on campus, destroying “The Olget-ree Alumni House,” one of the original five buildings that started USM. Trees that had survived Katrina on the Hardy Street en-trance onto campus would not survive this horrific day. If you love this University as I do you would have been tearing up with all the destruction and aftermath of the storm. Hats off to all the people who have come to help clean-up this mess and to Mississippi for pulling together once again. You can say what you want about our state, but it’s why I love Mississippi and that’s why I believe we are the most giving, heartwarming and genuine people in America.

Moving on: Can you say “Wow” to head coach Donnie Tyndall and the USM men’s basketball team? At the time of this article, the Eagles are 18-6 and tied for second in C-USA with Memphis leading the pack. Watch-ing the Memphis game (which one must say ‘The Greenhouse’ was just a great place to be) packed out for the “white out” game, South-ern Miss was trying to hand Memphis their first C-USA road loss of the season. The last time Memphis had lost in C-USA was in Hat-tiesburg a year ago. But Memphis was on fire, shooting 55% for the game and breaking USM’s 23-game home win streak. All that be-

ing said, Southern Miss must win the rest of its games at home against Tulane, UTEP, ECU and UCF. The Eagles do visit Memphis in a few weeks at the Fed-Ex Forum. Pay-back would be amazing if somehow USM could beat Memphis in their backyard. Supposing that Southern Miss does find a way to win the games at home and win a few on the road, that will put USM at 24-7.

IS THIS GOOD ENOUGH TO GET IN THE BIG DANCE? Answer: Probably not. So Tyndall and the guys will need to win at least two in the C-USA Tournament and get to 26 wins to reach the NCAA tourney. This is almost the same scenario as last year, as fore-casters were saying that USM needed to win a few more to get in which is just what the Eagles did. Flip that card, if the Eagles beat Memphis in Memphis and win the rest of their games, I think they are in. Funny how it always comes down to Memphis.

Towards the end of the Memphis game, I kept hearing the Big East chant along with seeing Big East shirts. Talk about getting un-der your skin---that was definitely one way to erk a lot of fans at the game. Speaking of the Big East, I have talked to several people about the future of Southern Miss. Unfortunately, USM is not on any list at this time to join the Big East Conference. I shake my head know-ing that Southern Miss is the backbone of C-USA and absolutely the best program overall. However, because of TV markets, Hattiesburg is not what the Big East wants. So what does it take for someone to get a Southern Miss in their conference? If you know the answer, please share.

Good thing that State and Ole Miss are in the SEC and are therefore not having to worry about a TV market or security. I have said if the SEC were to redraw the conference, would they include State and Ole Miss – doubt it. Maybe Ole Miss, but not State...I don’t think. Kentucky and Vandy have TV markets. Just my thoughts. Anyway, good luck to the men’s

basketball team as they look to repeat to the NCAA Tournament.

The AP Top 25 baseball polls were released recently and the “Big Three” from Mississippi were all represented with Mississippi State coming in ranked fourth, Ole Miss ranked 13th, and Southern Miss at 23rd. Congrats to all the schools on the early rankings and I hope to see everyone in Omaha. Southern Miss will play Ole Miss twice, once in Hatties-burg and in Pearl at Trustmark. The Eagles will only play the Bullies once this year, the reason being, according to MSU Head Coach John Cohen, was that he wanted to play closer to Starkville in the non-SEC opponents. I like to call hog wash on that, just saying Miss. State would have to had to travel to Hatties-burg. We all know how State hates coming to Hattiesburg for any sporting event. I know that there a lot of MSU fans that reside in Hattiesburg that are disappointed as those are the few times they can see the Dawgs without going to Starkville or Jackson.

The Eagles will open the season with an SEC opponent in Missouri. Mizzou, as they are known, are excited to be playing USM as their first opponent. If the Tigers can take the series in Hattiesburg it will definitely give them some credit in the SEC. I seriously don’t see Missouri winning at all, though. After Mizzou, USM will play a very competitive non-conference schedule including the USM Invitational before the conference schedule kicks off.

Look out for Tulane this year as the Green Wave have been getting a lot of attention. Rice will also be very good. The plus side is that both programs will play in Hattiesburg so USM should really take advantage of the se-ries. I am expecting a lot from Eagle Baseball this year. I am predicting a very strong year with loads of talent---I’m thinking at least a 40-game plus winning season.

Come see the Eagles play at Reed Green and join us at The Pete for Golden Eagle Base-ball. I look forward to all your comments and in site. And remember...SMTTT!! - MSM


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Freeze signs historicclass in 2013

BY JOHN DAVIS,The Oxford Eagle

OLE MISS

2013 SIGNING DAY REPORT CARD

TOP PICKUP - ROBERT NKEMDICHE

CLASS GRADE:

A+U

nprecedented. That one word best describes the Ole Miss football sign-ing class of 2013. Just 14 months after being hired to improve the program from a 2-10 season, Hugh Freeze was able to deliver a huge jolt

to Rebel Nation with a star-studded list of players.

Ole Miss’ 28-member class, that included six players enrolling for the spring semester, finished ranked No. 2 in the nation by 24/7 Sports, No. 5 by ESPN, No. 7 by Rivals.com and No. 8 by Scout.com. Overall, the class was the consensus sixth-best in the nation.

Freeze was able to land the nation’s top-ranked player in defensive end Robert Nke-mdiche, the nation’s No. 1 wide receiver in Laquon Treadwell, the nation’s No. 1 offensive lineman in Laremy Tunsil and the nation’s second rated safety in Tony Conner. Nkem-diche, Treadwell and Tunsil were named to the USA Today All-American team, while Treadwell, Conner and Nkemdiche all played together in the Under Armour All-America game. Tunsil, meanwhile, played in the U.S. Army All-America game.

The Rebels also landed the Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee for 2012 in running back Mark Dodson, the nation’s top-ranked defensive tackle prospect in Lavon Hooks and two standout quarterbacks in Ryan Buchanan and Devante Kincade.

In short, the haul was very pleasing to Freeze, who showed he and his staff were tre-

mendous on the recruiting trail, both early and late.

