Bulldogs welcome 19 prospects into the fold
Mississippi State head football coach Mike Leach was making a list and checking it twice on Wednesday.
On the first day of the December early signing period, the Bulldogs welcomed 19 new players into the fold.
Leach was pleased with what his staff was able to accomplish, especially recruiting through the restrictions from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Coaches hit the ground running and worked really hard, especially with the challenges of not seeing too many people face to face,” Leach said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. “We’re not done yet and a portion of that is by design because I think this is a volatile year and there should be some more quality guys out there and we want to have a little bit of flexibility there.”
The first announcement came at 7 a.m. when defensive end Tre’von Marshall from Mcdonough, Georgia,
said he had signed with MSU.
“Time to go to work,” Marshall said in a Twitter post.
After Marshall, Jacksonville, Florida, linebacker Nic Mitchell followed by inking with the Bulldogs, most of the rest followed throughout the morning.
The featured catches of the class are four-star wide receivers Anthony Harmon and Teddy Knox along with highlyregarded quarterback Sawyer Robertson.
MSU also dipped into the junior college ranks for offensive linemen Nick Jones and Carson Williams and linebacker Deshawn Page. Jones and Page played at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba.
Leach believes the Bulldogs helped themselves the most on the offensive line and wide receiver position.
Quarterbacks are always a huge part of a Leach offense and he thinks there are two good ones joining the program with Robertson and Daniel Greek.
“Both are really good passers with great arms,” Leach said. “They are tall guys and both are going to get even bigger. Both had a significant body of work as far as success in high school. They weren’t just one year wonder kind of guys.”
For his career at Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, Robertson completed 813-of-1,265 pass attempts for 11,302 yards and 135 touchdowns. Greek passed for 2,580 yards and 26 touchdowns over two seasons for Liberty Christian High School in Argyle, Texas.
Leach said there could be other announcements of signees in the coming days and plans to use the transfer portal to bring in more talent.
“We’re going to see once the dust settles in January,” Leach said.