Former State players promoted in pros
It just took a week of the National Football League season for Mississippi State to add its 23rd and 24th players to an active roster as Farrod Green was promoted from the practice squad on Saturday by the Indianapolis
Colts and Braxton Hoyett followed to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Green has worked his way from undrafted free agent to a member of the 53-man roster during the last few months. The former Bulldog tight end was initially waived by the Colts two weeks ago ahead of the start of the season but is going to get a shot on the main roster for today’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Hoyett was on the Chiefs practice squad last year and earned a Super Bowl ring, but he’ll be making his debut on the main roster today.
It’s been a long journey to the NFL for Green who came to
Starkville from Wesson with only an offer from MSU and Alcorn State. In State’s 2015 class, Green was the second-lowest rated player and was ranked 39th in the state of Mississippi by 247Sports.
Despite the 2015 class being one of MSU’S highest ranked classes ever at 18th, Green is the only player from the class that is currently on a main roster in the NFL.
The 6-4, 240-pound Green grew into his frame quickly when he got on campus and he played in 12 games as a redshirt freshman with eight starts. He developed the reputation of being a great blocker at tight end along with breaking off some big plays in the passing game with 11 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.
As a sophomore, Green started all 13 games and had nine catches for 174 yards. His production went down a bit in 2018 with 11 catches for 81 yards, but he had his best year as a Bulldog his senior year in 2019 with 21 catches and 257 yards with a score.
Now Green gets a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of being an NFL player. He joins former Bulldog defensive end Denico Autry, who plays on the Colts’ defensive line. Autry, coincidentally, was also an undrafted free agent out of college who was able to make the main roster.
For Hoyett, he took a similar path. He was nearly a two-star rated player in the class of 2014 and he chose the Bulldogs over UAB. The Pelham, Ala., native never stopped working when he got to Starkville.
Hoyett played in seven games as a redshirt freshman in 2015 with four tackles and a half tackle for loss. Those numbers steadily went up as he had 15 tackles in 2016 and two tackles for loss. He got his first sack in 2017 and made 21 tackles and was an unsung hero on the No. 1 defense in the country in 2018 with 22 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss one sack.
The tackle will join a couple of other Bulldogs on the roster with Chris Jones and Willie Gay Jr. already on that defense. Offensive lineman Darryl Williams is on the practice squad and Martinas Rankin is on the injured reserve list.
MSU has 24 players in the league across 14 different teams. The Bulldogs have a player at every position on the field with the exception of left tackle, center, wide receiver and kicker. Fans can catch Green and Autry this afternoon for a noon kick on FOX. The Vikings have cornerback Cameron Dantlzer on the roster, but he is out for Sunday’s game with an injury. The Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers at 3:25 p.m. today.