“It was thrilling to finish strong in the year-long plan that we had. There are so many people that play a huge part of this process that it’s hard to thank them all. Obviously, our staff, who I think we have some of the rising stars in this profession and the way they went about recruiting and building relationships over the course of the year and executing our 12-month plan. I thought they were pretty flawless in that in most regards,” Freeze said. “Also, our players — I can’t give them enough credit. They sold our program. To do some-thing different and fresh at a place that may

not be the norm, to upset the apple cart, so to speak, that’s what we’re about in this recruit-ing class. We did it under extreme criticism and negativity, particularly the last 48 hours. It’s been difficult to sit by and know that our coaches have executed our 12-month plan with great integrity.”

Freeze didn’t outline exactly which play-ers would see playing time in 2013, but it’s a safe bet that Nkemdiche, Tunsil, Conner and Treadwell, the four five-star players, would factor in somewhere in the lineup. Hooks, because of his experience, was also expected to be a factor in the rotation on the defensive line.


RYAN BUCHANAN DAVION JOHNSON

“Laquon’s the number one receiver in the nation. I mentioned about our ties with him and him maybe becoming our biggest re-cruiter, nationally, for us with his use of so-cial media and how he went about publiciz-ing the good things about Ole Miss,” Freeze said. “Defensively, to sign Tony Conner out of Batesville, I think he’s one of the best safeties I’ve seen out of high school football in a long time. He is so physical, so rangy, so fast, that I knew he’s an immediate business maker in what we do. We need an athlete to play our Husky position, and we’ve identified him for that type of guy.

“We lost two interior guys and two de-fensive ends off of last year’s team. We were thrilled to sign the number one junior col-lege player in the nation at mid-year in La-von Hooks. He’ll play inside for us. Herbert Moore’s another inside guy for us who I think has a huge ceiling that he hasn’t even gotten close to yet. He has a tremendous get-off in athleticism for a big man, and he needs to get here and get in our weight program in a hur-ry,” Freeze added. “Obviously, arguably the crown jewel of the class is Robert Nkemdiche, the number one player in the nation. His ability is well-documented, he’s number one in the nation in every single service. He re-mained that from start to finish. That doesn’t always happen, but his skill set is way beyond his years. He is that talented, and he will be an immediate impact player for us at Ole Miss.”

TOP POSITIONThe signing of Tunsil, Austin Golson, a

four-star prospect from Prattville, Ala., Da-ronte Bouldin of Canton and Davion Johnson of Byhalia make the offensive line class argu-

ably the most impressive part of the class and best in the Southeastern Conference. Freeze talked about signing lineman as a need be-cause six were leaving after the 2013 season.

“It was a huge need for us to get some of-fensive linemen that can come in and play and be ready to start a lot of football games in their career. I think that (OL coach) Matt Luke is very happy today to sign the number one offensive lineman in the nation in Lar-emy Tunsil. Austin Golson, the number three tackle out of Prattville, Ala., it came down to us, Alabama and Florida State. Matt person-ally recruited him, and he fell in love when he came on an official visit here, with the place, he fit with us, his grandparents fit with us,” Freeze said. “That was probably the most anxious one we had, whether or not we were going to get him. I’m so glad he came with us, then to have the two in-state guys that we think were the best guys in the state, Daronte Bouldin and Davion Johnson. I think we have four really quality offensive linemen.”

BEST OF THE RESTA player that wasn’t talked much about

signing day was Moore, who was commit-ted to Mississippi State until late December. Moore is a standout sprinter, a four-star pros-pect that could factor into the return game on special teams immediately. Moore, who re-pledged to the Rebels Jan. 11, finished with almost 2,700 yards and 37 touchdowns on the ground his past two seasons as an Eagle. Ole Miss finished with four running backs in the class, including Dodson, Eugene Brazley of New Orleans and Jordan Wilkins, a 6-1, 210-pound bruiser from Cordova, Tenn.

“To land Kailo from in-state is always a

huge get. The guy’s a speedster; you can’t al-ways run like he does. Mark Dodson is one of the leading rushers in the history of Ten-nessee high school football. I’ve been really impressed with the way he’s gone about his business since he’s been here,” Freeze said. “Eugene and Jordan give us two bigger backs, something we don’t have a lot of here. They will give us a different look and a different di-mension there.”

SLEEPERSIt’s hard to find a sleeper in a class that is

rated so highly, but Grenada athlete Trey Bledsoe may best fit that role, followed by another Mississippi native, Derrick Jones of Eupora. Both are projected to play wide re-ceiver for the Rebels.

“Derrick Jones may be one of the hidden gems in this class. I think the guy’s a phe-nomenal athlete. I’ve seen him play basketball when I’m out in my visit. He plays above the rim. I think he can play a lot of places for us, from safety to receiver,” Freeze said.

Another “sleeper” award would have to go to the tight end position as a whole. While fans got caught up in the recruitment of Nke-mdiche and Treadwell, Ole Miss needed to sign three or more tight ends and Freeze did just that by landing Christian Morgan, Evan Engram and A.J. Jackson. Morgan, a native of Plano, Texas., has already enrolled and will compete for a starting spot this spring.

“Everyone knows we graduated all three from last year, so we’re going to have to play some young kids. Christian arrived at mid year. He’s a big, physical tight end from Texas. A.J. is a physical tight end out of the state of Georgia, he’s the total package,” Freeze said. “Evan is a guy we can flex out and move around. He’s a guy who has tremendous ball skills to run great routes. A year or two in the program with (strength coach) Paul Jackson, I think that he’ll be an all-around tight end.”

OVERALL GRADE: A+There were a couple of players that got away

at the end for the Rebels, defensive ends Chris Jones and Elijah Daniel, but every need was met and several of the players should make an impact as freshmen or in their first season as junior college transfers. Freeze was upbeat about the overall impact this class could make for the program.

