Bulldog Bits
Football
PASADENA, Calif. – Defensive standouts Randy Charlton, Collin Duncan and Jalen Green will don their Mississippi State helmets one final time in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
Charlton and Duncan are set to suit up for the American team coached by Jeff Fisher while Green will be on the opposing sideline playing for Eddie George's National team. The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl is slated for a 5 p.m. kickoff today on NFL Network.
Charlton spent two seasons with the Bulldogs after transferring in from Central Florida. The 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive end appeared in 25 games during his tenure in Starkville and made 22 starts. He recorded 71 tackles, a dozen tackles for loss, nine sacks and two forced fumbles but will perhaps always be remembered for the pass deflection he had on a two-point conversion during the Egg Bowl this past season that prevented Ole Miss from tying the game late in the fourth quarter.
Duncan logged 47 games during his four years at MSU and started the final 33 contests at safety. The 6-foot, 210-pounder from Montgomery, Alabama racked up 148 career tackles to go along with 7.5 stops for loss, two sacks, three interceptions and three forced fumbles. He topped the team with two forced fumbles this season and finished fourth with 57 tackles.
Like Charlton, Green also enjoyed two successful seasons after transferring to play for the Bulldogs. After playing cornerback for three years at Texas, the 6-foot1, 200-pounder switched to safety in State's secondary and started 20 of 25 games. He finished his career with the Bulldogs with 88 tackles, 4.5 for loss, four interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
"I'm very excited and very blessed to have this opportunity," Green said. "I just want to show the scouts what I'm capable of doing. I want to show them my skills and that I'm very diverse in what I do."
The trio brings the total number of Mississippi State players to participate in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl to 16. Current National Football League Bulldogs Denico Autry, Kobe Jones and Marquiss Spencer are all alumni of the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
Charlton, Duncan and Green are three of six players from the 2022 MSU team to be selected for postseason all-star games. Center Laquinston Sharp represented the Bulldogs in the Hula Bowl on Jan. 14. Linebacker Tyrus Wheat is scheduled to play in the East-west Shrine Bowl on Feb. 2 while defensive tackle Cameron Young will be in action at the Senior Bowl two days later.
Men’s Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mississippi State men's tennis is moving on to the finals of ITA Kickoff Weekend following a thrilling 4-3 victory over SMU on Friday.
The match came down to the final set as Ewen Lumsden outlasted Liam Krall 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 on Court 4 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex on Florida's campus to keep the Bulldogs unbeaten at 5-0 this year.
"Today was a great college dual match and MSU has a great squad," MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. "We showed a lot of belief in ourselves and each other with the way we competed today. I was impressed with the way Ewen handled the third set when all eyes were on him. We are ready for another great opportunity tomorrow afternoon."
MSU is slated to face No. 16 Florida today at 1 p.m. for a spot in next month's ITA National Indoors Championships in Chicago. The Gators topped South Florida 4-1 in Friday's second match.
Momentum in State's match with the Mustangs on Friday shifted back-and-forth throughout. Petar Jovanovic and Gregor Ramskogler claimed the first match of the day for the Bulldogs as they defeated Krall and Antonio Muniz-hidalgo 6-1.
But SMU (5-2) battled back to the take the doubles point as Pranav Kumar and Adam Neff upset No. 42 Carles Hernandez and Nemanja Malesevic 6-2 and Julien Steinhausen and Jack Winkler edged Lumsden and Michal Novansky 7-5.
Benito Sanchez Martinez quickly evened the score when singles started, sweeping past Steinhausen 6-4, 6-0. The Mustangs pulled back in front when Louis Cloud defeated Ramskogler 7-5, 6-3.
Jovanovic, ranked 107th in singles, knotted things as he downed Kumar 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. The Bulldogs took a brief 3-2 lead as Hernandez fought for a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Muniz-hidalgo but SMU kept its hopes alive as Neff managed to get past Malesevic 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
SMU will play a consolation match against South Florida today at 9 a.m.
Soccer
Mississippi State soccer's spring portion of the schedule has been announced and features a trio of home matches for the 2023 Bulldogs.
"We are looking forward to the opportunity to put this new group in front of quality opposition," Mississippi State fifth-year head coach James Armstrong said.
MSU will host Mississippi College, Ul-lafayette and Alabama in a span of a month, but first, the Bulldogs will make the short trip to Birmingham to take on UAB at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.
On Saturday, March 4, State will host the Mississippi College Choctaws in a match that will kick off at 1 p.m. at the MSU Soccer Field in Starkville.
The spring slate continues on April 1, when the Bulldogs play hosts to the Ragin' Cajuns at 11 a.m. that Saturday in Starkville. State's third and final home match of the spring will take place on Wednesday, April 5, with the Bulldogs scheduled to host Alabama at 7 p.m. at the MSU Soccer Field in Starkville.
The spring schedule is set to conclude with Mississippi State traveling to Columbus, Georgia, to take on the Mercer Bears at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 15.
The 2023 spring roster features eight new Bulldogs who arrived to Starkville in January, including Mckinnan Braswell (Birdville HS; North Richland Hills, Texas), Katelyn Carroll (Nation Ford HS; Fort Mill, S.C.), Kelsey Clay (Jackson Prep; Madison), Morgan English (University School of Jackson; Jackson, Tenn.), Ilana Izquierdo (Southern Miss; Cali, Colombia), Aitana Martinez-montoya (Fairleigh Dickinson; Madrid, Spain), Kaylie Smith (Calallen HS; Corpus Christi, Texas) and Sutton Webb (Georgia; Salisbury, N.C.).
The Bulldogs are looking to build off the most historic season to date after State tallied 12 wins during the 2022 season for only the third time in program history while also securing first-ever wins in both the Southeastern Conference Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.