STARKVILLE — Brandon Maye doesn”t feel like the new guy.
The senior linebacker, who transferred from Clemson University and enrolled this summer at Mississippi State, said he has made an easy transition to living in Starkville and is adjusting to how MSU”s program is run.
Even the good-natured hijinks — teammates shredded the Clemson workout gear he wore before he was issued MSU apparel — represented acceptance.
Teammates like senior linebacker Brandon Wilson also have made Maye feel at home by helping him with the playbook. Wilson is Maye”s primary competition for the starting middle linebacker spot.
“All the guys have embraced me from day one,” Maye said Tuesday. “They knew I was a three-year starter, so they were already looking up to some of the experience I brought to the table. It was fairly easy for me to jump in, be a leader, and go to work right off the bat.”
Maye is eligible to play this season because the NCAA allows players who”ve earned their undergraduate degrees to transfer to another Football Bowl Subdivision program and to play immediately if they enroll in a graduate program.
In May, Maye earned a degree in sociology from Clemson.
At the Southeastern Conference summer meetings in June, the league voted to do away with the post-graduate transfer rule.
Maye represents a much-needed playmaker at MSU”s most inexperienced group. Starting linebackers Chris White, K.J. Wright, and Emmanuel Gatling graduated last season.
For Maye, a Mobile, Ala., native, the move to Starkville has taken a burden off his shoulders. He referenced personal issues he needed to tend to back home, but the decision to pick MSU also allows his mother, a registered nurse, to get to his games quicker.
“On Friday nights she used to leave right after work and drive six and half hours,” Maye said, “so it was one of those things, the night before the game, I”m not even sleeping because I”m thinking about my mom driving on the road by herself. This will take a big load off her.”
Maye also will get the chance to play with cousin and former high school teammate Chris Hughes, an outside linebacker.
Maye played in 35 games (33 starts) at Clemson. He made 233 tackles and established a single-season school record with five forced fumbles in 2009, a year in which he had 103 tackles.
Maye comes from a man-based system he said is more complex than MSU”s multiple zone-based pressure system.
Said Maye of his first impression of MSU”s system, “I can get this pretty easy.”
It”s his experience from his first college season, when he was a freshman All-American and played in a system similar to that of MSU, that might help him the most.
“It”s a zone-based scheme and allows you to play the run a little bit more aggressive,” Maye said. “At Clemson, we played a lot of match coverage, a lot of man-to-man, so you might be on the number two receiver and they run you off and the ball”s coming right behind you. Both defenses got their pros and cons, but it”s a great opportunity to go back on the path of my freshman year.”
When Maye decided to transfer from Clemson, he said the success White had at middle linebacker stood out. White finished last season with 110 tackles, 15.5 for a loss, and six sacks. He also had two interceptions. White won the Conerly Trophy, awarded to the state”s top player.
“Chris White is a very good linebacker, I watched him all the time,” Maye said. “I never knew I”d be in this position at Mississippi State. Watching him against Auburn making plays on Cam Newton, then watching him against Florida, and I said, ”God, I like that defense right there,” but never knew I”d be in this position. It”s an opportunity for me to do something special.”
MSU linebackers coach Geoff Collins is familiar with the terminology used at Clemson, so he”ll be able to help Maye with the calls and words used at MSU.
And though he hasn”t had the chance to work with Maye on the field, Collins” impressions of Maye”s character and work ethic have excited about the possibilities.
“The neat thing I liked about Brandon early was he wasn”t a great student in high school,” Collins said. “He didn”t have the greatest test scores, he says, and didn”t excel in the classroom. Then he goes to Clemson and graduates with a 3.5 GPA. That says a lot about who he is as a person. Once he sets his mind to something, he can do it.”
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