“I do think (the class) has the possibility of being a program changer. It’s all on paper right now,” Freeze said. “We’ll start having to manage expectations right now, because we’ll still be in our second year of our journey together, but I do think we took a huge step forward today on that journey toward where we all want to get, and that’s competing for an SEC West championship. We’re thrilled with the day.” - MSM


Mullen lands back-to-back Top 25 Classes

MISSISSIPPI STATE


TOP PICKUP - CHRIS JONES

CLASS GRADE:

B+

BY PAUL JONES,mississippistate.247sports.com

Another National Signing Day came and went for Mississippi State and the Bulldogs once again inked sev-eral noteable targets for the Class of 2013. Like every class across the nation, the Bulldogs also missed on

some targets, too.The Bulldogs signed a total of 21 players,

and that includes four players that enrolled at mid-semester and are already going through offseason workout sessions - juco defensive back Justin Cox, juco receiver Jeremey Chap-pelle and Hargrave (Va.) Academy duo Kivon Coman and Artimas Samuel.

Coman and Samuel originally signed with MSU in the Class of 2012 but spent the past semester at Hargrave to shore up academic issues.

Overall, MSU’s class was ranked 22nd na-tionally by 247Sports and that ranking gave the Bulldogs back-to-back Top 25 classes un-der head coach Dan Mullen - a first in Mul-len’s tenure in Starkville.

“If you at the consistency in the stuff we’ve done - getting the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state (Ashton Shumpert) and another Parade All-American with Fred Ross coming over from Tyler, Texas, and the top player in the state in Chris Jones if not the top player in

the country,” said Mullen. “That was the con-sistency you want in recruiting.”

Here’s a breakdown at what MSU was able to sign on Wednesday and who were in the headlines on Wednesday.

CREAM OF THE CROPThe category once again remained stron-

ger for the Bulldogs despite losing a couple of 247Sports four-star prospects in the weeks following Christmas.

Of course, leading this group is 247Sports

five-star and No. 2 ranked prospect Chris Jones. The defensive end from nearby Hous-ton has the ability to play right away and should immediately help the Bulldogs’ pass rush off the edge. Once again, this kid will be scary once he learns more about the game.

Down the stretch there was a lot of drama surrounding Jones, particularly when he de-cided to officially visit rival Ole Miss.

“I think there was a lot of drama and I think the media created a lot of drama with Chris,” said Mullen. “ And he learns like young kids


in their first time dealing with all this stuff. All along he said ‘Coach I am coming to be a Bulldog’ and I trusted him from Day 1 and he never wavered with me.

“He told me a lot of stuff he was doing. People called me and on twitter and he was like at the Super Bowl one time, spotted at the Thorpe Award briefly last night and spotted all over the place (laughing).”

Also possibly having an impact next year is tailback Ashton Shumpert, another highly-touted in-state target. Shumpert has the tal-ent, physicalness and leadership skills to be an instant hit with his teammates.

Two more offensive skill performers that could find their way on the field next year are receivers Fred Ross and Donald Gray. Both wideouts put up eye-popping numbers in their senior campaigns while also playing a role on special teams. Of all of MSU’s signees, it is easy to say Fred Ross is the surprise signee of the class, and a much-welcomed addition to the receivers’ group.

“Because of the family relationships he had, and we had offered him early on, and he’d always had interest in us,” said Mullen of Ross. “He took an unofficial visit out here in the summer, got to see campus, and we’ve just been in constant communication with him the whole way through.

“When he took the official visit out here and his family came here, he felt how much he fit in with the guys here, I think he knew this was the place for him. There was a lot of celebrating for us when he told us he was coming.”

Like Ross, Gray could help the Bulldogs overcome the loss of several senior receivers from the 2012 roster.

Staying on the offensive side, there is no debate that Columbus (Miss.) High School’s Jake Thomas has been the most talked about in-state offensive linemen the past two sea-son. His work ethic and blue-collar attitude should fit well with the Bulldogs’ program.

And whether dual-threat quarterback Cord Sandberg makes it to campus or not is a situ-ation that will play out the next few months. But there is no denying he is the perfect fit for the Bulldogs’ offense and he was Dan Mul-len’s No. 1 target under center for the Class of 2013.

“I view that, in getting to know Cord and his family, that is a win-win situation,” said Mullen. “If he goes really high or in the first round of the baseball draft, I am proud of him and that’s a pretty big deal for him and also with some of the financial security it brings to a family in the long term. He is such a great kid and it would be well-deserved.

“The downside that he doesn’t go in the first round? Then that’s a great situation, too. Then he gets to come play quarterback in the Southeastern Conference. With him and his entire recruitment, we kinda knew what was

going on, he knew what was going on and we were always open about it with everything. I don’t think there is a bad ending to it either way.”

BEST OF THE RESTOne could go back and forth with putting

receiver Shelby Christy in the category above due to his athletic ability and he reminds me of a taller Arceto Clark, in the way he makes the tough and athletic grabs. He could be yet another true freshman wideout that finds his way onto the field in 2013.

Another member of the tall receivers’ group MSU brought in Wednesday is De’Runnya Wilson, who is the biggest of the group. Still learning the game, it will be very interesting to watch Wilson’s development over the next couple of seasons.

While an unknown last summer, one could argue that Kent Flowers could be considered a ‘sleeper’ in this class as well. But that term went away when the offensive lineman more than held his own in the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star game. That confidence boost should bode well for Flowers when he arrives at MSU in the summer.

Although going under the radar somewhat, the Bulldogs did sign a solid trio of corner-backs on Wednesday, including Gabe Myles who will make the transition from quarter-back to defense next fall. I was also pleased to see corner Jahmere Irvin-Sills find a way into the class and there is nothing better than a corner who plays with a chip on his shoulder.

Rounding out this group is a guy I saw make play after play in his junior season and last summer on the camp scene - receiver B.J. Hammond. Similar to other MSU receiver signees, his size and confidence will be a wel-comed addition to the MSU offense down the road.

SLEEPERSAlways the toughest category to predict for

obvious reasons, I also struggled with putting dual-threat quarterback Damian Williams in the group. Regardless of your thoughts of Southern Miss, Williams was at one time the prized commitment in the Golden Eagles’ 2013 class. Great athlete, physical and a prov-en winner are all good signs of what Williams will bring to MSU.

“As we went through the season, we talked about Cord, talking about getting a second quarterback in this recruiting class,” said Mul-len concerning Williams. “He knew that from day one, it was something we would consider doing. The toughest part about getting a quar-terback is finding all the things you don’t see on film that are critical. You think we’ve got it with Damian. All-state player, led his team to the state championship and point guard on the basketball team.”

