STARKVILLE — Minutes after Dan Mullen put on the maroon jacket signifying him as the next Mississippi State head football coach, he made a promise to the residents of his new state. Mullen vowed not only to remain loyal to the student-athletes in the Magnolia state, but also to win games and championships with those players.
“We are going to add 13 more today from the state of Mississippi (to) our program and we can keep that foundation alive,” Mullen said Wednesday.
Including Wednesday’s recruiting class of 28 signees, including five early enrollees in January, MSU has signed 67 in-state prospects, ranging from the capital city of Jackson to one-gas station towns of Puckett and Maben.
“Four years ago, we said we were going to make an emphasis on Mississippi, and I think we’ve signed more players form Mississippi than any other Division I program in the state,” Mullen said. “I know over the last four years we’ve signed more than all the other Division I schools combined in the state.”
Among the 28 signees of 2012, MSU can count 16 players with ties to the state of Mississippi.
“Our (coaches) do a great job of getting out, and our prospects a lot of the time, we’re the first offer they’ve had,” Mullen said. “That’s the trust I have for our coaching staff getting into every high school in Mississippi and having great relationships with the coaches. You don’t have to play at the big schools to come play for us. We’re going to get out at every single school in the state and evaluate single school in the state.”
The summer and offseason camps MSU holds in Starkville play a key role in allowing the coaches to evaluate in-state talent. Mullen said Wednesday a lot of the team’s verbal commitments came after meetings with players following their workouts in the summer. Of the 28 players MSU signed, 17 had committed to the school before September 2011, but the had to wait until Wednesday to sign a National Letter of Intent.
“What I get so frustrated with players and parents is when they ask me, ‘Why we didn’t recruit this kid or our kid?’ and I ask, ‘Well, did you
come to our camp?’ ” MSU offensive coordinator Les Koenning said. “Think about it this way, for the $25 entry fee and a tank of gas, they can have the chance to have a college education paid for in the future. Isn’t that a pretty good deal?”
MSU defeated Wake Forest 23-17 in the 2011 Music City Bowl to cap a 7-6 season. Mullen said Wednesday he wants to build on the momentum of consecutive bowl victories to stretch MSU’s recruiting circle to the states of Georgia and Alabama. The biggest examples are quarterback Nick Schuessler, the Georgia offensive player of the year in quarterback, and, Brandon Holloway, a track and field standout from Tampa, Fla.
Holloway, a three-star prospect according to Rivals.com, Scout.com, ESPN.com, and 247Sports, had offers from Vanderbilt, Arizona State, and Colorado State, but he wanted to be a part of MSU’s spread option offense.
“It is a tribute to what we’ve been able to build, what our fans have been able to build with the excitement around this program,” Mullen said. “We are becoming more prevalent on the national stage and everyone gets to see that by going and winning back-to-back bowl games. I congratulate our staff for a fantastic job recruiting all of these guys, some for two or three years. They’ve done a great job of working with all of them, and we will continue to work with them.”
MSU signed three players from the states of Georgia and Louisiana, the next biggest number after players from Mississippi.
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