Bulldogs bring in talented players from state
When Zach Arnett became Mississippi State's new football coach after the sudden and tragic passing of head coach Mike Leach, his plan was already in place.
Arnett has not been shy about his thoughts on the state of Mississippi and the talent that springs forth out of it. As the day ended on Wednesday's second signing period, the Bulldogs had the nation's No. 25 high school or junior college signing class by 247Sports Composite rankings and 16 of the 27 players were from the state of Mississippi.
Including eight more transfers, 19 of 36 played high school or junior college football in the state. Even though the majority of the class was signed under the leadership of Leach and that staff, it's in the right direction where Arnett is trying to go.
One of Arnett's first moves as coach was to assemble a staff that has strong ties to the state of Mississippi. He brought in former MSU wide receiver Chad Bumphis to coach receivers, two- time Bulldog defensive line coach David Turner is back for the trifecta, Tony Hughes was retained to coach running backs after spending decades inside the state and well over 10 years in Starkville and Greg Knox has returned as a Senior Offensive Analyst after coaching nearly 10 years with Dan Mullen at MSU. Even the off the field staff has a heavy Mississippi presence.
That was prevalent on signing day when the Bulldogs had an oldschool battle with a defensive lineman from the state. Hughes introduced Arnett to Lawrence County defensive lineman Jonathan Davis in early December when the 6- foot- 5, 300- pound monster was expected to slip through the cracks and go to junior college.
After Leach's passing, an offer didn't come to fruition with MSU staff 's thoughts on more important things, but Texas offered late and the Bulldogs followed suit with Ole Miss after. Over a week later, State and Ole Miss were battling it out and it was Turner and Hughes that won the battle on Wednesday.
“Incredibly excited to add him to the family today,” Arnett said of Davis. “His stock has skyrocketed the last couple of weeks. People say, ‘ man, you beat some big time programs for Davis,' well, we're a big- time program too. Specifically when you talk about that position. This is D line U. It's good to talk with a young defensive lineman and tell him how you're going to develop him when you have David Turner leading that room… recruited and developed Chris Jones, Fletcher Cox, and a whole host of other names.”
The other high school player signed on an otherwise quiet day was former Southern Miss cornerback commitment Will James from Theodore ( Ala.). After having a huge performance in the Mississippi/ Alabama All- Star practices, James popped heavily on Darcel McBath's radar.
State had already signed four corners in the class whether in the high school ranks or in the transfer portal, but Arnett felt he was too good of a player to pass on for the Bulldogs.
“He's an instinctual player,” Arnett said of James. “He does some things naturally that you don't coach, which is always nice. He's got good speed. He's got ball skills to make plays with the ball in the air. In the end, I want to be the most connected staff to our recruiting footprint of any school who recruits that footprint. We need to work harder and developed deeper relationships with those coaches than any other staff.
“In regard to Will, any coach we reached out to, we could not find a guy that had a negative thing to say about him. Everybody we talked to said, ‘man, this guy is an SEC football player. This guy is a steal. You got to get on this guy.'”
Along with those players announced on signing day, MSU released the transfer portal players that are planning to come to Starkville. Georgia tight end Ryland Goede, Eastern Washington wide receiver Freddie Roberson, Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright, Kentucky safety Ja'Kobi Albert, UCLA kicker Nicholas Barr- Mira and Indiana safety Christopher Keys were all announced.
Most of those players are already in class and were announced a few weeks ago. Goede and LSU cornerback Raydarious Jones won't arrive to school until the summer and Miami corner Khamauri Rogers was announced in December with Jones and he's already enrolled.
With the transfer portal rankings, the Bulldog class is ranked 33rd in the country by 247Sports. It's a class that filled mostly all of MSU's needs and got the Bulldogs closer to competing at the highest level in the SEC. Now it's time for spring ball and the 2023 season that will follow, but recruiting never stops and Arnett believes he has the staff to do some big things.
“We have a staff in place that's going to recruit that footprint harder than anyone,” Arnett said. “It showed up in our signing class in December – top 25 recruits in the state of Mississippi, we signed 12, which was more than any other school. With the additions we made to the staff, I expect us to further increase our efforts… keeping the best players in Mississippi playing at Mississippi State. The staff will be invaluable to me as the head coach.”