There’s plenty to also make a case for cor-

nerback Tolando Cleveland to be in the cat-egory above. Last summer the Georgia native collected an offer at every camp he attended and that camp tour ended with a trip to Geor-gia. He owns very good techniques and hip movement and will help bolster that position as the Bulldogs stockpile cornerback talent for the future.

An unknown in this class is Dezmond Har-ris and that is due to a couple of factors. Har-ris will make the move from quarterback to linebacker or nickel safety in college and also missed his senior year with a preseason ACL tear.

One of the best athletes I saw last summer on the camp scene is another Magnolia State find for the Bulldogs - Brandon Wells. He likely opens his college career on the defen-sive end.

And on the offensive line, it will be interest-ing to see Jamaal Clayborn line up at center for the Bulldogs’ program. He played nearly every Oline spot in the prep ranks but is more suited for center, and his leadership skills will also bode well for the Bulldogs.

ONES THAT GOT AWAYYes, the Bulldogs had several decommits

in the previous two months leading up to Na-tional Signing Day. Among those names that stood out the most were Corey Smith, Kailo Moore and Deon Mix.

But from a ‘needs’ standpoint, the two that got away that hurt the most were Smith and Georgia mid-semester signee Johnathan Rumph. With a youthful group of receivers next season, Smith and Rumph would’ve both had a big impact for MSU next fall and were much needed, just like Jeremey Chappelle was needed when he inked with the Bulldogs last December.

OVERALL GRADE: B+Outside of grabbing that extra mid-semes-

ter juco receiver, the Bulldogs did a solid job of filling their needs for the Class of 2013. Obviously holding on to Jones was a top pri-ority as was adding a second quarterback to the class with Sandberg’s situation still up in the air.

With numbers small for MSU with the Class of 2013, the lowest-rated player of the 16 guys signing on Feb. 6 was Cleveland, who was a three-star prospect by 247Sports with an 81 rating.

“Now the next big step, and the hard part, is waiting,” said Mullen. “You get all excited on signing day like Christmas morning and then you got to wait until whenever when they show up on campus and wait until August be-fore you get on the field with them. But pretty exciting day for us with a lot of guys we are excited about.” - MSM

12 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE12 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE

Monken signs remarkable group for first class

BY LANNY MIXON,BIGGOLDNATION.com

SOUTHERN MISS


TOP PICKUP - NICK MULLENS

CLASS GRADE:

B

If it seems like just a year ago we were breaking down the inaugural signing class for a first year coach in Hattiesburg, we were. Now we’re doing it again. El-lis Johnson absolutely ran the Southern Miss football program into the ground

in just a few shorts months. He was quickly dismissed after the worst season in the history of the storied program. Johnson’s only year in Hattiesburg resulted in an a epic fall. Johnson inherited a program that had just gone 12-2, won a C-USA Championship and finished in the Top 20 in the nation. In an inexplicable turn of events he turned that championship team into the worst team in the country fin-ishing 0-12.

Southern Miss moved quickly and hired Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Todd Monken to rebuild the proud program. Monken and his staff hit the ground running, as he put his new staff in place he retained one member of the Johnson regime, Steve Buck-ley. Buckley was assigned the role of recruit-ing coordinator and hit the road to not only solidify the commitments on the Southern Miss list that Monken wanted to keep but to also go back and re-evaluate potential in-state sleepers.

Considering the Eagles finished dead

last on the field in 2012, Monken and Crew bounced back nicely on the recruiting trail inking a class that ranked 4th in Conference USA

In all, the Eagles signed 26 prospects in-cluding two that enrolled mid year. Hoover (AL) High linebacker C.J. Perry was part of the 2012 signing class but was just short of academically qualifying to enroll this past fall. He sat out a semester and is now fully quali-fied. Wayne County (MS) High offensive line-man Devin Farrior graduated early and has

enrolled at Southern Miss.

CREAM OF THE CROPSouthern Miss was successful this year in

signing the Gatorade Player of the Year from Alabama in Spain Park (Hoover, AL) quarter-back Nick Mullens who was a prolific passer in Alabama largest classification over the past three years.

Finding the right quarterback to run Monken’s offense is important, but what many will note on this class is the depth and quality

MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 13MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 13

DYLAN BRADLEY

of the defensive line signees.Alabama Class 4A defensive player of the

year Rod Crayton from Aliceville is the most physically ready to play defensive line pros-pect that Southern Miss has signed in a gen-eration. The talented 6-foot-1, 300-pounder picked the Eagles over more than a dozen offers including Arkansas, LSU, Michigan, Penn State and Vanderbilt. Crayton will be joined on the line by Woodlawn (Shreveport, LA) defensive tackle Christopher Robinson a 6-foot-2, 280-pounder who picked the Ea-gles over Baylor. The biggest of the bunch is 6-foot-3, 295-pound Jerry Harris from Huey-town (AL).

Dandy Dozen defensive tackle Dylan Brad-ley from Noxubee (Macon, MS) County and Brookhaven (MS) DE Ja’Boree Poole join the vaunted defensive line class. Both Bradley and Poole represented Mississippi in the Al-abama-Mississippi All-Star Classic.

The biggest immediate help for the Ea-gles could come in the form of 6-foot-5, 325-pound Fredrick Moore, the NJCAA 1st Team All American from Jones (Ellisville, MS) Junior College is expected to compete for a starting position at offensive tackle from day one in Hattiesburg.

Southern Miss dearly needed some speed at receiver this past year and looked to fill that need by singing some talented pass catchers including Northridge (Tuscaloosa, AL) star James Cox, Petal (MS) stand out Jamarcus Revies and North Florida (Tallahassee, FL) Christian’s Branton Lee.

The biggest coup may have been flip-ping Tylertown all-everything play-maker Tyre’oune Holmes from Mississippi State at the 11th hour.

West Jefferson (Harvey, LA) TE prospect Draper Riley will be a welcome addition to the Golden Eagle pass catching corp.

BEST OF THE RESTHoover (AL) linebacker C.J. Perry could

end up being one of the best if not best sign-

ees in the class but after a year away from the game how much field rust will he have to shake off and how soon will he contribute. Southern Miss coaches expect big things from Perry and with the current state of the line-backer corp in Hattiesburg, it could be sooner rather than later.

