MSU’s Christmann picked to FWAA Freshman All-American Team
Six months ago, there were many Mississippi State fans who didn’t know who Jace Christmann was.
Now, he’s
Christmann was picked to the 2017 Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-American Team an AllAmerican. the FWAA announced on Monday. The honor comes on the heels of a season in which Christmann led all Southeastern Conference freshmen in field goal percentage.
In all, Christmann made 12 of his 14 field goal tries in 2017. He also was a perfect 42of-42 with his extra-point attempts.
Not bad for a guy who didn’t even go into the season as the starting kicker.
“I knew I was capable of it,” Christmann said when reflecting on his season last month. “I don’t know if I necessarily saw this coming or not, but I knew I was capable.
“I’ve always been confident in myself and my abilities. After the first kick, from there it all just builds. You get to the point where you’ve been there multiple times and you know what you can do. You just become a confident player.”
This is the second year in a row Mississippi State has had a player on the FWAA Freshman All-American squad. Last year, MSU linebacker Leo Lewis was chosen.
This time, it was Christmann’s turn. It capped off a banner year for Christmann after he took over MSU’s placekicking duties early in the season and became one of the nation’s most consistent kickers.
Christmann plans to keep his good work rolling right on into next year.
“I’ll take the same path,” Christmann said of next season. “I’ll start back at square one and pretend like I have to win the job again.”
A former Bulldog is returning to lead Mississippi State football’s strength and conditioning staff. Anthony Piroli, who coached on MSU’s 2014 team that rose to No. 1 in the country, is returning to Starkville as head
strength and conditioning coach.
Piroli has spent the last three seasons with the National Football Leagues’s Arizona Cardinals.
“Anthony is a rising star in the profession who knows what it takes to be successful at Mississippi State,” Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead said. “A western Pennsylvania native, I have followed him closely during his career. We are happy to bring him back to Starkville in charge of our strength and conditioning program. He has worked at the highest level, trained some of the world’s elite athletes and was a part of one of the greatest teams in Mississippi State history.”
Piroli was an assistant for MSU in 2014 under then-head strength and conditioning coach Rick Court. Piroli has other coaching stops at his alma mater, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, as well as at the University of Pittsburgh. He also served as a volunteer strength coach with Ohio State in the summer
of 2013.
Now though, Piroli is happy to return to Starkville and wear maroon and white again.
“I am excited to come back to Mississippi State and lead our strength and conditioning program,” Piroli said. “The 2014 season was one of the most memorable experiences of my career. Mississippi State football has a strong foundation built on a blue-collar work ethic and discipline. My staff and I look forward to evolving the overall physical preparation to the next level and utilizing means and methods with the sole purposes of better transfer to the field and building more resilient student-athletes.”
More Penn State flavor is coming to the Mississippi State football staff.
Former Penn State linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White is joining MSU as a defensive graduate assistant.
Wartman-White was previously on Penn State teams coached by Moorhead and new MSU defensive coordinator Bob Shoop.