Pearl (MS) stand-out Evan Osborne played mostly safety in high school, but at 6-foot-4, and a big frame that can easily hold more than the 200 or so pounds that he played at this year, Southern Miss projects him as a spur backer in David Duggan’s defense. Osborne represented Mississippi in the MS-AL Classic.

This year was a fantastic year for offensive line prospects in the state of Mississippi and Southern Miss pulled in two of the best in Wayne County tackle Devin Farrior (6-foot-5, 300) and guard James Davis (6-foot-3, 285) from Murrah (MS). Both, have the skills to develop into multi-year starters for the Eagles down the road. They are joined by Catho-lic (Baton Rouge, LA) High offensive center prospect Cameron Tom.

Making strides late in the process the Ea-gles were able to flip a couple of talented de-fensive backs, Kelsey Douglas (Missouri City, TX) and Jalen Square (Mobile, AL) from other regional programs. Douglas had been previ-ously committed to La Tech while Square had pledged to Arkansas State.

Southern Miss may have gotten a real steal in New Hope (Columbus, MS) defensive back Trae Collins. Collins can’t be considered a sleeper because he’s been too good for two long and a consistently competitive program.

SLEEPERSSouthern Miss coaches may have done their

best work this year when they went back and re-evaluated a number of prospects that were for whatever reason lightly recruited inside the borders of the Magnolia State this year.

Oxford (MS) quarterback prospect Parker Adamson didn’t have a long list of offers but what he does have is a big frame, good feet, a quick release and sharp mind. Those are all attributes that are needed to run Monken’s version of the spread offense.

Bassfield super-athlete Jomez Applewhite could have the most raw athletic ability in the signing class, but that was largely obscured from view as he spent most of his career for the Yellow Jackets at quarterback. He’ll likely play defensive back for the Eagles where his natural skill set can be greater utilized.

Southern Miss is stacked with talented run-ning backs so Monken didn’t need to sign a ball-carrier this year and had no intention to do so unless he found the right fit. He seems to have found it in lightly recruited 6-foot-0, 200-pounder George Payne from tiny St. Luke’s (Mobile, AL) not only is Payne the first collegiate signee in St. Luke’s history (in any sport) he’s also a member of it’s first graduat-

ing class.Dutchtown (LA) kicker/punter Tyler Sar-

razin was headed to Nichols State before his big leg and versatility caught the eye of the Southern Miss coaching staff. The 6-foot-4, 190-pounder has a big leg as evidenced by a 53 yard field goal as a senior.

The Eagles rolled the dice on Southern Lab (Baton Rouge, LA) receiver Marqueis Rich-ard, the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder has all the tools to excel at the next level including legit 4.45 speed in the forty, but he is very raw and could be more of a project than prospect.

The most intriguing signee in the class was the last fax to roll into the Southern Miss Athletic Center on national signing day. West Jones (Laurel, MS) High two sports star Xavier Thigpen. The talented 6-foot-6, 215-pounder has been a standout for both the Mustang football and basketball teams for the past three years. Thigpen was leaning more toward playing basketball than football just a few months ago, but when it came time to make a decision he cast his lot with foot-ball and the Golden Eagles decided that his raw skills and athletic ability were more than worth the risk.

THE ONES THAT GOT AWAYLike every program Southern Miss lost a

couple of prospects over the final weeks that they would like to have seen in the fold in-cluding Rummel (New Orleans, LA) quarter-back Damian Williams who signed with Miss. State and Seattle (WA) Prep ATH Tere Cal-loway who ended up at Nevada and Jones JC linebacker Damian Wilson who signed with Minnesota.

None of those seemed to bother Monken, but Dadeville (AL) DL Gerald Sterling did.

“I would like to have had more time to re-cruit Gerald Sterling,” Monken said during his post signing day media conference. “I don’t want recruiting season to be over because I want more time. We had him and then some-how lost contact with him over the last week, we still don’t know what happened.

Sterling would sign with Washington State late on National Signing Day.

OVERALL GRADE: BIn the grand scheme of all-time Southern

Miss recruiting classes 2012 was an above av-erage effort. But, when one considers the ad-versity that Monken and his staff faced head-ing into an abbreviated recruiting season the class that they managed to sign in Hattiesburg is nothing short of remarkable. Coming off the worst on field season in program history, working behind a staff that for the most part gave up on recruiting in early October, Monk-en and his hard working staff pulled off what could be considered one of the more improb-ably classes in recent memory for Southern Miss. - MSM


RECRUITING - THE BEST OF 2014

FABuLOuS

When assigned the task of presenting to you the best of what Mississippi’s next crop of high school footballers has to offer, I’m thrilled to write about what great prep players will stalk the fields in 2013. On the other hand, who am I fooling? In June of last

year Chris Jones was a “decent” defensive end out of Houston, graded at 85 by 247 Sports. By January, Jones was a 5-star All-American, graded at 100, and the subject of a legendary recruiting war between increasingly bitter rivals.

While Jones’ story is not typical, it shows how much of a crap shoot recruiting can be. What’s encouraging for Mississippians is that Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss are currently in on nearly all of the big names in state. The Rebels are trying to capitalize on a monster 2013 class. The Bulldogs are trying to land a top 25 class for the 3rd consecutive year.

Todd Monken at Southern Miss is a bit of a wildcard for the MS recruiting landscape. While pretending that Ellis Johnson didn’t

BY JAY WhITEMississippi Sports Magazine High School Writer

Signing day has come and gone, but what about next year? We all want to know who’s the best high school players in Mississippi in the Class of 2014. Why wait until the summer...we’re telling you who right now!

happen, Monken and staff are showing that they are not afraid to go head-to-head with Ole Miss and State for recruits from the 228 to the Memphis ‘burbs.

Big time out of state programs will be no strangers to the Magnolia state as usual. Alabama, Auburn and LSU continue to make their selves comfortable in their neighboring state. This year, Florida State, Arkansas, Michigan, Nebraska and Tennessee also have quite a presence on the recruiting trails of Mississippi.

The 2014 class of Mississippi is deeper than last year. The class is quite athletic. Skill positions are very deep this season. Wide receiver, running back, and safety are particularly deep. Defensive end remains strong. While not as star-studded as the past few seasons, there are some great rush ends to build great recruiting hauls upon.

For me, quarterback is a somewhat disappointing spot. There are a few players that many big programs are following. Some have great size and potential. The continued implementation of more progressive offenses has already begun to pay off in Mississippi. Let’s hope this year’s crop of signal-callers breaks out and continues that trend.

#1#1RodeRick TayloR6’4”/295, G – callawayRoderick is a physical specimen. He drew motivation from watching Aaron Morris as a freshman. He’s camped with Al-abama and Mississippi State as a junior. He’s rated a 4-star prospect by Scout.com and Rivals.com, and graded a 96 by 247Sports.com. Roderick led the way for a Charger attack that ran for more than 130 ypg in a balanced offense. He’s been of-fered by Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Alabama and Georgia. LSU is in on him as well. The list will certainly grow. Rod is the con-sensus top high school football player in Mississippi for 2014.

1515


2 devin vooRhies, 6’2” 185, s – wilkinson counTy Voorhies is a 2-way star for the Wildcats. As a QB, he completed 60%+ of his passes and ran for 17 TD’s. The defensive backfield is where Devin is expected to shine in college. Voorhies camped with LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State last summer. He has taken unofficial visits to Ole Miss, Louisville and LSU. In July, he committed to LSU. He still has offers from Ole Miss and MSU, and has received interest from Alabama and Southern Miss. Graded a 4-star by Rivals, 3-star by Scout, and graded at 96 by 247. 3 d.k. BufoRd, 5’11” 190, RB – lafayeTTe counTyBuford is a burner featuring legit 4.4 speed. He’s been clocked as fast as 4.2+. His game changing speed alone has everyone salivating. D.K. is a multi-purpose player who scored 12 times on the ground as a junior for the Commodores, and 25 balls and 4 TD’s out of the backfield. He also returned kicks at 22 yards a clip. He’s been offered by Ole Miss and Mississippi State and is receiving interest from Alabama and Arkansas. D.K. is a 4-star Rivals prospect. Rated 3-stars by Scout and graded at 94 by 247.

4 aeRis williams, 6’1”, 205, RB – wesT PoinTWilliams is a physical and athletic runner. He’s a feature piece in the Green Wave’s dynamic ground attack. A clutch player with poise, Williams saved his best performances as a junior for West Point’s biggest games. Aeris tallied more than 1,500 yards at more than 5 yards a pop and returned kicks at 18 yards per. Williams has camped with Ole Miss and Arkansas, and has visited Alabama and Mississippi State’s junior day so far. He has offers from Ole Miss and MSU. Aeris is rated a 3-star by Scout and is graded a 92 by 247.

5 JamoRal GRaham, 5’11” 180, wR – newTon counTyGraham is an impressive athlete with tons of upside that will probably gain much attention throughout 2013. His numbers took a bit of a hit as the Cou-gars leaned on a freshman QB for 2012. Jamoral has big play ability averaging more than 19 yards per catch and running for almost 500 yards on only 51 carries. He could wind up on the defensive side of the ball. Graham had a pick, 7 pass deflections and a forced fumble. He’s rated a 3-star prospect by Scout and graded at 91 by 247. Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU and Southern Miss have offered.

6 GRanT haRRis, 6’4” 255, de – clinTonHarris has freakish athletic ability. He’s been clocked at a 4.7 40-time, which, at his size, is plain scary. Grant racked up 6 sacks, 9 QB hurries and 13 tackles for loss for a rebuilding Arrow program. He also recorded 40 tackles and 3 sacks as a sophomore. Grant camped at State and unofficially visited Starkville. Harris has also camped with Ole Miss and LSU. Georgia, Auburn and Alabama have also shown interest, and West Virginia has offered. Grant is graded at 89 by 247.

7 maRkell Pack, 6’2” 180, wR – PuRvisPack is a receiver that has a lot of coaches in Mississippi excited. With project-able size and 4.4+ speed, Markell has been a high priority for each of Missis-sippi’s Big 3. Whether lined out wide or in the backfield, Pack produced big for the Tornadoes last year. He averaged more than 8 yards per carry and scored 5 TD’s on the ground while averaging more than 17 yards per catch and receiving 7 TD’s through the air. Pack has received offers from Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Arkansas State. He’s also attracting looks from Southern Miss, Alabama and Michigan. Pack is graded at 90 by 247.

8 BReeland sPeaks, 6’3” 255, de – callawaySpeaks is a big, physical d-end that is an absolute stat-stuffing nightmare to scheme against. Breeland has an incredible ability to find the ball and make in impact. Speaks amassed 130+ tackles, averaging more than 11 stops per contest, and recorded 9 tackles for loss. Breeland has taken unofficial visits to Missis-sippi State and Alabama and has been offered by State and Ole Miss. He’s also attracting attention from Southern Miss and LSU. Speaks is rated a 3-star pros-pect by Scout and graded at 87 by 247.

9 c. J. hamPTon, 6’1” 185, s – meRidianHampton is a versatile athlete that could possible project to safety or corner at the next level. Hampton has the ability to find the ball quickly as a tackler. He amassed 48 tackles, a tackle for loss, caused 2 fumbles and recovered an-other. Defending the pass is his elite skill. Hampton picked 3 passes last year and knocked 6 more balls away. He is a playmaker. He had 80+ return yards on

those 3 picks. C.J. has already been offered by Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Stanford. He committed to Ole Miss in June of last year. Auburn, Washington and Indiana are among other interested in Hampton. He’s a 4-star prospect ac-cording to Rivals, a 3-star prospect for Scout, and graded at 88 by 247.

10 ken edwaRds, 6’6” 245, de – neshoBa cenTRalEdwards is a defensive stopper with plenty of room left to develop. Ken could be Mississippi’s breakout story of the 2014 class as everyone under the sun looks to uncover the next Chris Jones. Edwards recorded 86 tackles with 11 tackles for loss. He also recorded 3 sacks and broke up 3 passes for the Rockets. Edwards has taken unofficial visits to Mississippi State and Alabama and is drawing in-terest from Clemson and Auburn. He’s been offered by Louisiana-Lafayette. Ken is graded at 91 by 247.

11 alfRed dickens, 6’1” 200, olB – olive BRanchDickens is a tackling machine. He racked up 100+ tackles two seasons ago dur-ing the Conquistadores state title run. As a junior, Alfred racked up 132 more tackles, deflected 4 passes, recorded a sack, forces a fumble and recovered a fumble. Dickens has camped at Mississippi State where he’s also taken a couple of unofficial visits and attended junior day. Ole Miss, Arkansas, LSU, Colorado State and Memphis are also showing interest. Dickens is graded at 88 by 247.

12 Jesse Jackson, 6’2” 195, wR – PeTalJackson is the ideal playmaker, clocked at sub 4.5 speed. Averaging an insane 21.5 yards per catch, Jackson got stronger as the season wore on. Jackson saved his best for the Panthers run to the south state championship game. In those 3 games Jackson caught touchdowns and averaged an eye-popping 33 yards per catch. He also averaged 25+ yards per kick return. Jackson has unofficially vis-ited Mississippi State and Alabama, camped with MSU and Memphis and has been offered by MSU and Southern Miss. Jesse is also drawing interest from Ole Miss, Florida State and Georgia Tech.

13 GenaRd aveRy, 6’1” 220, ilB – GRenadaAvery is a stat-stuffer who is one of the state’s very best at getting to the quar-terback. Genard recorded 111 tackles as a junior, averaging more than 10 stops per game. Avery also recorded 6 sacks, added to the 5 he had as a sophomore for the Chargers. He also had 5 tackles for loss, 5 QB hurries, caused 3 fumbles and recovered 2. Avery has taken an unofficial visit to Mississippi State and attended their junior day. Genard could stand to gain tremendously with another big season in 2013. So far, Avery has been offered by Ole Miss and is being eyed by Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Alabama, Notre Dame and Michigan.

14 aRTez williams, 5’11” 180, cB – GReenwoodWilliams is a player with a nose for the ball. He has played some safety and corner for the Bulldogs, but projects to be a corner in college. Last year Williams collected 100 tackles. 50 of his stops were solo, with 8 tackles for loss. Obviously, physicality is no issue for Artez. While the recruiting services haven’t decided where to slot Artez at this point, coaches have had no problems seeing his up-side. Williams is getting early looks by Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, LSU, Alabama, Texas, Missouri and Texas Tech.

15 Thad milleR, 6’2” 205 QB – GulfPoRTMiller is an interesting prospect. He’s a pure pocket-type passer who transferred to Gulfport from Long Beach for his senior campaign. Playing in the state’s top class with a new coach and a new system at a new school will be a test. While Thad was injured for a large portion of last season, he had a huge sophomore campaign at Long Beach. He threw for 200 or more 7 times including each of the last 5 games. He threw 16 TD’s in that 5 game span. Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss are in the mix early.

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18 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE18 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE18 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE

THE YEAR INPICTURES


OVER-CROWDEDThousands of Ole Miss fans flooded the field after the Rebels ended their three-game losing streak against the Bulldogs and earned their first trip to a bowl game since the 2010 Cotton Bowl.

///Photo by Greg Pevey, Mississippi Sports Magazine

PHOTOGRAPHER: BOBBY MCDUFFIEOcean Springs, MS | Xtreme Photo FX, LLCwww.xtremephotofx.com | (228)-860-3662



Southern Miss vs.Western Kentucky

Photo by Bobby McDuffie


Southern Miss vs.LouisvillePhoto by Bobby McDuffie

Ocean Springs atPascagoulaPhoto by Bobby McDuffie


Southern Miss vs.East Carolina

Photo by Bobby McDuffie


South Panola’s lifetime mascot, Von SanfordSouth Panola vs. Brandon - 6A Championship Game

PHOTOGRAPHER: ANGIE LEDBETTERBatesville, MS | The Panolian


Grenada atSouth PanolaPhoto by Angie Ledbetter

Hinds Community College Pitcher Kirk ThortonPhoto by HCC Sports Information

Hinds Community College Soccer - Will BallewPhoto by HCC Sports Information


Hinds Community College DB/KR Kiwaski Tenner Photo by HCC Sports Information

Hinds Community College “Trell Kimmons Day”Photo by HCC Sports Information

Kimmons (forefront) led Team USA to a silver medal in the men’s 4x100 meter relay in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The Coldwater native was a four-time na-tional champion and set two National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) records during his time at Hinds.


LSU’s Spencer Ware stretches out to catch this

pass over MSU LB Matthew Wells last season in Tiger

Stadium

PHOTOGRAPHER: JAMES PUGHLaurel, MS | Email: imajesusf-

[email protected]



(TOP)Wayne County at West Jones

Wayne County de-

fender Syndrick Malone

leaps over West Jones’

Trey Keyes as he dives

for the endzone.

(Right)NE Jones High

School

(Opposite Page)

Callaway Coach Wayne Brent

Photos by James Pugh


PHOTOGRAPHER: LEE ADAMS - Columbus, MS


(OPPOSITE PAGE - TOP)Starkville High School’s Stanley

Higgins.

(OPPOSITE PAGE - BOTTOM)Starkville High School head football

coach Jamie MItchell getting the cooler

dumped on him by his players after

winning his first state championship.

(THIS PAGE - TOP)Ole Miss’ Vince Sanders (10) stiff-arms

Mississippi State’s Jay Hughes (30).

(THIS PAGE - BOTTOM)Mississippi State University’s LaDarius

Perkins stiff-arms University of Tennes-

see’s Prentiss Waggner in the Bulldogs

41-31 win.

PHOTOGRAPHER: TOMMY YOUNG - McCOMB, MS


(THIS PAGE - TOP)Bully fires up the crowd at Davis

Wade Stadium

(THIS PAGE - BOTTOM)Southern Miss WR Francisco Llanos

goes up high for this catch vs. East

Carolina

(OPPOSITE PAGE - TOP)Southern Miss QB Anthony Alford

dives in for the score vs. Boise State.

(OPPOSITE PAGE - BOTTOM

This referee has a wardrobe malfunc-

tion at the Wayne County / West

Jones match up this past season.

PHOTOGRAPHER: AARON BOERSMA (MISS. COLLEGE) - Ruston, LA | www.aaronboersma.com | Phone Number: 318-548-6490


Photo by Aaron Boersma


PHOTOGRAPHER: VANESSA WADDELL - Philadelphia, MS


The view from the upper deck at Davis Wade Stadium

44 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE44 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE

PHOTOGRAPHER: MIKE MILLER - NE MISS. COMMUNITY COLLEGE - Decatur

PHOTOGRAPHER: JENNIFER TAYLOR - Myrtle



Brandon freshman soccer player Carlee Leber takes

one for the team.

PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD DALTONClinton

PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG PEVEY - Brandon, MS | Mississippi Sports Magazine

The Southern Miss baseball team entertains the fans during the rain delay vs. Ole Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl.



PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG PEVEY - Mississippi Sports Magazine, Brandon


MSU Thorpe Award winning DB Jonthan Banks celebrates an

interception return for a score during the Dawgs

victory over Auburn.

PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG PEVEYMississippi Sports Magazine,

Brandon, MS


Out with the old, and in with the new in Hattiesburg.

PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG PEVEY & JAMES PUGHMississippi Sports Magazine


Hugh Freeze prepares to lead his Rebel squad onto the field vs. Auburn.

PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG PEVEY Mississippi Sports Magazine, Brandon



Ja’Mes Logan celebrates a touchdown with Jeff Scott.

PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG PEVEY & JAMES PUGHMississippi Sports Magazine

PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG PEVEY - Brandon, MS | Mississippi Sports Magazine


Ole Miss Offensive Lineman A.J. Hawkins gives Randall Mackey a big salute after his diving touchdown catch in the first quarter of the Rebel’s 38-17 victory over Pitt in the BBVA Compass Bowl.


RIcK cLEVELAND

What do recruiting rankings really mean?

Follow Rick Cleveland on Twitter® @rick_cleveland

By RIcK cLEVELANDFeatured Columnist

Long-time readers know of my general antipathy for recruiting rankings and the insane hype of the process leading up to national sign-ing day.

Commitments are celebrated almost like football victories, and commitments, after all, are only promises. Promises are broken all the time especially by starry-eyed 17- and 18-year-olds. I make this comparison: Recruiting is like dat-ing. When a player commits to a college, he is going steady with that college. They may get married; they may not.

Much of my contempt for the various ratings services has been based on the fact that many of Mississippi’s most successful football players have been lightly recruited if recruited at all. Among those: Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Brett Favre and Archie Manning.

Folks, we’re talking about the second leading rusher in pro football history, the leading receiver and scorer, the leading passer and the pa-triarch of the first family of American football. Not one of those guys was highly recruited.

I am not saying that recruiting is not important. Obviously, it is. As Bear Bryant once said, “You can’t make chicken salad without the chicken.” All I am saying is that while recruiting is vitally important, recruiting rankings are like preseason predictions. They mean little.

All that said, much has changed in the last decade or so. The inex-act science of recruiting has become more exact. This is true because of summer camps and combines where college coaches can measure, time and watch the prospects up close and personal.

Brett Favre’s strong right arm, hidden in his father’s wing-T offense, would no longer be hidden. Neither would Walter Payton’s speed and strength. But Jerry Rice, a late bloomer, would still have been consid-ered undersized and a step slow coming out of his tiny high school. He would have been void of stars. Jerry Rice.

What recruiting services can’t measure: Some kids mature physical-ly later than others. Kent Hull, one of the best centers in NFL history, weighed 190 as a high school senior. He was more highly recruited for basketball than football. Adalius Thomas, a future All-Pro linebacker, was a skinny high school basketball player who could run and jump before he took his only football scholarship offer from USM. Sammy Winder, who started at running back in four Super Bowls, was a walk-

on. There are scores more examples of players who matured in their late

teens. It still happens.Still, there are fewer and fewer of what have been known as “dia-

monds in the rough.” But that is not to say they do not still exist. Chris White, the 2010 C Spire Conerly Trophy winner, was not recruited by major colleges out of high school. He went to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and then on to State. Austin Davis, winner of the 2011 Conerly Trophy and now a back-up quarterback in the NFL, was a walk-on football player who signed a baseball scholarship. Last sea-son’s winner, Bo Wallace, was a 2-star high school quarterback who originally signed with Arkansas State.

Johnthan Banks ended his high school career as the 23rd ranked player in the state (Rivals) and ended his college career as the Thorpe Award winner as the best defensive back in the country.

Ole Miss signed the nation’s No. 1 recruit Robert Nkemdiche re-cently to much fanfare. But Robert’s brother, Denzel, chose Ole Miss over practically nobody else and became a freshman All-American. Denzel, it appears to these eyes, was under-sized and over-hearted. If his big little brother plays with the same passion, he will become one of this state’s most celebrated college players ever.

We shall see, which is what we should always say about recruiting and recruiting classes. We shall see.

About recruiting, I only really know what I read. It would appear that Ole Miss and Hugh Freeze have stunned the nation with the Reb-els’ haul. It would appear that Mississippi State has an extremely solid class, and it would appear that Southern Miss’s Todd Monken has made the best of the bad situation he inherited.

Again, we shall see. - MSM

JERRY RICE BRETT FAVRE ROBERT NKEMDICHE


Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center is uniquely qualified to treat any orthopaedic problem. Our physicians are board certified and fellowship trained, utilizing the latest procedures and state of the art technologies. Communication between the physician and patient is extremely important as they work closely together to develop a treatment plan that will provide the appropriate option of care for their specific orthopaedic problem. We are dedicated to providing patients with a positive patient experience! Mississippi Sports Medicine, Life is a Sport!

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Scan the QR code to the right with your smartphone to get Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center website information. While you are there be sure to click on our facebook link and Like Us.

Jeff D. Almand, M.D.Gene R. Barrett, M.D.Jamey W. Burrow, M.D.Jason A. Craft, M.D.

Chris Ethridge, M.D.Larry D. Field, M.D.E. Rhett Hobgood, M.D.Brian P. Johnson, M.D.

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Fast Break...We’ll Fix It

MS Sports Magazine 2013 Signing Day and Year in Pictures Issue

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Transcript of MS Sports Magazine 2013 Signing Day and Year in Pictures Issue